Thank you for being here.
Some of you found us as parents β because gambling has reached someone you love, and you went looking for people who understand. Some of you found us through your work β as counselors, clinicians, and programs who sit with families in the hardest moments and want something to put in their hands.
You're all welcome here. This is our first newsletter, and we're glad you're on this list.
Why We Exist
Something we want everyone to understand, no matter why you signed up for this newsletter. Discovering that gambling has taken hold of your child β whether they're nineteen or thirty-nine β is one of the most frightening, confusing, and isolating experiences a parent can go through. Many of us know that feeling firsthand. The sleepless nights. The questions that don't seem to have answers. The quiet fear that no one around you could possibly understand.
The thing so many of us needed to hear, and didn't:
You are not alone, and you do not have to figure this out by yourself.
Most families know very little about gambling disorder until it reaches someone they love. And unlike other addictions, when we went looking for information and support, we couldn't find it. So we came together and built it ourselves.
Parents Standing Together is a nonprofit community of parents who have lived through the shock, the confusion, and the heartbreak of discovering our children were struggling with gambling. We're not a clinical resource or a helpline. We're parents helping parents β real talk, real experience, and real hope.
Something NEW We've Been Building
Parents Learning Together is a self-paced online course created by parents, for parents.
Most of us pieced this together the hard way: scattered articles, message boards, lots of meetings, late-night searching. This course is all of it in one place, in an order that makes sense, from people who've lived it. It's the information many of us needed in those first frightening weeks β and in all the months that followed.
One thing we want to be clear about: it's written to meet parents wherever their child is β whatever their age.
Not everyone comes to us with a child already in recovery. Most don't. And no matter how old our kids get, they're still our kids.
Take a Look Inside
Watch a short preview so you can see it for yourself.
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If you're a parent: this will give you a feel for the tone and format, so you know what you're walking into before you start.
If you work with families: this will show you whether it's something you'd feel comfortable pointing parents toward. We built it to sit alongside clinical care, not to substitute for it. We'd welcome your honest read If you would like a deepr dive. Email us at hello@parentsstandingtogether.org and we can provide you access.
What's Inside the Course
Module 1 β Understanding What is Happening: What gambling looks like today, why young people are vulnerable, the warning signs so many of us missed, and how to begin the first conversations.
Module 2 β Stabilizing Yourself and Your Family: Finding support and caring for yourself without guilt, communication that helps instead of escalates, the difference between supporting and enabling, and protecting your family and finances.
Module 3 β Recovery, Support, and Long-Term Hope: What recovery can look like, the treatment and support options available, handling setbacks, and the road ahead β including the reasons so many of us have found for hope.
Every lesson includes a 10-minute lesson video, written material, and a reflection guide, plus a short personal video from a parent, a clinician, or someone in recovery. Self-paced, in whatever order a parent needs, with no timeline to keep up with.
Course participants also get live course peer support with us β a weekly zoom session to ask questions to lived-experience parents with ICGC or IGRS credentials, think out loud, and talk through what they're facing with people who have been there and have had professional training on gambling disorder.
Get more information and enroll at
learn.parentsstandingtogether.org/plt-course
The course includes lifetime access to all three modules, the reflection guides, and live course support zooms every week with us.
The Complete Parents Standing Together Support Pathway
Part 1: Parents Navigating Together β First contact, first steps. Conversations with parents who have been where you are, for the moments when you don't know what to do next.
Part 2: Parents Learning Together β Parents can educate themselves with free resources on our website and purchase our course as described above.
Part 3: Parents Rebuilding Together β Community and healing, because this journey is long and none of us should walk it alone.
Visit us anytime at parentsstandingtogether.org for resources, our online community links, and how to reach us.
Clinicians and treatment programs: if you'd like to refer families to us or talk about what group access could look like for the parents you serve, just reply. We'd love to hear from you.
Our Blog Posts
Our website contains many blog posts on different topics of interest to parents and others who work with and care about people suffering gambling harm.
parentsstandingtogether.org/resources/
Read our latest blog here!
Is Kalshi Gambling? What Parents Need to Know About Prediction Markets
We're glad you found us.
Whether you are parenting someone experiencing gambling harm, in recovery yourself, or you are someone working in prevention, support, or treatment, we would love to partner with you. Please reach out at hello@parentsstandingtogether.org.
More soon.
You Are Not Alone. Together We Find Hope.
Parents Standing Together provides peer support only β not therapy, medical care, counseling, or legal advice. No professional services or treatment are offered. For any medical, legal, financial, or mental health concerns, please consult a qualified professional. If you or your child is in crisis, call or text 988 for immediate help, or 911 in an emergency.
For gambling-specific support, the National Problem Gambling Helpline is available 24/7: call or text 1-800-MY-RESET or chat at ncpgambling.org/chat.
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