Wales Online<\/a> reports.<\/p>\nThis wasn’t a first time occurrence for the now 39-year-old. That moment was at the height of a gambling addiction. They first seeds of which were sown when she was the tender age of just nine.<\/p>\n
Elissa would visit local pubs with her family and would make use of a fruit machine, an interest that spiralled as she went through her life and developed an interest in online casino games.<\/p>\n
The former plasterer would work day-to-day, just to help fund her gambling, rushing home to wager her daily earnings online.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_gamb2JPG.jpg\")
Newlywed Elissa Hubbard was meant to be looking forward to married life(Image: Adferiad)<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cMost days, I would skip my basic needs like lunch, I was constantly thinking about getting home to gamble online.<\/p>\n
“I got sacked by several jobs because I would take cash-in-hand for jobs and would use the money for my addiction.”<\/p>\n
At its worst, she was losing \u00a340,000 a year, taking out payday loans, and hiding her secret from loved ones.<\/p>\n
She said things came to a head her ex-partner confronted her about the wedding money gifted by their family and friends.<\/p>\n
And as the truth came out, she lost everything.<\/p>\n
Her marriage, her home, her stepchildren, her job, and her dignity, were all lost.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife had absolutely no idea what had been going on, she said I had basically lived a double life,” she said. \u201cIt cost me everything; my marriage, my step-kids, my home, and job.”<\/p>\n
Facing uncertainty after her truth was revealed, a member of Elissa\u2019s family pointed her in the direction of an Adferiad pathway to combat addictions and improve mental health.<\/p>\n
After an assessment, she was referred to Adferiad\u2019s Parkland Place rehabilitation unit in north Wales.<\/p>\n
“It was the best feeling I\u2019d had in a long, long time \u2014 getting the dates to go into treatment and knowing I was finally getting help,” she said.<\/p>\n
Here, Elissa learned more about the science related to addiction and was empowered to improve her self-worth through the vital work of counselling and education.<\/p>\n
However, recovery is rarely a straight line, and after leaving support, Elissa relapsed, turning to alcohol and prescription drugs, once again finding herself in crisis.<\/p>\n
Recognising she needed more help, she sought guidance from Parkland Place, where she was also directed to North Wales Recovery Communities, a recovery support group that networked individuals from similar experiences.<\/p>\n
\u201cI found out a lot about myself,” she said. “I don\u2019t hate everyone \u2013 I just hated myself. People lift you up from similar experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, Elissa has transformed her life, taking her lived experience to support others within Adferiad.<\/p>\n
Living in Rhyl, Denbighshire, she has given her guidance and experience to support residents of Parkland Place for the past three years, helping individuals navigate various addictions through counselling.<\/p>\n
The 39-year-old now works as a Welsh Women\u2019s gambling coordinator for Adferiad, where she delivers guidance to individuals, all over Wales, facing issues with addiction.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t carry that shame anymore,\u201d she said. \u201cThe past is the past, and I\u2019m doing something about it today. I feel like I\u2019m turning all the negative stuff into positive \u2014 to help others.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember first using a fruit machine at a young age by visiting pubs with family,” she said. “Children are often exposed to these environments at a young age, and I don\u2019t think people appreciate that they can have a knock-on effect on their later lives.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elissa Hubbard spent the night of her wedding locked to her mobile phone. Robert Dalling and Annette Belcher…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[103,61,60,410,411,2096],"class_list":{"0":"post-132723","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth","13":"tag-people"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_gamb1JPG.jpg\")
Elissa has shared her story(Image: Adferiad)<\/p>\n