Face to face support

Face to face support is a great way to get more personal support. It can be a huge relief to chat with someone who is external to your situation. There are lots of different services that offer free face to face support, including Māori, Pacific and Asian services. This list shows you where these face to face support services are available. You can contact these services directly by clicking here. You can also call our Gambling Helpline team for free, 24 hours a day, on .

What to expect from a counselling session

Video: Sarah explains her role as counsellor and how she helps people to find their own strengths.

While counselling can seem a bit daunting, it can be a great way of getting support for you and your family and friends. You may want to attend counselling separately or together. Free confidential counselling is available to people with a gambling problem and those who are concerned about them. It can be really useful to have an independent person to chat to about your problems and concerns.

What happens

Your first session, which is usually between 1-1 ½ hours, is an opportunity to discuss how you and your counsellor can best work together.

You can expect your counsellor to ask you for a bit of background information and you may also be asked to fill out some confidential questionnaires. These give the counsellor a good idea about how things are going for you and what you'd like to achieve through your sessions.

Subsequent sessions are likely to last for around 50 minutes.