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It's Mental Health Awareness Week. Across the UK this week, organisations, workplaces and communities are coming together to talk about mental health and what we can do to look after it.
This year's theme is Take Action. The idea behind it is simple. Awareness on its own isn't enough. Real change happens when people take a step, no matter how small, to support their own mental health or someone else's.
Gambling belongs in this conversation. The effects of gambling can shape how you feel, how you sleep, how you think and how you connect with the people around you. If gambling is affecting you, this week is a good moment to take one small step.
This page is a place to start.
The link between gambling and mental health
Gambling and mental health are tied together in ways that are easy to miss.
The effects of gambling can show up as anxiety, low mood, trouble sleeping, irritability, or a sense of being on edge. They can build up over months or years, and they don't always feel connected to gambling at the time.
Research backs this up. In 2025, the University of Bristol published a nine-year study showing that gambling harms have a measurable, lasting effect on mental health, not just in the moment, but years later.
If any of this sounds familiar, it's worth knowing two things. You are not the first person to feel this way, and how you're feeling isn't a sign of weakness. It is a recognised effect of products that are designed to keep people gambling.
Why gambling gets missed in mental health conversations
Gambling harms are often hidden. Unlike many other health concerns, there is rarely an outward sign that something is wrong. People can carry the effects for a long time before anyone notices, sometimes including themselves.
That makes the link to mental health easy to overlook. Someone may speak to their GP about anxiety, low mood, or sleep problems without ever mentioning gambling, because they don't see the two as connected.
This is starting to change. In January 2025, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published new clinical guidelines on gambling-related harms. Health and social care professionals are now advised to ask about gambling alongside other questions about mental health and wellbeing.
If gambling is part of how you've been feeling, you can read more about how the two are linked on our Gambling and Mental Health blog.
What action can look like
The theme of Mental Health Awareness Week this year is Take Action. Action doesn't have to mean a big, sudden change. For many people, the first step is small and quiet. Here are four you can take this week.
Notice how you've been feeling.
Pay attention to your mood, your sleep, and how you've been around the people closest to you. If gambling has been part of the picture, see if you can spot the connection.
Tell one person.
Saying it out loud, even to one trusted friend or family member, can lift some of the weight. You don't have to have a plan. You don't have to know what comes next. Telling someone is the step.
Put a barrier in place.
Most UK banks now let you turn on a gambling block on your account, and you can sign up to GAMSTOP to block yourself from licensed online gambling sites. These tools work in the background and can give you breathing room while you decide what to do next.
Reach out for support.
The NHS runs free, confidential clinics for people experiencing gambling harms, which you can join remotely, and there is help available beyond that too. You don't need to be at crisis point to ask. Asking early is one of the most useful things you can do.
Each of these on its own is an action. You don't have to do them all at once.
You're not on your own
Mental Health Awareness Week is a reminder that taking care of how we feel matters, and that we don't have to do it alone. If gambling is part of what's been weighing on you, the fact that you've read this far is itself a step.
You are not alone. It's not your fault. There is free, confidential help available, and there has never been more of it.
When you're ready, you can find what's available, near you, on our How and Where to Get Help page. Whether you take that step today, this week, or another day, it's there for you.
