Resources to help professionals identify problem gambling clients and respond to their needs.
Contact Details
Gambler's Help provide face-to-face counselling and financial counselling services at over 90 locations throughout the metropolitan area and across regional Victoria.
For further information and advice please contact the central regional agency listed below which can link you to a site which is convenient for you.
You can also contact the Gambler’s Help line for information and support on ph: 1800 858 858, or visit Gambling Help Online at www.gamblinghelponline.org.au. Gambler's Help is available 24 hours per day and all services are free and confidential. Gambler's Help can also link you into your local Gambler's Help face-to-face counselling services.
Find your local Gambler's Help
Click on the blue pointers in the map below or use the lists of contacts further down this page.
View Gambler's Help Services Victoria in a larger map
Metropolitan Services
|
Region |
Gambler's Help service |
Phone number |
|---|---|---|
|
Eastern metropolitan suburbs |
EACH Social & Community Health |
1300 131 973 |
|
Inner metropolitan suburbs |
The Salvation Army
|
03 9653 3250 |
|
Northern metropolitan suburbs |
Banyule Community Health Service |
03 9450 2000 |
|
Southern metropolitan suburbs |
Bentleigh Bayside Community Health |
03 9575 5353 |
|
Western metropolitan suburbs |
ISIS Primary Care
|
03 9296 1234 |
Regional Services
|
Region |
Gambler's Help service |
Phone number |
|---|---|---|
|
Barwon |
Bethany Community Support |
03 5278 8122 |
|
Central Victoria |
Primary Care Connect |
03 5823 3200 |
|
Mitchell Community Health Service |
03 5784 5555 |
|
|
Grampians |
Child and Family Services Ballarat |
03 5337 9222 |
|
Relationships Australia (Victoria) |
03 5337 9222 |
|
|
Grampians Community Health Service |
Horsham |
|
|
Wimmera Uniting Care |
03 5382 6789 |
|
|
Gippsland |
Latrobe Community Health Service |
1800 242 696 |
|
Loddon Mallee |
St Lukes Anglicare |
03 5440 1100 |
|
Northern Victoria |
Gateway Community Health Service |
02 6022 8867 |
|
Western Victoria |
Bethany Community Support |
03 5278 8122 |
Indigenous services
|
Region |
Gambler's Help service |
Phone number |
|---|---|---|
|
Inner metropolitan suburbs |
Victorian Aboriginal Health Service |
03 9403 3300 |
Comments Disclaimer
You're now in the public comments section of this page. Please do NOT post personal questions for Gambler's Help service professionals as they do not moderate or reply to questions here. This content comes from other people visiting the site and cannot be vouched for. Also please do NOT give feedback on the site here. A reminder: By using this Web site you are accepting the terms of the Department of Justice Privacy statement.
Comments
Does anyone know about the poker machine commitment? Does it really help you guys?
I have a gambling problem, My first marriage broke coz of my gambling problem, and I'm into my second marriage and I still stop gambling and it's getting worst and worst. I'm always have to money, have lots of debts, feeling depressed and sick in my stomach. I tried counselling and self exclusion but nothing works. I don't know what to do, as I have no one to talk to about it. I hide my Gambling problem to Family and Friends especially my new Husband. I'm so desperate for Help, as I don't know what to do, how to stop this Devil addiction. I want to change to better my life and my family life. I'm so desperate :-(
Hi everyone...A message from an ex pokies addict! I was addicted for years and although I had break outs, the busts got further apart until now they are a memory. Not everyone can go 'cold turkey'. Whatever works is fine!
I understand exactly how you are feeling...I used to feel just the same and I can relate to all that you are saying here and a whole lot more! Being embroiled in gambling addiction is not at all fun! It hurts!
Trust me it IS VERY possible to get over pokies addiction. However it is usually a long haul, hate to tell you lol.
Just be encouraged by the hope that progressively over time you can gradually get your life back on track. One day you will be able to look back and reflect upon how much you have learned. You will feel so proud of yourself to have come through! Promise!
OK maybe you will feel a bit angry too as you learn more about how the gambling industry works, how pokies as potentially harmful consumer products work....but turn your mind to learning about WHY and HOW you became addicted...and you are half way there. Not always are we, the pokies consumers, the only ones who need to lift our game here. As you learn more you will feel much stronger.
Though this message posting service is a step forward, there are also some really great online 'gambling support chat forums' that are more inter-active, where you can get encouragement out of reading others' stories and by talking with people back and forth who have had and DO have the same problems, who really DO understand as well! The chat sites are international but they are also anonymous, welcoming and easy to access.
Just finding out that you are not really some shamefully irresponsible, mentally deficient, uncaring, unfeeling, selfish deviate with two heads (that right now you might feel), helps a lot at first especially!
No doubt you feel as down as you ever want to be, or you would not be here looking. It really helps if you see others admitting how they feel too! Online! Way to go!
When you first face...ie...truly FACE your addiction you feel enormous guilt usually...it's normal! You will get over it. Do not worry about it so long as you accept that things have got to change as of 'now'...and only you can do that. Knowing that you are not the only one ever to have overspent on pokies, is a great start! Pokies addiction is FAR more common than is usually admitted. We just pretend for as long as possible that we are not hooked. So it is time to get 'unhooked' OK?
Just remember, you might have 'lost it' for a while playing pokies...but there were also other factors at work about pokies themselves that might have 'helped' you a bit to get addicted, in the first place!
Pokies addiction IS very 'normal' and 'normal' people get it...because the machines are designed to cause addiction in 'normal' humans! So it is not your fault alone perhaps, what has happened to you. But it IS your issue to FIX!! You know you can't go on overspending at this rate! So start to quit now, at least! It is time to change tack!
Maybe try visiting our Facebook group, Gambling Action Group for some info. and links at least? Our motto is "Don't get mad...get involved"! A lot of the members are ex addicts, counselors and people with a lot of knowledge between them. It might be a bit heavy in ways.
Join there if you feel ready for that, but there are other good self help / chat forums links online that may suit you better right now, as well. Meet new friends as well.
eg gamblingtherapy.org (best one)
wanttostopgambling.com
cyenne.com...care to google them?
Gambling Action Group link is below or just search Facebook groups to find it. A few No Pokies sites come up. Join them all lol! Yahoo Groups as well...
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=630022615#!/group.php?gid=114657365255380
Maybe just get reading and learning, thinking and understanding, chatting anonymously etc?...and by then you may have a bit of a plan in your head!
DO get proper counseling soon though and talk about it all, when you can put words together more? I had a great Gambler's Help counselor, truly! She set me on the road to recovery, so do not turn away from that option out of embarrassment or fear etc! Counselors are invaluable.
The "Road to recovery IS also a road to discovery". Honest!
Get excited, because you are in for an amazing ride! Congratulations for getting this far! Good luck!
I have a problem with pokies.I stay away from them for awhile then invariably I go and waste money that I can't afford to waste.I'm on a pension and have a little boy that means the world to me and I'm tired of this feeling of hatred towards myself.I've even thought of threatening the staff at a local venue,just to get banned.I want to be banned from EVERY venue in the country but it would make a HUGE difference if I could get banned from my local venue in a small town,with no other venue within 60 or so kilometres.
Hi, I am a single mum with a gambling problem. I also work in a gaming venue. I don't want to gamble all the time, it only seems to be when I am on my own. I usually can't find friends to visit when I get the urge because of my work hours, they are all at work when I'm not. I have seen 3 different counsellors but nothing seems to help. .... I want a better life for my daughter, one where I don't always have to say "Sorry I don't enough money"....
Hello, I am a gambler in Melbourne.
I lost around 1500 dollars at online gambles, which is my money for the coming two months room renting fees and food fees.
I am an international student, I can't work much to earn 1500 dollars to live in two months.
I need help, what I done is to reduce my money pressure, but finally it turns to the bad side.
i had problem for few years now. i love playing pokies. got help few times, had counseling and even self exluded myself but i continue to gamble. i have 3 beautiful and understanding children and i love them very much but the gambling has taken over my life. i think im mentaly ill and dont wont to couse my kids any more pain. they love me too much and they need me but not like that. i want them to be happy and have normal life but i fail all the time. there is no help for me because im to emberest to ask as i fail each time. i hope God can help my kids.
i think i am addicted to pokkies, i just can't stop playing them and i am getting myself into a awful state. I know i shouldnt be playing them but once i start it just goes from bad to worse. i seem to want to be playing them all the time. I want to stop now before it gets serious
Please help
Post new comment
Comment Rules
People who want to post comments on problemgambling.vic.gov.au are going to have to follow certain rules. Not all forums are like that, but this one is.
No swearing at all, no insulting individuals or groups, no libel, slander, no lying, no fabricating, no ethnic slurs, no religious bigotry, no threats of any kind, no vulgar humour and no insulting comparisons. Discourse and debate is encouraged but all comments should be polite and civil. This is a public space so please behave and write accordingly.
The Department of Justice reserves the right to remove posts it deems break any of the rules or the spirit of the rules and reserves the right to block individuals from commenting. Language filtering programs will be used to block certain words as will human moderation of all comments too.
Comments should be limited to the topic of the content above. This is not a place for private conversations, no matter how harmless.
Very important: if you see a comment that you feel is inappropriate, let us know by clicking on the 'comment complaint' or 'report this complaint' button.