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Online Addiction Counselling · Folkestone
Online Addiction Counselling in Folkestone
Online addiction counselling for Folkestone, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Folkestone, from the Creative Quarter and the Leas to the streets around the Harbour Arm, 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 Folkestone
Addiction Counselling for Folkestone, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Folkestone: from the Creative Quarter and the Leas to Cheriton, Sandgate and Morehall
- Known for
- The Leas, the Harbour Arm and the Creative Quarter
- 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 Folkestone
Why do people in Folkestone reach out?
Folkestone has spent a decade remaking itself, and the Creative Quarter and the Folkestone Triennial are the visible part of that. The other part is less photographed. Regeneration has landed on top of long-standing hardship rather than replacing it, and the two live side by side on the same streets. That matters for a habit, because a town that looks busy and optimistic in July can be very quiet indeed by February, once the visitors have gone and the seasonal work with them. In Foord or Morehall a betting app, a bottle, or an evening that disappears into a screen fills a gap the calendar leaves open every single year.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Folkestone
CheritonSandgateMorehallFoordBroadmeadEast FolkestoneHarvey CentralPark Farm
Wherever you are in Folkestone, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Folkestone
Official figures for Folkestone, 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.
The approach does not change with the postcode, so rather than repeat it on every page you can read it in full, the methods and what each session covers, on the addiction counselling page, alongside the practical side and qualifications, registration and ethics.
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.
Folkestone is seen online, since Bradley works from Hove and there is no Kent address to visit. In a town where the same faces turn up at the harbour and around the Creative Quarter, anonymity is worth more than a building would be. Sessions run an hour at a time by secure video, taken from home, a car or a workspace with a door. Hospitality and tunnel shifts mean early and late slots matter, and both exist.
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 Folkestone
Why people in Folkestone come for addiction counselling
This is the wide service, and it needs no substance at all to be the right one. Gambling turns up here as often as drink, and it is the thing people mention last, because there is nothing to smell and nothing to find, only a balance that will not add up. Gaming, spending and pornography work on the same principle. Sessions are far less interested in the label than in the loop: what the habit does, what comes just before it, what it now takes in money and sleep and honesty with the people close to you. Kent County Council's drug and alcohol support is the statutory route for anything prescribed or medical, and Change Grow Live runs the Kent Recovery Houses covering the town. Recorded depression on GP registers stood at 17.1% of patients aged 18+ in 2024/25, above the England average of 14.3%.
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 Folkestone
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Folkestone, 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.
Folkestone questions
Online Addiction Counselling in Folkestone: common questions
How do I start outside the summer season, when money is tightest?
By booking the free 15-minute consultation, which costs nothing whatever the time of year. If you decide to go ahead, sessions are paid one at a time, so nothing is committed in advance. A good many people start weekly and space things out when the season turns.
What am I paying for an hour?
£80. Ninety minutes is £100 and two hours is £120 for anyone who wants longer, though an hour suits most weeks. Payment happens session by session with no block booking involved, and the initial 15-minute conversation carries no charge whatsoever.
How do Kent County Council's drug and alcohol support and this fit together?
They do different jobs. The statutory service is free and holds prescribing, structured treatment, testing and harm reduction, with Change Grow Live running the Kent Recovery Houses. Counselling looks at why the habit is there and what it holds together. Using both at once is entirely usual.
Can I have sessions if I work shifts at the tunnel terminal?
Yes. Because nothing has to be travelled to, appointments can sit early in the morning or late in the evening, and they can move when a rota does. An hour is genuinely an hour. That flexibility is the main practical reason video suits shift workers.
The town looks like it is thriving. Why do I feel like this?
Regeneration changes shopfronts a good deal faster than it changes anybody's circumstances. Being surrounded by an optimistic version of a place you are struggling in tends to make the struggle lonelier rather than easier. That gap between outside and inside is worth saying aloud.
Once the summer visitors leave, everything feels flat. Can counselling help with that dip?
Yes. The drop that comes when the crowds and the light fade is something many people in Folkestone describe. Online sessions carry straight through the quiet months, held from home, giving you a steady point of contact whatever the season is doing to the town.
How soon can I start online addiction counselling in Folkestone?
Usually within a week. After a free 15-minute consultation we agree a regular time. Reaching support elsewhere in Kent can take much of a day, so online helps: you join securely from home in the Creative Quarter, Cheriton, Sandgate or Morehall, dependable through the busy season and the quiet months.
What are the fees in Folkestone, and can I get addiction counselling on the NHS?
Privately, £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free 15-minute consultation. For free NHS support, your GP can refer you and Kent's council-funded drug and alcohol service accepts self-referrals, separate from this private practice.
Around seasonal and tourism work, are evening online sessions possible in Folkestone?
Yes. Because it is online, sessions flex around seasonal and hospitality hours, evening or daytime, with no journey to fit in. That helps when the comedown after the summer crowds leave hits hard. The room is in Hove, further along the coast, if you would ever like to meet in person.
Online Addiction Counselling in Folkestone, 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: Dover, Ashford. See all of London & South East.
People who come for addiction counselling in Folkestone often also look at substance use counselling, counselling for drinking problems and trauma counselling.
There is more on this in my writing: illness or indulgence? and a cognitive-restructuring exercise for compulsive behaviour.
For anyone near the coast, the same addiction counselling runs in person in Brighton. Every area covered is listed separately.