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John Gilham agreed to take on the role of Gambling Harm UK's (GHUK's) CEO in September 2022.
John advised our Trustees from the outset of his planned retirement on the 31st December 2023, when he will spend more time with his wife and family.
We asked John to further establish GHUK as a charity recognised for the impact of its work.
In this time, John has successfully delivered on pre-existing initiatives as well as developing new ones, enabling the charity's objectives and work programmes to be achieved.
Despite being employed part-time, John’s efforts have been above and beyond with significant amounts of extra time being donated towards the charity's aims.
As Trustees, we thank John for all he has done for GHUK. We want to recognise the thoughtful piece of work John has led in developing an Outline Strategic Model for responding to gambling harm at a system level. Furthermore, the work he has undertaken within the Mid and South Essex ICS has helped give visibility to gambling harm as a key public health issue in the area.
Whilst John is retiring as CEO, he will continue to volunteer and support GHUK as an honorary trustee, with his focus being to continue to provide advice and support as a systems lead in Mid and South Essex ICS.
As John has told those he has been working with, the legacy of gambling harm as an affected other means that for him to achieve his own sustainable recovery, he needs to spend more time doing other things with his life and spend more time with his family and friends.
As John moves on, I will be undertaking the CEO role for an initial interim period whilst we consider the next stages of our development as a charity.
Dr Kishan Patel
Chair of Trustees