{"id":618986,"date":"2026-04-21T14:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T14:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/618986\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T14:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T14:34:12","slug":"hartson-to-lead-free-gambling-recovery-workshop-in-lerwick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/618986\/","title":{"rendered":"Hartson to lead free gambling recovery workshop in Lerwick"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A GAMBLING recovery workshop led by former Celtic striker John Hartson is set to come to Shetland later this week.<\/p>\n<p>The free event at Lerwick Town Hall on Thursday, which does not require a ticket, will see Hartson talk about his own experiences with a gambling addiction.<\/p>\n<p>He will also be joined by senior specialist therapist Tony Marini and Sarah Hartson for a conversation about gambling harm and what can be done to prevent it.<\/p>\n<p>John Hartson will lead a gambling recovery workshop in Lerwick this week.<\/p>\n<p>Hartson scored 109 goals in 201 appearances for Celtic, winning six major trophies, and also earned 51 caps for Wales.<\/p>\n<p>He has spoken candidly about battling a severe gambling addiction during his playing days, which saw him lose tens of thousands of pounds.<\/p>\n<p>The event is said to be \u201cfar more than a workshop\u201d, being described as \u201can experience that opens eyes, starts vital conversations and creates a genuine cultural shift around gambling harm\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Scottish Parliament election ads2 of 3<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom the moment the session begins, a warm, no-judgement space is created where people feel able to open up, reflect and engage in conversations that are often avoided \u2013 but critically important,\u201d the promotional information reads.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese workshops don\u2019t just raise awareness \u2013 they actively reduce stigma, strengthen mental health resilience, protect families and improve financial wellbeing across teams and communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Councillor John Fraser, who has helped to bring the workshop to Shetland, said the workshop was open to everybody.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not a supporters event nor is it just for those affected by gambling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019ll educate on how to see the signs of problem gambling in either yourself or someone else (family member, friend, colleague, employee).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019ll guide on how to help and appropriately signpost. It\u2019ll help on how to signpost help for affected others.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd it\u2019ll help open the conversation and combat stigma.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The John Hartson gambling recovery workshop is being held at Lerwick Town Hall at 7pm on Thursday 23 April.<\/p>\n<p>Shetland News is asking its readers to consider paying for membership to get additional perks:<\/p>\n<p>Removal of third-party ads;<br \/>\nBookmark posts to read later;<br \/>\nExclusive curated weekly newsletter;<br \/>\nHide membership messages;<br \/>\nComments open for discussion.<\/p>\n<p>If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.<\/p>\n<p class=\"row-text sign-in-message\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/account.shetnews.co.uk\/?redirect_to=https:\/\/www.shetnews.co.uk\/2026\/04\/21\/hartson-lead-free-gambling-recovery\/\" title=\"Sign in\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign in<\/a> to hide this message.<\/p>\n<p>\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/payments_horizontal_2.png\" alt=\"Payment methods accepted\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A GAMBLING recovery workshop led by former Celtic striker John Hartson is set to come to Shetland later&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,232448,19215,13292,232449,84,5581,28051,393,394,33918],"class_list":{"0":"post-618986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fraser","11":"tag-gambling","12":"tag-hall","13":"tag-hartson","14":"tag-health","15":"tag-john","16":"tag-lerwick","17":"tag-mental-health","18":"tag-mentalhealth","19":"tag-town"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}