As part of our Aspire curriculum, students in Year 10 study the impact of gambling. Each year, we are delighted to welcome guest speakers into school to discuss their stories and experiences of gambling, and this year, we welcomed Paul Sherrington, who is from Wigan, and has delivered many workshops in schools over the last year. Paul talked about his story where his gambling addition became so severe that he attempted to end his own life. He gambled his way into thousands of pounds of debt and could not hide his problem. He started gambling at the age of 18 and then discovered mobile gambling apps which was a real trigger.
After university, Paul struggled to get into a career, sleep became difficult, and was gambling away all his wages and racking up massive debts. Paul then sought further support with his addiction through Gambling Anonymous and has not gambled for many years now. Paul’s story was really important as it made the situation very real and gave students real life examples of what could happen if you become addicted to gambling, with advice on how to seek support.
