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Online Addiction Counselling · Belfast
Online Addiction Counselling in Belfast
Online addiction counselling for Belfast, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Belfast, from the city centre and the Cathedral Quarter to the streets around the City Hall, 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 Belfast
Addiction Counselling for Belfast, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Belfast: from the city centre and the Cathedral Quarter to the Falls, the Shankill, east Belfast and the south of the city
- Known for
- The City Hall, the Titanic Quarter and the shipyard cranes
- Region
- Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland)
- Local NHS / support route
- Local council drug & alcohol service (see below)
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Belfast
Why people in Belfast reach out
Belfast is a resilient, fast-changing capital still living with the legacy of the Troubles alongside the ordinary pressures of a modern city. Intergenerational trauma, community divisions and real deprivation in parts of the city all shape what people here carry, and privacy can matter all the more.
Belfast wraps around the Lagan and the great yellow cranes of the old Harland and Wolff yard, a city that has remade itself around the Titanic Quarter, Queen's University and a lively Cathedral Quarter. Days move between the Glider buses running east and west, the covered stalls of St George's Market, and the green rise of Cave Hill above the north of the city. Students fill Botanic and the Holylands, workers pour through the new Grand Central Station, and the ferries slip out towards Cairnryan and Liverpool. From Ballyhackamore's cafes to the murals of the Falls and the Shankill, it is a place of strong loyalties and warm humour, where a great deal of ordinary life is lived close to a complicated past.
Where work follows shifts and the rhythm of the docks, online sessions bend around unsociable hours rather than asking you to fit your life around them.
Belfast is home to Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University's city campus, and to the Royal Victoria Hospital and Belfast City Hospital, with health and social care delivered by the Belfast HSC Trust.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Belfast
Cathedral QuarterTitanic QuarterFallsShankilleast BelfastBotanicStranmillisOrmeauBallyhackamoreAndersonstownMaloneSydenham
Wherever you are in Belfast, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Belfast
These figures are local context from official sources, not a description of you, but they show the scale of what people in and around Belfast are living with, and why local support matters.
There were 63 drug-related deaths registered in the Belfast council area in 2023, the highest of any Northern Ireland LGD (37.3%) out of 169 drug-related deaths across Northern Ireland, which had an age-standardised rate of 9.1 per 100,000. Source: NISRA - Drug-related and drug misuse deaths in Northern Ireland, 2023 (2023).
Local data last reviewed June 2026. Each figure shows the year and links to the official source it was read on.
The addiction counselling itself
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.
The approach is the same wherever you live, so rather than repeat it on every page you can read it in full, the methods, what each session covers and fees, on the main addiction counselling page and on how I work.
How online sessions work
Sessions run over a secure, encrypted video link held to the same strict BACP confidentiality as meeting in person. After a free fifteen-minute call to check we are a good fit, you join each session from any private space using a phone, tablet or laptop, no software to install, no waiting room and no journey at either end.
Reaching support in Belfast can be as simple as finding a quiet hour and a reliable connection. Sessions here are held online, by secure video, right across Northern Ireland, so you never need to cross the city or sit in a waiting room. Please know the counsellor is based in Hove and works UK-wide by video rather than seeing anyone in person here, which means help fits around your day wherever you are in the city.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
How online addiction counselling in Belfast can help
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 Belfast
Why people in Belfast come for addiction counselling
Belfast lives close to a complicated past, and addiction rarely stands alone here. For many, a compulsion took root as a way of managing what the years of division and the ordinary strain of city life left behind. In a place where communities are tightly held and word travels, the fear of being recognised can keep people from a local service for far too long. Confidential online counselling offers a different door: an honest, unhurried conversation held by secure video from your own front room, wherever you are between the Falls, the east and the leafier reaches of south Belfast.
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 Belfast
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Belfast, your GP can refer you to local NHS-funded drug and alcohol services, and you can find your nearest one via the NHS “find a service” directory.
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, and the Samaritans are on 116 123.
Belfast questions
Online Addiction Counselling in Belfast: common questions
Can I get online addiction counselling if I live in Belfast?
Yes. I work with people right across Belfast, from the city centre and the Cathedral Quarter outwards, and anywhere else in Northern Ireland, by secure video, no need to travel to Hove, and just as confidential as meeting in the room.
Do I have to be abstinent before we start?
No. We begin wherever you are. The work is about understanding the need the behaviour has been meeting, not passing a test first.
Can you help with gambling or behavioural addictions, not just substances?
Yes. The same approach applies to gambling, food and other compulsive behaviours, because we work with the underlying pattern rather than only the substance.
Is it really confidential if I'm worried about people finding out?
Completely. Sessions are private, online means no waiting room, and everything is held under the BACP Ethical Framework.
Is online addiction counselling private enough in a city like Belfast?
Yes. Because sessions are held by secure video from home, there is no local waiting room where you might be seen. The counsellor is based in Hove and works across Northern Ireland online, which many in Belfast find far more private than being recognised nearby.
How soon can I start addiction counselling in Belfast?
Usually within a week or two. You begin with a free 15-minute consultation to talk things through, then we book your first full session at a time that suits. Everything runs online by secure video, so from Botanic to east Belfast you can start from home without a waiting list.
How much does addiction counselling cost compared with the NHS in Belfast?
NHS addiction support in Belfast runs through the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and is free, though access can take time. Private sessions with me are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free 15-minute consultation, with no wait to begin.
Do you offer evening online addiction sessions for Belfast?
Yes. Evening slots suit people working long days in the city or commuting on the Glider, and sessions are held by secure video from wherever you are, whether the Cathedral Quarter or the Malone Road. You need only a private room and a steady connection to take part.
Can I see the counsellor in person in Belfast?
No. The counsellor is based in Hove and works only online, by secure video, with people across Northern Ireland. You can have sessions from home anywhere in Belfast, which many people find more private than attending somewhere in the city.
Does online counselling work as well from Belfast?
Many people find a video session from their own front room easier than travelling across the city. All you need is a private space and a steady connection, whether you are in the east, the north or the south of Belfast.
Online Addiction Counselling in Belfast, 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: Lisburn, Newtownabbey, Bangor. See all of Northern Ireland.
All counselling & therapy in Belfast: Substance Use · Drinking Problems · Anxiety · Depression · Relationship · Trauma · Counselling & Therapy · Psychotherapy.
Closer to the Sussex coast? The same addiction counselling is available in person in Brighton & Hove, or see all in-person areas.