From Survival Mode to Recovery: Lorraine’s Story of Living With Gambling Harm

This story is shared with permission to raise awareness of the often-hidden impact of gambling harm on families and loved ones.

Lorraine Perrons never imagined that a family holiday with her husband and two young sons would mark the beginning of a profound turning point in her life.

During the trip, something didn’t feel right. She noticed her husband repeatedly placing bets during race nights, and an uneasy feeling began to settle in her stomach. At the time, she had no idea that he was struggling with a serious gambling problem, or that their family was already facing a hidden financial crisis.

The holiday was cut short when Lorraine received devastating news: her terminally ill father had been admitted to hospital. On the way home, she asked to stop by the house first. Bills had gone unpaid, post unopened, and her suspicions had grown too strong to ignore.

What she found inside changed everything.

A Mountain of Letters

Lorraine describes discovering “a mountain of letters” that had accumulated during the two-week holiday: credit card debts, loan applications, and urgent demands from creditors. That evening, after visiting her father in hospital, she sat alone and opened each letter, slowly realising the scale of the debt and the reality that had been hidden from her.

“When I confronted him, he eventually looked at me and said, ‘I think I’ve got a gambling problem.’”

The impact was immediate and overwhelming. Emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted, Lorraine continued to work and care for her children while trying to process what was happening. She describes that period as living in “survival mode,” relying heavily on close friends just to keep going from one day to the next.

Four months later, her father passed away.

The Years That Followed

While grieving, Lorraine was also trying to hold her family together and manage the emotional and financial fallout caused by gambling harm. Eventually, the relationship broke down. What followed was a painful two-year divorce, marked by emergency court hearings as agreements around mortgages and financial responsibilities repeatedly collapsed.

During one hearing, a judge described the situation as “a very sad case of what gambling addiction can do to a family.”

Even after the relationship ended, the effects did not. Lorraine and her sons faced years of financial instability, alongside the emotional toll of rebuilding a sense of safety and normality.

“I realised later that I’d spent years living almost like a shell of myself. Holding everything together on the surface while underneath I was exhausted, angry, and emotionally detached from my own life.”

Much later, Lorraine was diagnosed with Complex PTSD, an explanation for the lingering hypervigilance, emotional numbness, and exhaustion she had carried for so long.

The Turning Point

Her real turning point came when she recognised how much unresolved anger and emotional fatigue she was still holding, even as life quietly continued moving forward around her.

That realisation changed the direction of her life.

Lorraine began to study gambling harm, trauma and emotional recovery in depth. Over time, this personal journey shaped her path into therapeutic work, where she now supports both people experiencing gambling problems and the loved ones affected by them.

Her story is a powerful reminder that gambling harm doesn’t happen in isolation, and that recovery is not only possible but transformative, even after years of surviving in silence.

If This Sounds Familiar

If you’re reading this and recognising parts of your own experience, whether you’re still in the thick of it or starting to question how you’ve been coping, this is exactly the kind of work we do inside our 12-week programme.

We, Lorraine and Claire, support affected others to move from chaos to calm, clarity and personal power, through years of expertise blended with our own personal insights from being deeply affected by gambling harm.

You can apply for a place here. Fully funded places are available, subject to eligibility.