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Online Addiction Counselling · Bangor
Online Addiction Counselling in Bangor
Online addiction counselling for Bangor, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Bangor, from the marina and the centre to the streets around the coastal path, with the same BACP-registered, confidential support as an in-person session, and no journey.
BACP registered member25+ years of experienceLived experience
ConfidentialA safe, private space
Person-centredThe therapy fits you
In and around Bangor
Addiction Counselling for Bangor, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Bangor: from the marina and the centre to Ballyholme, Groomsport and Conlig
- Known for
- The marina, the coastal path and Belfast Lough
- Region
- Northern Ireland
- Local NHS / support route
- ASCERT, which supports people across Northern Ireland with drug and alcohol use
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Bangor
What is going on for people in Bangor?
Bangor is a commuter town with a holiday front on it, and both halves make the same thing easy to miss. The train carries people towards Belfast in the morning and returns them tired in the evening, while the marina and the North Down Coastal Path fill in July and empty out by October. A habit settles comfortably into either rhythm. It becomes the thing that closes the day after the commute, or the thing that fills the winter once the visitors have gone home. Nobody in Ballyholme or Bryansburn is going to notice a phone screen, an account balance or the sheer amount of time somebody spends alone. What gets noticed first is money, and it gets noticed late.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Bangor
BallyholmeGroomsportConligBloomfieldClandeboyeWhitehillRathgaelBryansburn
Wherever you are in Bangor, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Bangor
Official figures for Bangor, for context rather than as a description of you.
There were 9 drug-related deaths registered in the Ards and North Down council area (which covers Bangor) in 2023, 5.3% of the 169 drug-related deaths registered across Northern Ireland that year, which had an age-standardised rate of 9.1 per 100,000. Source: NISRA - Drug-related and drug misuse deaths in Northern Ireland, 2013-2023 (Table 9a) (2023).
In Ards and North Down, the council area covering Bangor, 3.3% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, compared with a Northern Ireland average of 5.2%, a difference the survey's margin of error does not confirm. Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Personal well-being estimates by local authority (Year ending March 2023 (2022-23)).
Reviewed June 2026.
What actually happens in addiction counselling?
Addiction counselling here treats the pain beneath the habit, not just the symptom, alcohol, drugs, gambling, food or behavioural, so recovery is something you grow into rather than force.
What actually happens in the room is the same everywhere, so it is written up once: see everything on addiction counselling for the methods, the practical side for fees and session lengths, and my credentials and registration if you want to check who you would be working with.
How do online sessions actually work?
Sessions run over a secure, encrypted video link, held to the same BACP confidentiality as meeting in person. After a free fifteen-minute call, you join from any private space on a phone, tablet or laptop.
Bradley works from Hove, so all of this happens by secure video, which suits a week already shaped by the train. Nothing has to be reached after work and nothing has to be squeezed into a lunch hour in the city. An appointment can sit in the evening once you are back, or early before the commute starts. Where employment is seasonal, the hour moves with the rota instead of being fixed to a slot you would only lose.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What can addiction counselling in Bangor help with?
Drugs and substances
Compassionate, confidential help with substance use.
Gambling
Breaking the cycle of compulsive gambling, guilt and debt.
Food and behavioural
Support for food and process addictions.
Affected by a loved one
Help for those living alongside someone's addiction.
The pain underneath
We treat the cause, not just the symptom.
Addiction Counselling in Bangor
Why people in Bangor come for addiction counselling
The word addiction still makes most people picture drink or drugs, which leaves out a good deal of what actually comes through this service. Gambling accounts. Gaming that swallows a night. Deliveries nobody sees arrive. Pornography. Each runs the same circuit of relief, cost and concealment, and it is the concealment that grinds a person down over time. The work takes that circuit apart slowly, asking what the habit is worth to you, what it originally solved, and what it is being used to solve now. There is no lecture in it and no ranking of habits by how bad they sound out loud. Where a statutory route helps alongside, ASCERT covers drug and alcohol support across Northern Ireland, a GP referral opens the wider Health and Social Care route, and Lifeline is free at any hour on 0808 808 8000.
A free, unhurried first step
Not sure if it is right for you? A free fifteen-minute call is a no-obligation way to talk it through.
Book a free 15-minute callDrug, alcohol & addiction support in Bangor
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Bangor, your GP can refer you to local drug and alcohol services, and you can find support through ASCERT, which supports people across Northern Ireland with drug and alcohol use.
For confidential information and advice, FRANK (on 0300 123 6600) and Drinkline on 0300 123 1110 are free, and Alcoholics Anonymous and SMART Recovery run peer-support meetings you can find online.
Other local and national support verified for this area includes:
If you need urgent help now
This is not a crisis service. If anyone is in immediate danger call 999. For urgent mental health support, call Lifeline free on 0808 808 8000. Lifeline is free on 0808 808 8000, the Samaritans are on 116 123, and you can text SHOUT to 85258.
If you drink heavily or use drugs daily, do not stop suddenly on your own. Withdrawal can cause seizures and can be dangerous. Speak to your GP or a local drug and alcohol service first, and they can arrange a safe, medically supported withdrawal. Counselling works alongside that, not instead of it.
Bangor questions
Online Addiction Counselling in Bangor: common questions
What actually happens in the first two weeks?
You have a free 15-minute consultation, decide whether to go on, and then usually start weekly sessions within a fortnight. The first full hour is mostly you talking and me listening for the shape of things. Nothing has to be resolved in it. There is no referral and no assessment panel involved.
How are the fees set out?
Sessions cost £80 for the hour, rising to £100 for ninety minutes and £120 for two. The 15-minute consultation that comes beforehand is not charged for. Payment is per session rather than in blocks, so there is no package to buy up front and nothing to commit to beyond the week you are in.
What is the official route here if I want that too?
Ask your GP, who can refer you onwards through Health and Social Care, and look at ASCERT, which supports people with drugs and alcohol right across Northern Ireland. The NHS find a service directory shows what is running near you. None of that rules out counselling; the two sit together quite naturally.
Can this fit round the commute into the city?
That is much of the reason online works here. There is no travel attached to the appointment, so an hour costs an hour rather than an evening. Slots before the morning train or after you are home both exist, and keeping the same weekday each week tends to help the work hold together.
My betting picks up when the season ends and the work dries up. Is that relevant?
Very. Habits attach themselves to gaps, and a seasonal town produces a large one every autumn. We would look at what the winter actually removes, whether that is company, structure, money or purpose, and what could realistically occupy that space instead of an account on a phone.
Does being on the coast mean fewer services nearby?
It can, especially in winter. Online counselling closes that gap: the counsellor is based in Hove and works across Northern Ireland by secure video, so you can talk from home in Bangor whatever the season, without waiting for a space in Belfast.
How soon can I start addiction counselling in Bangor?
Usually within a week or two, and you will not wait for a local space to open. We begin with a free 15-minute consultation, then book a first full session. It is all online by secure video, so you can start from home near the marina or in Ballyholme.
How do your fees compare with NHS addiction services in Bangor?
NHS addiction support here runs through the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust and is free, though referrals can be slow. My fees are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free 15-minute consultation, with no wait to begin.
Can I have evening online addiction sessions in Bangor?
Yes. Evening slots suit the commute into Belfast and the quiet winter months alike. Sessions are held by secure video from home, from the seafront to Groomsport or Conlig, so you need only a private room and a steady connection rather than a journey out.
Online Addiction Counselling in Bangor, whenever you are ready
A free fifteen-minute call is the simplest place to start, no obligation, just a chance to see if we are the right fit.
Also available online across Northern Ireland: Belfast, Newtownabbey. See all of Northern Ireland.
If addiction counselling is not quite what you are looking for, substance use counselling, counselling for drinking problems and trauma counselling may fit better in Bangor.
If you would like to read more first, I have written about a cognitive-restructuring exercise for compulsive behaviour and the four-stage cycle of addiction.
For anyone near the coast, the same addiction counselling runs in person in Hove, where the room is. Every area covered is listed separately.