Helen Okafor
Clinical lead · Counselling psychologist
Helen founded Steady Ground after a decade in NHS addiction services. She specialises in CBT for gambling and supervises the counselling team.
About us
Built by counsellors who saw the gap
Steady Ground exists because specialist gambling support in the UK was hard to find, slow to access and often not designed for people who were still holding down a job and a family.
Our story
From a borrowed room to a full team
Our clinical lead, Helen Okafor, spent ten years in NHS addiction services. Most of the people she saw for gambling had been struggling in secret for six years or more before anyone knew. By the time they arrived, debt, relationships and work were all in trouble.
In 2019 she started seeing clients two evenings a week in a borrowed room above a community centre in Bristol. Word spread, mostly from clients telling partners and partners telling friends. Today Steady Ground is a team of six counsellors seeing people across the UK, still with the same rule Helen started with: nobody waits more than a week for a first conversation.
What we stand for
Four things we will not compromise on
01
No judgement, ever
Shame keeps people gambling for years longer than they otherwise would. We work hard to be the first place where telling the whole truth feels safe.
02
Honest about money
Fees are published, reduced-fee places exist, and we will tell you if we think free NHS services would suit you better.
03
Practical before philosophical
Insight matters, but so does a blocked bank card. Every session ends with something concrete to do before the next one.
04
Relapse is information
A slip is not the end of recovery and it is not a moral failure. It tells us something about the plan that we then go and fix.
The team
People you will actually meet
Every counsellor is registered with a UK professional body, receives regular clinical supervision and has specialist training in gambling.
Sam Whitfield
Senior counsellor · Family & systemic work
Sam works with couples and families affected by gambling, and leads our partners' group. Trained in systemic practice at the Tavistock.
Ruth Delaney
Counsellor · Groups & aftercare
Ruth facilitates our evening peer groups and runs the aftercare programme. Her background is in mindfulness-based relapse prevention.
Services
Ways to work with us
One-to-one counselling
Private weekly sessions with a counsellor who specialises in gambling. We look at what drives the urge to bet, build practical tools to interrupt it, and work on what life looks like beyond gambling.
- 50-minute sessions
- Online or in person
- Same counsellor throughout
Partners & family sessions
Gambling rarely affects one person alone. We offer sessions for partners, parents and adult children, whether or not the person who gambles is ready to attend.
- Joint or separate sessions
- Rebuilding trust and finances
- Boundaries that hold
Small peer groups
Facilitated groups of six to eight people at a similar stage of recovery. Hearing your own story in someone else's words is often the moment things start to shift.
- Evening slots
- Closed groups, same faces each week
- Facilitated by a counsellor
Aftercare & relapse planning
Recovery does not end when sessions do. We put a written plan in place, offer monthly check-ins and keep the door open if a difficult patch arrives later.
- Written relapse plan
- Monthly check-ins for a year
- Fast return access
Not sure which option fits?
Tell us a little about what is going on and we will suggest a starting point. There is no wrong door.