A gambling diary is a strategy to help you stop gambling or change your behaviours. This diary can help you understand why you gamble and how it impacts you.
This strategy is useful when you want to reduce or stop gambling. With a few minutes of your day, you can really start to manage and understand your gambling.
A gambling diary is a strategy to help you stop gambling or change your behaviours. This diary can help you understand why you gamble and how it impacts you.
This strategy is useful when you want to reduce or stop gambling. With a few minutes of your day, you can really start to manage and understand your gambling.
You can use a journal, a notepad, or the notes app in your phone. We’ve created a gambling diary template that you can download onto your phone or print out.
Each day, write down and answer the following prompts:
Be honest with yourself in your gambling diary. Some feelings might be scary to think about or to write down – confronting these feelings is a critical step in developing self-awareness and making changes.
Download or print a free gambling template here.
Review your diary each week and compare it with signs of gambling harm.
Some signs of gambling harm include:
You may not actively notice these signs in yourself until you look back into your journal.
By writing about your gambling, you may start to identify patterns in your gambling. These patterns can help you understand why you gamble and what triggers you to gamble.
You may find that you start gambling in certain situation or when you’re in a certain mood. For example, maybe you’ll find that you gamble when you’re feeling bored, or only when you’ve had a few drinks.
When you identify what triggers you, you can start to avoid or manage those triggers. You can learn more about triggers and urges here.
We suggest using your journal consistently – for example, every day or a few times a week.
Even on days you don’t gamble, it’s important to write about your achievements, such as resisting your urges, overcoming triggers, or finding a sense of joy in other activities.
Keep your journal in a place where you’ll remember it, such as on your bedside table.
We recommend using your gambling diary for at least 12 weeks.
We strongly recommend seeing a gambling counsellor in conjunction with using your gambling diary.
A gambling counsellor can help you make sense of patterns and triggers and turn those into helpful strategies. A counsellor can also help provide a sense of hope and positivity.
You can confidentially speak with a gambling counsellor by ringing 1800 858 858.
Our Gambling Help counsellors are available to chat 24/7 at 1800 858 858. It’s free and confidential.
We can also book you in for free, ongoing face-to-face counselling.
