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Online Addiction Counselling · Cambridge
Online Addiction Counselling in Cambridge
Online addiction counselling for Cambridge, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Cambridge, from the colleges and the centre to the streets around the Backs, 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 Cambridge
Addiction Counselling for Cambridge, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Cambridge: from the colleges and the centre to Mill Road, Cherry Hinton and Chesterton
- Known for
- The colleges, the Backs and the river Cam
- Region
- East of England (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- NHS drug & alcohol service finder (see below)
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Cambridge
What brings people in Cambridge to counselling?
Cambridge runs on being able. The University of Cambridge, Anglia Ruskin University, Addenbrooke's Hospital and the science and technology sector of Silicon Fen all reward people who deliver, and a great many here have built an entire identity on coping. That is hard ground on which to admit that something has taken charge. The betting app open during a supervision, the cocaine that keeps a founder going, the drinking that steadies a hand before a presentation. Hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions ran at 456.1 per 100,000 in 2023/24, below the England average of 504.1, and low figures in a high-performing city can make an individual feel even more alone with it.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Cambridge
Mill RoadCherry HintonChestertonTrumpingtonNewnhamRomseyArburyPetersfieldKings HedgesColeridge
Wherever you are in Cambridge, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Cambridge
Official figures for Cambridge, for context rather than as a description of you.
the rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions (narrow definition) was 456.1 per 100,000 in 2023/24, below the England average of 504.1 per 100,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Admission episodes for alcohol-related conditions (narrow) (2023/24).
the rate of deaths from drug misuse was 3.6 per 100,000 in 2022 - 24, below the England average of 5.8 per 100,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Deaths from drug misuse (2022 - 24).
Reviewed June 2026.
What does addiction counselling involve?
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: the full addiction counselling page sets out the methods, how I work covers the practicalities, and qualifications, registration and ethics covers accountability.
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.
Bradley is in Hove and works with this city by video only, which removes the thing people here worry about most: being seen. In a small city where colleagues, supervisors and neighbours overlap constantly, walking into a named building in Petersfield is a real deterrent. Online, a session fits between teaching, a lab block or a sprint, and can be taken from a rented room in Romsey or Arbury without anyone in the house knowing what the call is about.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What does addiction counselling 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 Cambridge
Why people in Cambridge come for addiction counselling
The word addiction covers more than substances, and in Cambridge the behavioural side comes up constantly: gambling accounts, compulsive work, spending, gaming, pornography, alongside alcohol and cocaine. What unites them is a loop that reliably switches off a feeling, until the loop needs feeding on its own account. Much of the fear that keeps people quiet is practical rather than moral. A researcher worries about a visa or a funding body, a clinician about registration, a student about a term being lost. Counselling here does not begin with a demand to stop. It begins with what the habit is being used to manage, which in this city is very often the terror of not being good enough. For structured treatment there is the free Change Grow Live drug and alcohol service for Cambridgeshire, and the NHS find a service directory lists it. CPSL Mind covers wider mental health.
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 Cambridge
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. You can find your nearest free NHS-funded drug and alcohol service via the NHS “find a service” directory (search “Cambridge”).
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 choose the mental health option. The Samaritans are free, day or night, on 116 123, or 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.
Cambridge questions
Online Addiction Counselling in Cambridge: common questions
I am a researcher and worried about my funding. Is this confidential?
Completely. Nothing is reported to a university department, a funder, a regulator or an employer, and there is no NHS record created. Confidentiality only gives way where there is a serious risk to life. That boundary is explained fully in the free 15-minute call before you commit.
How soon can sessions begin during term?
Usually within a week or two of the first free call, and there is no waiting list. That matters in a city working to eight-week terms, where a referral that takes three months arrives after the crisis point has already passed and the vacation has scattered everyone.
What do sessions cost on a postgraduate income?
The rates are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free 15-minute consultation. Cambridge living costs are steep, so fortnightly sessions are a legitimate way to make the work sustainable rather than a sign of not taking it seriously.
Should I use the NHS drug and alcohol service instead?
Use it as well if you want medical assessment, prescribing or group support, all free through the Change Grow Live service covering Cambridgeshire. Counselling is the private, consistent hour looking at causes. In a demanding academic or start-up environment, having both running is often what makes either stick.
My problem is overwork and gambling rather than drink. Does that fit here?
It fits precisely. Behavioural compulsions are addiction in every meaningful sense, and in a city built around output they are easy to disguise as ambition. Sessions treat a betting account or a compulsive workload with the same seriousness as a substance.
Can counselling help if I am still holding down a demanding job or course?
Yes. Many people in Cambridge keep performing while an addiction quietly grows, and high functioning can delay asking for help. Working online means you can talk it through around lab hours or deadlines, from your own room, without anyone needing to know.
How soon can I start addiction counselling online in Cambridge?
Usually within a week or so. I am based in Hove and work with people across Cambridge and the Fens by secure video or phone, so there is no local waiting list to join. We begin with a free 15-minute consultation, then arrange a first session around your study, shift or commute.
What are your fees, and how does this compare with NHS addiction support in Cambridge?
My sessions are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, with a free 15-minute consultation first. NHS addiction services in Cambridge are free but often carry a wait, whereas private online work with me can start quickly and at a time that fits your week.
Do you offer in-person or evening addiction sessions in Cambridge?
I work entirely online, by video or phone from Hove, rather than from a room off Mill Road or in Chesterton. That suits days shaped by lab hours or teaching terms, and we can arrange evening times so you talk from your own space without being seen walking in anywhere in town.
Online Addiction Counselling in Cambridge, 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 East of England: Peterborough, Norwich. See all of East of England.
People who come for addiction counselling in Cambridge often also look at substance use counselling, counselling for drinking problems and trauma counselling.
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.
Closer to the Sussex coast? The same addiction counselling is available in person, in Brighton, or see every area I cover.