Taxi driver launches mental health support group after beating gambling addiction
Gambling addict Dan Lambert often worked a 10 hour shift as a taxi driver – then another 10 hours to get his money back after betting his takings.
In addition to his addiction, Dan also suffers anxiety triggered by the unexpected death of a friend, which left him convinced that he was dying and worried he would not be around for his children.
Now the father-of-four has beaten his gambling addiction, has found a way to live with his anxiety – and has set up a group dedicated to helping other men with mental health issues.
Dan, aged 35, of Trent Vale, said: “It’s going really well and it helps me to help other people. “I have suffered massively with depression and anxiety. “I started gambling all the family money away.
“Some days I would work a 10 hour shift, then I’d gamble all my takings away. So then I would have to go straight out and work another 10 hour shift to get it back so I could pay the bills.
“Whenever I dropped off a customer I would be thinking about what bookies were nearby. “I’d even bet the pound coins I had for the float in the taxi.
“But I’ve not gambled for 18 months now. Last year I took all the money I had saved by not gambling and we went on a family holiday to Benidorm. “That felt really good.”
He emailed a photograph of himself, which GamCare sent to betting shops around Stoke-on-Trent, effectively banning him from entering. “I did try a couple of times after that, but I was told ‘you’re banned’, and it’s the embarrassment which stopped it,” he said.
Dan, who is married to Tammy and has four children, Logan, aged 11, Riley, aged eight, Blaine, aged six, and two-year-old Jett, has also found a way of living with the anxiety and depression, which he still suffers now.
It was originally triggered by the death of someone he knew, by the traumatic birth of his son Riley, and from watching the former football player Fabrice Muamba suffering a heart attack live on TV, during the Premier League match between Bolton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur.
He said: “It started when my brother’s girlfriend’s sister died suddenly. I thought if it can happen to her, it can happen to anyone. “Ten days later my child was born in very traumatic circumstances.
“Two weeks after that I was watching the game when the footballer Fabrice Muamba had a heart attack. “I started to have anxiety and panic attacks. I felt a pressure on my chest and I ended up at the hospital demanding to have an ECG. I thought I was having a heart attack.
“I didn’t know what was going on and I didn’t really know about mental health. “I just wanted to be there for my kids.”
Now Dan is in a much better place. He still suffers anxiety and depression, but is now well aware of his mental health issues. He copes through breathing exercises and is also prescribed antidepressants.
What has also helped Dan is setting up his own men’s mental health awareness group, Let’s Speak, on Facebook. Despite only launching less than two weeks ago, the group has already got a membership of more than 1,200 people, including in 26 different countries.
Members are encouraged to talk about their own issues and seek support from others within the group.
Dan and other administrators are on hand to offer support – with Dan in particular able to share his own insights into gambling addiction and depression and anxiety.
In fact just before Christmas, Dan used his insight to talk down a vulnerable person from a bridge.
“As a taxi driver all his customers love him. He’s so calm and he makes everyone feel welcome. “People can trust him and it helps him when he’s helping other people.
“With Dan’s depression I used to say, ‘There’s nothing wrong with you.’ “But now I always say to our children that you can speak to us if you feel low or sad.
“Dan was tremendous when he talked the man down from a bridge. I was crying thinking that it could have been Dan or one of our boys up there.
“Someone did go past in a van and said, ‘If you’re going to jump, jump.’ “Women are better at talking about our feelings, but men do struggle and that’s why it’s so important to have groups like this.”
Dan says Let's Speak is not in competition with mental health groups, such as Men Unite.
He added: “It doesn’t matter how many support groups there are – the more the merrier. We should all be cheering each other on.”
Contact Let’s Speak (Men’s Mental Health Group) over Facebook.
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