Alcohol
For when drinking has stopped feeling like a choice.
Online Addiction Counselling · Bridgend
Online Addiction Counselling in Bridgend
Online addiction counselling for Bridgend, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Bridgend, from the town centre and the Old Town to the streets around the old bridge, 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 Bridgend
Addiction Counselling for Bridgend, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Bridgend: from the town centre and the Old Town to Brackla, Pencoed and Sarn
- Known for
- The old bridge, the river Ogmore and the coast nearby
- Region
- Wales
- Local NHS / support route
- DAN 24/7, the Wales Drug and Alcohol Helpline
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Bridgend
Why do people in Bridgend reach out?
Bridgend has watched big employers arrive and then go again. The former Ford engine plant is the one everybody names, and a town that has lived through that learns not to count on much. When work is uncertain, a habit can end up being the one dependable thing in the week: the same bet, the same order, the same hour of the evening that belongs to you. That is how it takes hold. Not as a crisis but as the only fixed point on the calendar. Around Brackla, Litchard or Wildmill it stays completely private, because the market-town core is small enough that people recognise each other and nobody wants to be the subject of a conversation in the queue.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Bridgend
BracklaPencoedSarnCefn GlasNewcastleOldcastleLitchardWildmillBroadlandsCoity
Wherever you are in Bridgend, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Bridgend
Official figures for Bridgend, for context rather than as a description of you.
In Bridgend the age-standardised drug-misuse death rate was 11.5 per 100,000 in 2022 to 2024, above the Wales average of 8.5 per 100,000. Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Deaths related to drug poisoning by local authority, England and Wales (drug misuse, Table 6) (2022 to 2024).
In Bridgend, 4.1% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, well below the Wales average of 6.9%. 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.
What actually happens in the room is the same everywhere, so it is written up once: see the addiction counselling page for the methods, how I work for fees and session lengths, and my credentials and registration if you want to check who you would be working with.
How does meeting by video work in practice?
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.
There is no consulting room in Bridgend to travel to. Bradley works out of Hove and sessions run by secure video, which means Pencoed, Sarn or a house up one of the valleys is no further away than anywhere else. That matters when buses are thin and a car is not always available. You choose a weekly slot and keep it. Nothing about the appointment appears on a calendar anyone else can see.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
Which difficulties does addiction counselling address?
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 Bridgend
Why people in Bridgend come for addiction counselling
Addiction is a word people resist, usually because they picture the extreme version of it and decide they are not that. The useful question is narrower. Is there something you keep going back to that you have promised yourself you would stop, and does the promise keep failing? That applies to drink and drugs, and equally to betting, to gaming, to shopping on credit, to anything that reliably switches your head off for a while. In a town where money has often been tight and hours have often been unpredictable, gambling in particular gets a grip, because it advertises itself as the way out of exactly that problem. The work here goes underneath the behaviour to what it regulates. Alongside it, DASPA is the single point of access for drug and alcohol support covering Bridgend on 0300 333 0000, and the NHS find a service directory sets out the wider options.
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 Bridgend
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Bridgend, your GP can refer you to local drug and alcohol services, and you can find support through DAN 24/7, the Wales Drug and Alcohol Helpline.
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 NHS 111 and press 2 for urgent mental health support. The CALL Helpline for Wales is free on 0800 132 737, 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.
Bridgend questions
Online Addiction Counselling in Bridgend: common questions
How long is the wait before a first session in Bridgend?
Usually within a fortnight of your free 15-minute call. That call is short and there is nothing to prepare for it. After that, if we both think it fits, you take a regular weekly time. Nobody has to refer you and there is no assessment queue to join first.
What are your fees?
An hour is charged at £80, 90 minutes at £100 and two hours at £120. The hour is what most people book. The introductory 15-minute conversation carries no fee at all, and it is genuinely a chance to ask questions rather than a sales pitch in disguise.
What is DASPA and should I contact them too?
DASPA is the drug and alcohol single point of access for this area, reached on 0300 333 0000, and Bridgend Substance Use Services is run locally by Barod. Contacting them costs you nothing and rules nothing out. Counselling with me can carry on at the same time.
My problem is betting rather than drink. Am I in the right place?
You are. Gambling brings people here as often as substances do, and it tends to arrive with debt and with a lot of secrecy attached. We look at the pull of it honestly, without moralising, and at the practical mess it has made, which usually needs untangling in its own right.
Can I do this without my family in Brackla finding out?
Yes. Sessions are held by video at a time you choose, and there is no letter, no leaflet and no appointment card. Many people take the hour while the house is empty. What you decide to tell anyone at home stays entirely your own decision, and we can think that through together.
I live up the Garw valley, can we still meet?
Yes. Sessions are held by secure video, so how far you are from Bridgend town makes no difference. The appointment reaches you at home, which for valley communities often removes the biggest barrier of all, the journey.
How soon can I start online addiction counselling in Bridgend?
Usually within a week. After a free 15-minute consultation we book your first full session. Whether you are in Brackla, Pencoed or up the Garw or Llynfi valleys, everything runs by secure video, so there is no waiting list and no journey down to the town to begin.
How do your fees compare with NHS addiction services in Bridgend?
NHS substance misuse support through Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board and the free Dan 24/7 helpline costs nothing, though waits vary. My private sessions are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free 15-minute consultation and with no waiting list.
Do you offer evening online addiction sessions in Bridgend?
Yes. For valley communities the evening drive into town is a real barrier, so I keep some later slots. You meet me by secure video from home, whether in Sarn or up the Ogmore valley, with no travel once the working day and the session are done.
Online Addiction Counselling in Bridgend, 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 Wales: Cardiff, Neath, Swansea. See all of Wales.
Close to this in Bridgend, there is substance use counselling, counselling for drinking problems and trauma counselling.
If you would like to read more first, I have written about illness or indulgence? and a cognitive-restructuring exercise for compulsive behaviour.
Closer to the Sussex coast? The same addiction counselling is available in person, in Brighton, or see every area I cover.