GambleAware, the leading charity and strategic commissioner of gambling harms prevention and treatment services in Great Britain, has announced that four new members have joined its Lived Experience Council.

The Lived Experience Council plays a pivotal role in GambleAware’s strategic development and monitoring its work to ensure it delivers the best results for people experiencing gambling harm. The Council includes a range of people whose lives have been impacted by gambling harm, including affected others, who use their unique and valuable experiences to inform GambleAware’s plans. The new members who will be joining the Council are Sue Acton, Bianca Colclough, Andy May and Niks Kolosnicins.

Sue Acton has a background in financial services, vulnerable customer training and consulting, and organisational psychology. She has worked with several gambling harms organisations, contributed to research, and participated in the NICE gambling harms committee. She has personal experience of severe gambling harms but has now been in recovery for many years. 

Bianca Colclough first shared her story of gambling harm in 2022 having sought help for an addiction to slot machines. Using a number of methods including training to become a lived experience practitioner, Bianca has continued on her road to recovery and now shares her lived experience to help others on their journey.

Andy May began gambling as a leisure activity but it then transcended into something very different  and took over his life. In recovery now for four years he feels incredibly grateful to the organisations within the National Gambling Support Network that helped him along the way. In his own journey, he felt unable to reach out for support for many years but is now keen to use his past experiences to reduce the stigma associated with gambling harm and encourage people to seek help early on.

Currently a third-year university student, Niks Kolosnicins decided to focus his dissertation thesis on researching the impact of gambling harms on affected others. Niks is joining the council as a voice of young people, which GambleAware believes especially important as growing numbers of young people are being exposed to gambling at an early age.

Zoë Osmond, CEO of GambleAware, said: “Our Lived Experience Council plays an integral part in guiding our work and everything GambleAware does. We strive to ensure that it has the widest breadth of people from different backgrounds, so that it represents an extensive cross-section of society, as we know gambling harm can happen to anyone from any walk of life.

“We are pleased to have these four new members as we know they will bring a variety of different experience and views to the Council, which will help improve the lives of people experiencing gambling harm. We look forward to working with them.”