'I lost my son to gambling-related suicide'

A man who lost his son to gambling-related suicide has urged more people to seek help from a specialist clinic.

John Myers, whose 27-year-old son Ryan ran up gambling-related debts before his death in 2014, said he was passionate about helping others recover from addiction.

Mr Myers said the North West Gambling Service in Liverpool could provide support and treatment for those affected and their families.

"If I can stop one family from going through what we went through then I have done a good thing," he said.

Mr Myers said: "When we started looking into it, [Ryan] spent his wages three times in one day, trying to get out of his debt."

He said it was worrying that someone sitting quietly on their own in the corner of a pub could be "gambling his life away and nobody knows".

Expressing concern about advertising by the gambling industry, he said: "Young kids are seeing these adverts on TV where everybody wins and nobody ever loses out.

"They don't understand the pitfalls of it. Where's the advert that shows people getting kicked out of their house and families getting torn apart?"

Dr Matt Gaskell, clinical lead at the NHS Northern Gambling Service, said they had noticed a rise in the number of women using the clinic's services since it opened a year ago.

He said the clinic was also treating younger people who had developed a problem with online gambling.

Dr Gaskell said use of online casino-style games was "where we are seeing the majority of the harm".

"We are clearly seeing a lot of advertising across daytime television or the school run that is more oriented towards females.

"So we are seeing an increase in referrals from females," he said.

Emma Crookes, a senior mental health nurse at the clinic, said there had been "a huge rise in online gambling over the past few years and it's just so accessible".

She added: "People don't have to go into a bookies or walk into a casino any more - it's right there and obviously that makes it really difficult for people to just stop."

Ms Crookes said staff at the clinic were already seeing the benefits of their work.

"We have had a number of people that have successfully completed treatment and the outcomes are really good," she said.

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