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Online Addiction Counselling · Canterbury
Online Addiction Counselling in Canterbury
Online addiction counselling for Canterbury, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Canterbury, from the city walls and the centre to the streets around the cathedral, 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 Canterbury
Addiction Counselling for Canterbury, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Canterbury: from the city walls and the centre to Wincheap, St Stephen's and Hales Place
- Known for
- The cathedral, the city walls and the Stour
- Region
- London & South East (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- Kent County Council's drug and alcohol support
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Canterbury
Why do people in Canterbury reach out?
Canterbury holds two populations at once. There is the city inside the walls that empties and refills with the academic year, and there is the part of it that simply lives here, in Wincheap or Thanington or out towards Sturry, and watches the other one arrive every autumn. A habit moves easily between the two. Term time makes heavy use unremarkable, because everybody around you is doing something similar and nobody stays long enough to spot a trend. Then the students leave in June and the habit does not. What looked like being nineteen turns out to be a pattern, and by then there is a house in Hales Place that has watched it happen without ever mentioning it.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Canterbury
WincheapSt Stephen'sHales PlaceThaningtonBleanSt Dunstan'sSturryBarton
Wherever you are in Canterbury, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Canterbury
Official figures for Canterbury, for context rather than as a description of you.
the rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions (narrow definition) was 433.7 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 4.8 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 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: the full addiction counselling page sets out the methods, how sessions run and what they cost covers the practicalities, and my BACP registration covers accountability.
What happens in 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.
Canterbury is seen online, since Bradley works from Hove and keeps nowhere in Kent to attend. That matters in a small city where the same faces circulate: no building to be seen entering, no reception, nobody who might recognise you from a lecture hall or a ward. Sessions run by secure video from wherever a door closes, which in a shared house usually means headphones and the camera turned off. Early and evening slots both exist.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What can addiction counselling in Canterbury 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 Canterbury
Why people in Canterbury come for addiction counselling
This is the broadest of the three services, and drink is only one of the things it takes in. Gambling accounts, gaming, spending and pornography all work the same way, and a student loan or a first salary can vanish into an app without a bottle ever entering the house. The work examines the loop itself: the feeling that arrives just before, the relief that follows it, and the bill that turns up later. Because the habit is nearly always doing a job, removing it without understanding the job rarely holds for long. Nothing is met with disapproval. Kent County Council's drug and alcohol support is the statutory route for the city and holds anything prescribed or medical. Change Grow Live runs the Kent Recovery Houses covering Canterbury, and East Kent Mind offers wider mental health support across the district.
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 Canterbury
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Canterbury, free local drug and alcohol support is available through Kent County Council's drug and alcohol support.
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.
Canterbury questions
Online Addiction Counselling in Canterbury: common questions
I am a student here. Can I get help without going through the university?
Yes. This is private counselling, so nothing reaches your department, your tutor or your student record. You book the free 15-minute consultation yourself. If it feels right, weekly sessions usually begin within a week or two, and term dates make no difference to what is available.
What does it cost, and is any part of it free?
The free part is the 15-minute consultation at the start. After that an hour is £80, an hour and a half is £100, and two hours is £120. You pay as you go, so nothing is committed in advance and you can stop the moment it stops being useful.
How is this different from Kent County Council's drug and alcohol support?
That is the statutory service for the city, free to use, and the place prescribing, structured treatment and harm reduction belong. Change Grow Live runs the Kent Recovery Houses locally. Private counselling starts sooner and stays confidential throughout. A good many people use one alongside the other.
Can I keep the same counsellor when I go home for the summer?
Yes, and that is one of the practical advantages of working by video. Sessions follow you rather than an address, so a placement, a summer at home or a move after graduation interrupts nothing. Occasionally a time zone needs discussing, and that is the extent of it.
Everyone in my house drinks and bets like this. Is mine really a problem?
Living among people doing the same thing makes it close to impossible to judge from the inside. The clearer question is what it costs you: money you cannot account for, mornings written off, promises to yourself that keep breaking. That is worth examining whatever the rest of the house does.
I'm at university here but feel unsettled. Is that something counselling covers?
Very much so. Feeling adrift even while surrounded by other students is one of the most common things people at Canterbury's universities raise. Online sessions let you talk it through privately from your own room, fitted around your timetable, with nothing to walk into on campus.
How soon can I start online addiction counselling in Canterbury during term?
Usually within a week. After a free 15-minute consultation we find a slot between lectures, shifts or seminars. Because sessions are online, there is nothing to travel to and no waiting list, so students at the University of Kent or Christ Church, and residents around Wincheap, can begin quickly.
What does addiction counselling cost in Canterbury, and can the NHS or university help?
This is private: £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free 15-minute consultation. Separately, your GP, university student services, and Kent's council-funded drug and alcohol service all offer support, the NHS route being free and open to self-referral.
Away from campus and housemates, is online addiction counselling more private in Canterbury?
For many students it is. An online session, away from halls or a shared house around Hales Place or St Stephen's, lets you talk without being seen going anywhere. Sessions flex around the term, evenings included. The room is in Hove if you can travel down to the coast for an in-person meeting.
Online Addiction Counselling in Canterbury, 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 London & South East: Ashford, Margate, Maidstone. See all of London & South East.
Also available in Canterbury: substance use counselling, counselling for drinking problems and trauma counselling.
There is more on this in my writing: the four Rs framework and illness or indulgence?.
For anyone near the coast, the same addiction counselling runs in person in Brighton. Every area covered is listed separately.