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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
- 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 Belfast
What is going on for people in Belfast?
Belfast is a small capital, and that is the part people underestimate when something has got out of hand. The person behind the counter knows your sister. The same faces turn up in the same bar in the Cathedral Quarter every Friday night. Asking for help can feel like an announcement, so it stays hidden instead: an account topped up on the phone on the way home to Ormeau, a bet placed standing in a work toilet, a whole week quietly rearranged around one thing. Set that beside a city still living with the long aftermath of its conflict and the ordinary grind of rent and shifts, and a private way of managing feeling can pass, for years, as coping.
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
Official figures for Belfast, for context rather than as a description of you.
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).
In the Belfast council area, 8.6% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, well above the Northern Ireland average of 5.2%. Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Personal well-being estimates by local authority (Year ending March 2023 (2022-23)).
Reviewed June 2026.
What is addiction counselling, in practice?
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.
Because the work itself is the same wherever you live, the detail sits in one place rather than all of them: everything on addiction counselling sets out the methods, how I work covers the practicalities, and my BACP registration covers accountability.
What do I need for an online session?
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 everything here happens by secure video. Nobody sees you go into a building and nobody sits opposite you in a waiting area. Where a habit has been kept from the people you live with, that privacy is the point of the arrangement rather than a convenience attached to it. People take the hour from a bedroom, a parked car, or a lunch break at a desk in the Titanic Quarter. Early morning and evening slots both exist.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What can addiction counselling in Belfast 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 Belfast
Why people in Belfast come for addiction counselling
Addiction here is wider than drink and drugs. Gambling, gaming, shopping, phones and pornography run the same loop: something that reliably shifts how you feel, then the cost of it, then the secrecy that grows to cover the cost. We work on the loop rather than the label, which means asking what it does for you, when it started, and which feeling it steps in front of. Nobody gets told off. Shame is usually the strongest part of the whole business and feeding it has never made anyone stop. The scale is real: NISRA registered 63 drug-related deaths in the Belfast council area in 2023, more than any other council area and 37.3 per cent of the 169 across Northern Ireland. Counselling sits alongside the statutory route rather than replacing it. ASCERT covers drug and alcohol support, your GP can refer you on through Health and Social Care, and Lifeline is free on 0808 808 8000 at any hour.
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 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.
Belfast questions
Online Addiction Counselling in Belfast: common questions
How do I start if nobody in my house knows about it?
It starts with the free 15-minute consultation. It is a conversation rather than an assessment, and you decide how much of it to say out loud. If the fit seems right, weekly sessions usually begin within a week or two. There is no referral to arrange, no form from a GP and no waiting list to join.
What do the sessions cost?
An hour is £80. Ninety minutes is £100 and two hours is £120, which some people prefer for fewer, longer appointments. That first 15-minute conversation is free. Fees do not change according to what you are coming about, and they are the same by video as by telephone.
Is this instead of ASCERT or the NHS route?
Neither replaces the other. ASCERT provides drug and alcohol support across Northern Ireland, and the NHS find a service directory shows what else is open near your postcode. Using a statutory service and counselling at the same time is common. Anything medical or prescribed has to come through your GP and Health and Social Care.
Can I be seen face to face somewhere in the city?
No, and that is worth being plain about. Bradley is in Hove and works across Northern Ireland by secure video only, so there is nothing to travel to. In practice it suits this particular work: you stay in your own surroundings, you lose no time crossing town, and nobody has to be told where you were.
I gamble on the phone rather than drink. Does that belong here?
It does. A habit needs nothing swallowed to run your finances into the ground, wreck your sleep and put you in the position of lying to people you love. Betting apps never shut, they leave nothing to smell or throw out, and the losses can stay invisible until they are very large indeed.
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.
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.
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 Belfast.
Some further reading, if that helps before getting in touch: a cognitive-restructuring exercise for compulsive behaviour and the four-stage cycle of addiction.
If you can reach the south coast, this work is also done face to face in Brighton — all in-person areas are listed here.