Gambling addiction counselling in Barnsley and online

An addiction like any other

Problem gambling is recognised as an addiction, in the same family as alcohol and drug addiction. The two main diagnostic manuals, DSM-5 and the World Health Organization's ICD-11, both classify it that way. Research also points to the same reward systems in the brain (Clark, 2015).

It rarely sits on its own. In population surveys, more than a third of people with gambling problems also had an anxiety or mood problem (Lorains and colleagues, 2011). In my experience, what sits underneath is often what brings people to counselling anyway: stress, low mood, loneliness, money worries. The ways forward overlap too. NICE recommends planning for lapses and practical blocks on gambling sites and payments, alongside talking therapy (NICE, 2025).

Free help comes first

Gambling counselling and treatment are available free. The National Gambling Helpline, run by GamCare, is free and open 24 hours a day, and can connect you to free counselling. The NHS runs specialist gambling clinics, including the NHS Northern Gambling Service for Yorkshire, and you can refer yourself. Both support family members too. The numbers are further down this page.

If free support suits you, use it. Some people would rather choose who they see and stay with them throughout. That's what I offer.

My background with gambling

I'm Tracy Simpson. From 2014 to 2020 I spent six years as an associate counsellor with Krysallis, a GamCare partner agency, delivering GamCare-funded gambling addiction counselling to problem gamblers and their families. Since then I've continued to work with gambling and other addictive behaviour in my private practice.

I'm a Registered Member of the BACP (45587) and an Accredited Registrant with the NCPS (NCS20-00911). You can check both registrations through the links in the footer.

You don't need to tick every box, and you don't need to hit rock bottom before asking for help. If any of this is familiar, it's enough.

A way forward without shame

Counselling gives you a private space to understand what drives the gambling and to find healthier ways to manage the pressures underneath it, whether those are stress, boredom, escapism or something deeper. I draw on ideas from CBT, the approach most gambling treatment services use, alongside time and space for the emotional side: the secrecy, the shame, the damage to trust at home.

Counselling offers support and space to work things through. It isn't a medical treatment or a quick fix, and no counsellor can promise you an outcome. What I can promise is that you won't be judged in this room.

Sessions can help with:

• Understanding the triggers and patterns behind your gambling
• Developing other ways to manage stress and difficult feelings
• Working through shame and secrecy
• Rebuilding trust in relationships affected by gambling
• Making a realistic longer-term plan, including what to do after a lapse
• Support for family members affected by someone else's gambling

What happens in sessions

You can start with a free 10-minute call, or book a session straight away if you already know you'd like to. The call has no forms and no commitment. You tell me a little about what's going on, I tell you how I'd work with it, and you decide whether it feels right.

If you go ahead, sessions are 50 minutes, weekly or fortnightly, in person in private counselling rooms near Barnsley town centre or by video. Individual sessions are £70. There's no fixed number of sessions and no contract tying you in. Some people come for a couple of months. Others stay longer because there's more underneath the gambling than they first thought. We review it together as we go.

What you tell me is confidential, with the standard exceptions every counsellor works to around serious risk of harm. I'll explain exactly how that works before we begin.

If it's someone you love

Partners, parents and adult children of people who gamble often carry the heaviest load: the discovery, the secrecy, the money, the question of whether to stay. You're allowed to get help for yourself, whether or not the person gambling ever does.

I work with affected family members individually, and with couples where gambling has damaged trust. The NHS Northern Gambling Service also supports family members directly, free of charge. My page for families covers practical steps, including protecting household finances, in more depth.

Your options, in full

Private counselling isn't the only route, and it isn't always the right first one. Here's the full picture.

If you want to talk to someone right now. The National Gambling Helpline is free, confidential and open 24 hours a day, every day. It's run by GamCare, who've been doing this for over 25 years. They offer information, support and access to free treatment, and they also support family members.

Free NHS specialist treatment. The NHS Northern Gambling Service covers Yorkshire, including South Yorkshire, with a clinic in Sheffield and video appointments if travelling doesn't work. Their team includes psychologists and therapists, treatment is usually CBT over a series of weekly sessions, and they support affected family members too. You can refer yourself: use the referral form on their website, and they aim to come back to you within a few days.

Peer support. Gamblers Anonymous runs free meetings across the UK, in person and online, using a 12-step approach. For many people, sitting in a room with others who get it is powerful in a way nothing else quite matches.

Blocking tools. GAMSTOP is a free self-exclusion scheme that blocks you from online gambling sites and apps licensed in Great Britain. Many banks now offer a gambling block on your card too. Tools like these don't fix the underlying pattern, but they buy you breathing space while you work on it. My full guide to blocking tools covers GAMSTOP, bank blocks and blocking software in more detail.

Money and debt. If gambling has caused financial problems, free and confidential debt advice is available from MoneyHelper, StepChange, and National Debtline. You don't have to have the money sorted before you deal with the gambling. Most people do both at once, and if things feel desperate right now, Samaritans can help too.

A note on changes. The way free gambling support in England is funded changed in April 2026, and some services are reorganising as a result. Everything above was checked in July 2026. If a number or link here ever stops working, the National Gambling Helpline will know the current route.

Using more than one route

It doesn't have to be either-or. Plenty of people use a blocking tool, get debt advice and see me, all at once. If you're not sure what's right, that's exactly what the free 10-minute call is for. I'll say if I think another route would serve you better.

I'm based in private counselling rooms within the South Yorkshire Physiotherapy Centre on Day Street, near Barnsley town centre, with people coming from across Barnsley and South Yorkshire, including Wombwell, Hoyland, Penistone, Royston and Sheffield. Online, I work with people anywhere in the UK.

If gambling isn't quite what's going on, or there's more alongside it, my mental health support page covers other areas I work with.