Recovering gambling addict Craig Clements is living proof that music and the arts can be powerful tools on the road to improving your mental health.
Craig, 49, is pouring all his energies into writing music and poetry to help him overcome his life-long issues with gambling.
Craig, from Chesterfield, has had a decades-long struggle with gambling on horses and football, spending hundreds of pounds playing roulette games in the bookies and using every penny he earned to chase the dopamine hit of a big win.
At one point, he was £80,000 in debt – but even that didn’t make him stop.
After he reached out to the East Midlands Gambling Harms Service for free NHS support, Craig managed to get his gambling under control and despite a few setbacks, he is positive about the future thanks to his love of music and poetry.
“I have had a lot of troubles with my mental health over the last year or so, and writing poetry and music has really helped me,” he said. “I’m also writing my memoir and trying to get that published.”
Craig has always turned to poetry as a release from daily struggles and says he has written hundreds of poems in his lifetime. “I started trying to put some of them to music then uploaded them onto an app which uses AI to put the words and music together,” he said. “It has been a great outlet for me during difficult times.”
He has also uploaded songs onto Spotify, with the first single released on May 12 called Light In My Notes.
Craig realised he had a problem with gambling during therapy for PTSD and other health problems. “I realised that, because I had a difficult childhood which didn’t have a lot of love and affection, my subconscious didn’t know how to do ‘normal’. My subconscious was trying to sabotage my relationships and I was in destructive mode, but having realised that, I’ve addressed it.”
Part of that realisation saw Craig seek help from the East Midlands Gambling Harms Service. He completed the free 12-week course, which includes workshops, cognitive behavioural therapy and support, and said hearing other people’s stories was a big help. “It was brilliant and really helped me to change my life,” he said. “I realised that it’s a journey you have to go on and that if you have a blip, it’s OK, it’s not the end of the world.”
During a difficult couple of years, Craig admits to having had a couple of those blips but is now hoping his music will help others who are struggling, with many of his pieces touching on topics including gambling and addiction.
“I believe a lot of my songs will resonate with people with mental health issues. The other day I was sitting in a car park listening to one of my songs, called Light In My Notes. I had it on quite loud and a man came over and asked me what it was. He was so impressed with it that he took my number and I shared the songs with him.
“He told me he had been struggling but listening to the songs really helped him. I was so pleased that they’d helped, and I hope they help other people too.”
He added: “Men don’t ask for help because it is bred into us from a young age to be strong, you need to be the leader of the pack and don’t show emotion. Writing my songs really helps me to express myself even when times are bad and my biggest hope is that they can help others too.”
Craig’s music can be heard on Suno by searching ‘craigybaby77’ or by clicking here: ASHRYN | Suno
The East Midlands Gambling Harms Service offers specialist treatment and support to people struggling with problem gambling across Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland.
The team is made up of psychologists, therapists, mental health practitioners and psychiatrists, along with ‘experts by experience’ – people who have recovered from a gambling addiction themselves.