A Small Gift — For Someone Who Is Struggling

Eleven pages, one pound. For when somebody you love is gambling and you do not know what to say.

You print it, you write one line on it, and you leave it somewhere they will find it on their own. That is the whole idea. No programme, no lecture, nothing for them to sign up to.

Two ways to give it

Hand it over. Print it, write one line on the front in your own hand, and give it to them. The letter does the opening, so you are not stood there trying to find the words.

Or leave it, and never say it was you. Print it and put it somewhere they will find it alone — a coat pocket, a bedside table, the kitchen worktop. Write nothing, or write one line and do not sign it. Nothing in the letter names you. They read it with nobody watching their face, and they never have to admit they read it at all.

For a lot of people the second way is the only one they will actually take, and that is fine. Both ways are explained here.

Four different letters — print the one that fits

The words change depending on who is giving it, because being handed something by your partner is not the same as being handed it by your child. There is a letter from a partner, from a parent, from a friend, and from a grown-up son or daughter. Each one is written differently the whole way through — not the same letter with a word swapped.

You print one, not four.

Twenty wallet cards, in two sets

Set one — when the urge is here. Ten cards for them, for the sixty seconds before a decision gets made. Ten minutes. Play the tape to the end. Change the room. Card ten is the helpline, already written down.

Set two — for you. Ten cards for the person standing next to it. You did not cause it. Think before you clear the debt. Measure honesty, not money. One of them is there to hand to somebody else who has said nothing yet.

Every card finishes at 85.6 × 54mm — exactly a bank card, so it sits in a wallet without folding. Cut lines are printed on, ten to a sheet.

Everything in the eleven pages

• A cover page, so it looks like something somebody made rather than a printout
• A read-me-first page, so you know what to print and what not to give away
• Four alternate letters — partner, parent, friend, adult child
• The numbers. National Gambling Helpline, Samaritans, GAMSTOP and GamFam on one page, large enough to read at three in the morning
• A printing and cutting page, so the cards come out the right size
• Two card sheets — twenty cards in total
• A page for you. How to hand it over, and what not to do afterwards

Why it is a pound

Because the point is that somebody gives it, not that I sell it. It costs a pound so that price is never the reason you did not.

Instant PDF download. Nothing is posted. Print it as many times as you like, forever — and if you know two people who need it, print it twice.

It is not treatment and it is no substitute for help. The National Gambling Helpline is free on 0808 8020 133, 24 hours a day. GamFam supports families and partners, and your own recovery is not a side issue.