Alcohol
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Online Addiction Counselling · Livingston
Online Addiction Counselling in Livingston
Online addiction counselling for Livingston, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Livingston, from the centre and the Mall to the streets around the country parks, 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 Livingston
Addiction Counselling for Livingston, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Livingston: from the centre and the Mall to Craigshill, Ladywell and Deans
- Known for
- The shopping centre, the country parks and the Pentlands 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 Livingston
What is going on for people in Livingston?
Livingston was assembled quickly and filled with people from somewhere else. Two generations on, plenty of households here still have their oldest friendships forty miles away, and the town itself is arranged around roads, roundabouts and The Centre rather than a street where you bump into anyone. West Lothian's technology and manufacturing employers run shifts through the night, so at any hour somebody in Craigshill or Knightsridge is awake when the rest of the street is not. Habits like those conditions. There is time, there is privacy, and there is nobody near enough to say that something has changed about you lately.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Livingston
CraigshillLadywellDeansKnightsridgeDedridgeMuriestonEliburnAlmondvale
Wherever you are in Livingston, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Livingston
Official figures for Livingston, for context rather than as a description of you.
the age-standardised drug-misuse death rate in West Lothian averaged 16.3 per 100,000 over 2020-2024, below the Scotland average of 22.5 Source: National Records of Scotland, Drug-related deaths in Scotland 2024 (Table C4) (2020-2024).
In West Lothian, the council area covering Livingston, 7.2% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, compared with a Scotland average of 6.1%, a difference the survey's margin of error does not confirm. 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.
Rather than say the same thing on every page, the substance lives on addiction counselling in detail, with how I work for the practical questions and my BACP registration for 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.
Bradley is in Hove and there is no Livingston room, so sessions are online by secure video. For shift patterns that flexibility is the whole point, because an appointment can move with the rota instead of being lost every time nights come round. You can join from a house in Dedridge or Murieston, or from the car park before a shift starts. The free 15-minute consultation is the place to begin.
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 Livingston
Why people in Livingston come for addiction counselling
Addiction here includes gambling, gaming and spending as readily as drink or drugs, and a phone on a night shift is a very efficient way to lose money quietly. In West Lothian the drug-misuse death rate averaged 16.3 per 100,000 over 2020-2024, below the Scotland average of 22.5, and alcohol-specific deaths averaged 20.9 against 21.9 for Scotland. Those are reassuring numbers at a population level and no use whatsoever at three in the morning. Sessions look at the job the habit performs: filling the hours a shift pattern leaves empty, holding down worry, standing in for company that is not close by. WLDAS provides drug and alcohol support in the town, West Lothian HSCP sets out how to get help, 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 Livingston
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Livingston, 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.
Livingston questions
Online Addiction Counselling in Livingston: common questions
I work nights. Can I be seen at a sensible hour for me?
Yes. Late morning after sleep, or early evening before a shift, both work, and the slot can move as the rota does. Because there is no travel, a session fits into a gap that would otherwise be swallowed by getting somewhere and back.
What do sessions cost?
£80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min and £120 / 120 min, paid one at a time. If gambling has already taken a chunk out of your money, say so at the start and we will keep things simple. A free 15-minute consultation comes before anything is booked or charged.
What help is there in West Lothian that costs nothing?
The local drug and alcohol service, WLDAS, works in Livingston, and West Lothian HSCP explains how to get drugs and alcohol help in the area. Your GP can refer you into NHS care, and Breathing Space Scotland is free on 0800 83 85 87 in the evenings.
I came here for a job and know hardly anybody. Does that matter?
It matters a great deal. A habit expands into an evening that has nobody in it, and new towns are full of people whose support network is still in the place they came from. Loneliness is often the material rather than the excuse.
Can counselling help with the debt as well as the betting?
It can help with what sits underneath, and with the shame that keeps the sums hidden. The debt itself needs practical handling with people who deal in money, and we can talk about how to approach that without either of us pretending the figures will improve on their own.
It is hard to get around Livingston without a car, does that matter?
Not for this. Given how spread out the town is, that is part of why online work suits people here: secure video sessions come to you at home, so there is no need to reach a service by car or bus wherever in Livingston you live.
How soon can I start addiction counselling online in Livingston?
Usually within a week. We begin with a free 15-minute consultation, then book your first secure video session. In a spread-out town, sessions come to you at home rather than needing a drive, so from Craigshill to Deans you can start quickly and easily.
What are your fees, and how do they compare to NHS help in Livingston?
Sessions are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free 15-minute consultation. NHS Lothian talking therapy is free but waits can be long; private work costs money yet begins sooner, with no queue to join.
I do not drive, can evening online sessions still reach me in Livingston?
Yes. Given how spread out Livingston is, that is exactly where online work helps. Evening sessions run by secure video, so there is no need to reach a service by car or bus. They come to you at home wherever in the town you live.
Online Addiction Counselling in Livingston, 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: Edinburgh, Falkirk. See all of Scotland.
Related work in Livingston: 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.
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.