Explore: What makes gambling harm lived experience platforms successful?

Read the Scotland Reducing Gambling Harm programme's event report which explores what makes lived experience platforms successful.

Read a new report from the Scotland Reducing Gambling Harms programme which shares finding from our December Roundtable, What makes lived experience platforms successful. This event took place on 2nd December 2025.

The event brought together people with lived experience, those who work in addressing and reducing gambling harms and third sector partners to discuss challenges and opportunities posed by lived experience platforms.

The recommendations from this report will shape and strengthen the redevelopment of Scotland Reducing Gambling Harm’s Lived Experience Forum.

Five key recommendations were highlighted in this report:

Widen and diversify participation

· Move programme activities beyond Glasgow, through regional and community based activities

· Partner with trusted local organisations to reach underrepresented groups (e.g. those who are LGBTQ+, women, young people, minority ethnic groups)

· Set clear diversity and inclusion ambitions

Safe, supported, and equitable participation

· Flexible participation routes (in person attendance, written submissions, audio and video recording, with the choice of anonymity for all routes)

· Provide wellbeing support, clear safeguarding processes, and induction opportunities to enable informed participation

Co production and shared leadership

· Involve members in shaping how we engage, what we research, and what changes we advocate for

· Commit dedicated funding, staff capacity, training, and fair remuneration to make co production meaningful and sustainable

Strengthen relationships and system partnerships

· Strengthen relationships with key public health, local and national government, and third sector partners to ensure lived experience informs decision making

· Start engagement sensitively in communities where gambling harm is not yet recognised as an issue

Lived experience as a driver for prevention and policy change

· Use lived expertise to shift the focus from individual responsibility to the structural drivers of gambling harm, strengthening the case for prevention focused policy

· Co produce research and evidence

· Document impact and learning

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