Talk Money Week: From Harm to Hope - A Journey Through Gambling Recovery

Ygam - Lived Experience Q&A

Join us for a 1-hour session where professionals will gain firsthand insight into the detrimental impact of gambling on individuals and their loved ones. Sam Starsmore, Ygam’s Programme Lead for Education, will share his personal journey, which began with gambling harm at the age of 16. This session offers a unique opportunity to hear Sam’s story and ask questions to deepen your understanding of this emotive issue.

Speaker

YGAM is an evidence-led education programme aiming to help prevent gaming and gambling harms.

Trigger Warning

This session includes discussions around suicide, gambling products, and mental health. Please be advised that the content may be distressing for some attendees.

Support

If you’re impacted by gambling or someone else’s gambling, please contact the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133.

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Talk Money Week 2025

This is our yearly campaign encouraging people to have more open conversation about their finances – from pocket money to pensions – and to continue these conversations all year-round.

We invite organisations across the country, including employers, financial services and educators, to get involved with activities and events. It all helps people to feel more confident talking money – which is often the first step to a better financial future.

2025's theme is 'Start the conversation'

We want people talking about money openly and with confidence, whether it’s:

• a quick chat about budgeting with a partner
• a question for a pension professional or
• introducing the concept of savings to a child.

‘Start the conversation’ offers a first step towards action.

Download the participation pack here: Talk Money Week | Money and Pensions Service

Money Guidance Competency Framework

Technical Domian 1) Knowing your customer Tier 1 and Tier 2.

Technical Domian 2)Debt Tier 1

Foundation Level) Signposting customers: all practitioners – no matter their job role – must be able to elicit simple, information from the customer in order to signpost them to appropriate sources of further support, advice or information.

Before attending this session, you could spend some time considering the challenges you face in your work, specifically when you provide help and guidance to your clients or service users around money issues.

Accessibility

The event takes place online and will be delivered in English. If you have any accessibility requirements such as visual or hearing impairment, or a neurodiverse condition that might affect your experience of the forum, please let us know in advance when you register your place and we will do our best to make sure you can access the session in a way that meets your needs.

The Money Guiders Programme

Money Guiders is provided by the Money and Pensions Service. It is a programme which seeks to help money guidance practitioners improve their knowledge, skills and confidence. Everything that the Money Guiders programme offers centres around the Money Guidance Competency Framework - it's there to help you better understand the full breadth and depth of money related issues that fall outside of the regulated financial advice service sector - the things you talk to your customers about.

Before attending the session, you could:

• Try out our money guidance confidence checker, to find out how you feel about the conversations you have with customers about money
• Spend some time considering the challenges you face in your work, specifically when you provide help and guidance to your clients or service users around money issues.
• Consider how you spot potential problems, how you can start conversations about money in a sensitive way and at an appropriate time?
• Think about how you can maintain good boundaries in your role as a money guidance practitioner within your main area of work?