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Online Addiction Counselling · Inverness
Online Addiction Counselling in Inverness
Online addiction counselling for Inverness, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Inverness, from the centre and the castle to the streets around the river Ness, 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 Inverness
Addiction Counselling for Inverness, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Inverness: from the centre and the castle to Crown, Hilton and Inshes
- Known for
- The castle, the river Ness and the Highlands beyond
- Region
- Scotland
- Local NHS / support route
- NHS inform's drugs and drug use pages
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Inverness
Why people in Inverness get in touch
Inverness is a small city carrying an enormous area. People travel in from glens and coast for work, for Raigmore Hospital, for a course at the University of the Highlands and Islands, and then travel back out again to places where the nearest anything is an hour away. Distance shapes what a habit becomes. There is less to interrupt it, fewer people dropping by, and in December the dark starts in the middle of the afternoon. Highland tourism brings a rush of seasonal work and then takes it away. In Merkinch, Dalneigh and out towards Culloden and Smithton, the winters are long and the evenings are entirely your own to fill.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Inverness
CrownHiltonInshesMerkinchDalneighCullodenSmithtonRaigmoreWesthill
Wherever you are in Inverness, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Inverness
Official figures for Inverness, for context rather than as a description of you.
the age-standardised drug-misuse death rate in the Highland council area averaged 14.6 per 100,000 over 2020-2024, well below the Scotland average of 22.5 Source: National Records of Scotland, Drug-related deaths in Scotland 2024 (Table C4) (2020-2024).
In Highland, the council area covering Inverness, 3.0% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, well below the Scotland average of 6.1%. Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Personal well-being estimates by local authority (Year ending March 2023 (2022-23)).
Reviewed June 2026.
What would we do together in addiction counselling?
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 everything on addiction counselling for the methods, the practical side for fees and session lengths, and how to check my registration if you want to check who you would be working with.
How do online sessions actually work?
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 nothing here involves a room in Inverness; sessions are online by secure video. For the Highlands that is the whole point, because specialist counselling has often meant a long drive or nothing at all. A session can be held from a croft kitchen or a flat in Hilton, and a snowed-in road no longer cancels it. Begin with the free 15-minute consultation.
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 Inverness
Why people in Inverness come for addiction counselling
Addiction takes in gambling, gaming and compulsive spending as well as drink and drugs, and remoteness suits all of them, because there is very little friction and very few witnesses. Drug-misuse deaths in the Highland council area averaged 14.6 per 100,000 over 2020-2024, well below the Scotland average of 22.5, while alcohol-specific deaths averaged 22.6 against a Scotland figure of 21.9. That combination says something real about the Highlands: the drink is the bigger story here. The work looks at what the habit is filling, whether that is isolation, a season without hours, or a grief nobody local wants to raise. Mikeysline offers Highland mental health support with a base in Inverness and its Hives, the NHS 'find a service' directory lists drug and alcohol treatment, and Breathing Space Scotland is free on 0800 83 85 87.
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 Inverness
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Inverness, your GP can refer you to local drug and alcohol services, and you can find support through NHS inform's drugs and drug use pages.
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 24 on 111 for urgent mental health support. Breathing Space is free on 0800 83 85 87, 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.
Inverness questions
Online Addiction Counselling in Inverness: common questions
Specialist help usually means driving to the city. Does online change that?
Entirely. Once the session is on a screen, geography stops deciding who you can work with, and a two-hour round trip is no longer the price of an hour's counselling. That is the single biggest practical difference for anybody living outside Inverness itself.
What are the fees?
£80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min and £120 / 120 min, paid session by session with nothing committed in advance. Seasonal Highland work makes income uneven, so people often space sessions further apart in the quiet months. The 15-minute consultation before you start is free.
What support exists locally if I cannot afford private counselling?
Mikeysline provides mental health and suicide prevention support across the Highlands from its Inverness base and its Hives. Your GP can refer you into NHS services, the NHS 'find a service' directory lists drug and alcohol treatment, and Breathing Space Scotland is free on 0800 83 85 87.
My broadband is unreliable. Will that ruin a session?
It is worth testing in the free consultation. Video can be dropped to audio, which uses far less, and a phone hotspot covers most gaps. Plenty of Highland clients work this way, and a brief freeze mid-sentence is a nuisance rather than the end of the hour.
The winter is when it gets worse. Is that a real pattern?
It is a very common one here. Short days, closed seasonal work and long evenings remove most of the structures that used to interrupt a habit, and it expands into the space. Knowing that in October is more use than discovering it again in January.
I live well outside Inverness, can I still get addiction support?
Yes. As long as you have a reasonable connection and somewhere private, secure video reaches you wherever you are in the Highlands. That is often far easier than a long drive into the city, especially through the winter months when getting anywhere can be hard.
How soon can I start addiction counselling online in Inverness or the Highlands?
Usually within a week. We begin with a free 15-minute consultation, then book your first secure video session. Rather than a long drive into the city, sessions reach you wherever you are, from Crown or Culloden to a village far out in the glens.
What are your fees, and how do they compare to NHS help around Inverness?
Sessions are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free 15-minute consultation. NHS Highland talking therapy is free but covers a vast area where waits and travel are real barriers; private work costs money yet starts sooner.
How are evening online sessions delivered across the Highlands from Inverness?
By secure video, so long as you have a reasonable connection and a private space. Evening slots help through the long dark winters, and sessions reach the glens and villages without anyone facing a round trip of hours, which is where online work matters most.
Online Addiction Counselling in Inverness, 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 Scotland: Aberdeen, Perth. See all of Scotland.
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 Inverness.
If you would like to read more first, I have written about the four-stage cycle of addiction and the four Rs framework.
Within reach of Sussex? addiction counselling is offered in the room in Hove, where the room is as well as online; see the full list of areas.