Gambling Addiction Coaching
One-on-one coaching for gambling addiction, plus the free weekly support group. Built from lived experience, not a textbook.
YANA — You Are Not Alone. Michael Fowler coaches young men and their families through drug, alcohol, and gambling addiction. One of the few coaches in Dallas dedicated to gambling recovery — and he's walked this road himself.
Gambling addiction hides well. It doesn't smell like alcohol and it won't show up on a drug test. These are common signs families notice — not judgments.
Debts that only surface when a creditor calls
Borrowing from family, friends, or credit cards "just this once"
Chasing losses — betting more to try to win back what's gone
Betting apps deleted, then reinstalled days later
Lying about time or money spent gambling
Mood swinging hard with wins and losses
Missing work, class, or family time to bet or watch a game closely
Belongings sold or savings drained quietly
None of this makes someone a bad person. It means the addiction is driving. Michael has been on both sides of that wheel — and knows how to help someone find their way back.
Michael facilitates a free weekly gambling support group. No referral required, no cost, no obligation to work with him afterward. Come as you are.
Chemical addiction and gambling addiction frequently show up in the same person — sometimes the same week. They feed the same craving and the same spiral. Address one and ignore the other, and recovery stays shaky.
Michael coaches both together, under one plan, with one point of contact — not two separate tracks that never talk to each other.
One coach, one point of contact, across the whole recovery picture — from the first phone call to the ride home from treatment.
One-on-one coaching for gambling addiction, plus the free weekly support group. Built from lived experience, not a textbook.
Drug & alcohol coaching, minimum twice-weekly in person, plus daily check-ins. Michael meets clients where they live and helps them find sponsors, home groups, and meetings that stick.
ARISE-model interventions led by an ARISE-certified interventionist — inviting the family in, not ambushing the client.
Michael works with parents as much as the client — one point of contact, one invoice, logistics handled, and coaching on boundaries along the way.
Same-day response, an honest assessment, and help placing into detox or treatment. If it's serious, Michael will personally stay until things stabilize.
Safe transport to and from detox, treatment, or sober living — anywhere in Texas and beyond.
Parlays in the group chat. Poker in the frat house. Same-day fantasy apps between classes. Gambling shows up early in college — often alongside drinking — and it's easy to hide inside a busy campus life.
Michael works with SMU-area and other college students, and young men whose families are ready to help but don't know where to start. For families who won't sit in a public support group because they don't want to be seen, this is a quieter way in.
Private, judgment-free coaching that works around a class schedule — on campus or off.
A single, discreet point of contact who will tell you the truth about what's going on and what to do next.
Young men stalled between college and independence — home, unsure how to restart, and quietly slipping into gambling or substance use along the way. A named starting point, not a diagnosis.
A confidential resource to refer a brother or student to, without it becoming campus news.
You talk, Michael listens. No forms, no pressure, and nothing shared without your permission.
He'll tell you what he's seeing and lay out real options — not a script.
Coaching, intervention, or crisis placement starts as soon as you're ready.
Michael was a nationally ranked junior tennis player before he tried drugs and alcohol at sixteen. "Within a week I was off and running." What started with cocaine moved to heroin, and for a stretch, he was homeless. It was the pre-fentanyl era — "if fentanyl had been around, there's a good shot I wouldn't be here."
He built ten years of sobriety, then relapsed — so he knows relapse from the inside, not just the textbook. He's now been sober again for about five years, and he's also in recovery from gambling addiction himself.
Michael has worked inside the treatment industry since 2005 — tech, admissions, business development, leadership. "The further I got from the guys, the less connection I felt." YANA Recovery Services is his return to the work that matters: sitting with families at 2 a.m., not managing a department.
He previously served in the recovery ministry at Highland Park United Methodist Church, on SMU's campus, and works in partnership with Campbell Recovery Services.
Before recovery, before YANA — Michael was a nationally ranked junior player. The quiet of an empty court still finds him.
If a client's gambling is outside your scope — or you want a non-clinical coaching resource to work alongside your care — Michael works alongside licensed clinicians and treatment providers, in partnership with Campbell Recovery Services. He stays in his lane: coaching and intervention, not clinical treatment, and he'll keep you in the loop.
Michael has walked both roads — addiction and gambling — and back again. He knows the way isn't a straight line, and he'll walk it with your family.
Call (214) 535-2017Fill this out and Michael will call you back personally. If it's urgent, call now — don't wait for the form.