Can anyone recommend a personal intervention expert for someone with a serious gambling addiction?

A family member has a serious addiction to gambling, as well as alcohol and drugs. Within the family we have tried everything without success. We need to find an expert who could come in and provide some intense confrontation/intervention assistance. We are in Canberra, Australia. THANK YOU!

There is a TV show on A & E channel called "Intervention" at the end they always put up contact info about getting help. Try that and good luck. Just google, even if your in Australia, I'm sure they can help you if not direct you to someone near you.

I can fully relate to what you are talking about. I also had a family member who was addicted to gambling and although we tried many things, nothing worked until he decided himself that it was time to get some help.

Does your relative realize he/she has a problem or do they just 'go along' with everything that is said?

It's very hard to overcome an addiction until such time as the person is ready to give up... until they WANT to give up whatever their addiction is.

My brother would sit and listen to us talking about gambling. He would listen to his counsellor and nod his head in agreement, but as he later told us, he only did that to keep us happy. He didn't think that his gambling was as big a problem and didn't think anything needed to be done. His thoughts were that we were all over-acting with it.

He went to GA (Gamblers Anon) and actually LEARNT different ways to get money and continue his gambling.

It took a further 10 years before he finally succumbed to the fact that gambling had taken over his life and yes, he did need help with it. Once he realized this he went from strength to strength and has now been a non gambler for almost 2 years.

Some sites that may help you find what you are looking for are:

http://www.soberrecovery.com/links/gambl...

http://www.freeyourself.com.au/story.htm...

All I can really suggest is keep standing by your family member. At times it will seem really tough and you'll ask yourself why are you doing this. It's because you love them and want only the best for them.