You need to mug up on the CAP dealing with ATC licensing, downloadable from NATS.
ATC is a marvellous career but the training is lengthy - several years until you would be working solo at an ATC unit. As well as the basic training for the licence and ratings(s) there is then very considerable training on-station before you go solo. Unfortunately, nobody will know if you will eventually go solo until you start on-station training.
Options are military, but hardly to be recommended given your family ties, and civil. In civvy-street the best option is NATS where all training is provided and you would be paid during training and have a guaranteed job if you were successful. You can also undertake training at several private colleges but these cost two arms and six legs with no guarantee of work at the end. You could also try for an assistant job at a non-state airfield as they sometimes provide sponsorship for good ATCA staff to undertake ATCO training.
Expect many helpful suggestions on here and I wish you all the luck in the world...