Here for everyone affected by gambling

What makes Chapter One different

A fuller picture, based on evidence 

We give people the full picture of how gambling harms happen, including the role of product design, marketing and the wider environment — not only individual behaviour. This shifts the focus away from blame and shame, and towards prevention and recovery. 

Public health at the centre 

Chapter One is built around a public health approach and we are currently partnered with over 40 local authorities. Anyone can experience gambling harms, at any time, from any background. Our information is for everyone, not only those who already identify as being at risk. 

Lived experience at the core 

The voices of people harmed by gambling, and of those bereaved by gambling-related suicide, shape what we say and how we say it. This is not a service designed for people. It is a service designed with them. 

Independent and trusted 

Chapter One is independent of the gambling industry. People who use Chapter One can be confident that the information they find here is impartial and grounded in evidence. 

Specialist-led public health campaigns

Many local authorities want to raise awareness of gambling harms in their communities — helping residents recognise the signs, reducing stigma, and shortening the route to treatment and support. Chapter One delivers and supports public health awareness campaigns in partnership with local authorities, applying the same expertise, framing and lived experience that shape the rest of our work.

Three ways to deliver a gambling harms campaign

When a local authority wants to run a gambling harms campaign, there are usually three options:

1. Run the campaign in-house, relying on internal communications teams

2. Outsource to an advertising or media agency, buying paid media and creative through a generalist partner

3. Work with a specialist gambling harms provider such as Chapter One

Media agencies can place advertisements, but they are not set up to make sure messaging is clinically sound, informed by lived experience, stigma-aware, and aligned with the treatment and support people will reach for. Talking about gambling harms to people who are experiencing them, or who are close to someone affected, takes expert handling — not a generic comms approach. The wrong message, in the wrong tone, in the wrong place, can deepen stigma rather than reduce it.

What you get when you work with Chapter One

Working with us brings four things a generalist agency cannot:

• Specialist subject expertise. Our team understands gambling harms first-hand, through both personal and professional experience. Every message is built on that understanding.

• Evidence-informed framing. We apply established public health framing to behaviour change communications, grounded in behavioural insight rather than generic advertising creative.

• Lived experience applied to messaging. Our campaigns are shaped by people who have been harmed by gambling and by families bereaved by gambling-related suicide. This is what keeps messaging authentic and stigma-aware.

• Safe signposting. Every campaign points people to NHS gambling services and other evidence-based support, so awareness turns into action and no-one is left without a next step.

Combined with our independence from the gambling industry, this means campaigns that are well-targeted, clinically sound, and trusted by the communities they reach.

Working with us

If your local authority or partnership is planning a gambling harms campaign, we would be glad to talk. We can deliver an end-to-end campaign, support an in-house team, or work alongside a media partner where one is already appointed.