About
Gambling harm conversations need to start earlier.
The Prevention Project is a lived-experience-led gambling harm organisation built around a simple belief: Prevention doesn’t start at rock bottom. It starts much earlier.
We work across education, sport and organisations to make gambling harm easier to understand, easier to talk about and easier to seek support for.
Our approach combines honest lived experience with relatable education, open conversation and measurable impact. We don’t want gambling harm education to feel like another lecture, and we don’t believe meaningful prevention comes from simply telling people what they should or shouldn’t do.
We want people to understand gambling, recognise how harm can develop and feel able to talk about it before things reach crisis point.
Why we exist
Born from a gap we couldn’t ignore.
The Prevention Project was founded in the South West after our founder, Macauley South, began looking more closely at the gambling harm education, prevention and support available in the communities around him.
Having experienced gambling addiction himself, Macauley knew what it was like to recognise that something was wrong while still young — but not fully understand what was happening or where it could eventually lead.
Years later, through recovery and his work supporting and educating others, one question became increasingly difficult to ignore:
What might have happened if the right conversation had taken place earlier?
Macauley began researching prevention and lived-experience work taking place elsewhere and comparing it with what he was seeing across Plymouth and the wider South West. He saw an opportunity for more.
- More conversations before somebody reached crisis.
- More gambling harm education for young people.
- More lived experience in the room.
- More understanding within education, sport and organisations.
- Clearer routes towards support when somebody recognised something in themselves.
That became the foundation for The Prevention Project.
We are proudly rooted in the South West, with an ambition to strengthen gambling harm prevention, education and support within the communities around us — and ultimately take that work wherever it can make a difference.
Born in the South West. Built to make a difference here — and beyond.
Our mission
Earlier understanding. Better conversations. Easier access to support.
Our mission is to prevent gambling harm before it takes hold, make it easier to talk about when it does, and ensure that nobody facing it feels they have to face it alone.
We want young people to understand gambling, risk and progression before experiencing serious harm themselves.
We want gambling harm to become something people can talk about without shame, judgement or feeling that they should simply be able to control it.
We want schools, colleges, universities, training providers, sport and organisations to feel better equipped to recognise gambling harm and know how to respond.
And when somebody is already struggling, we want them to leave an interaction with The Prevention Project knowing:
- You’re not alone.
- Somebody understands.
- And somebody wants to help.
The experience is personal. The purpose is prevention.
Whether you’re a school, a sports club, an organisation, or someone who needs to talk — start with a conversation.
Book a conversation