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Online Addiction Counselling · Maidstone
Online Addiction Counselling in Maidstone
Online addiction counselling for Maidstone, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Maidstone, from the town centre and the river to the streets around the Medway, 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 Maidstone
Addiction Counselling for Maidstone, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Maidstone: from the town centre and the river to Penenden Heath, Shepway and Allington
- Known for
- The Medway, the Archbishop's Palace and the surrounding orchards
- 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 Maidstone
Why do people in Maidstone reach out?
Maidstone runs on administration. Kent County Council sits at the centre of the town's working life, Maidstone Hospital keeps its own shift patterns, and out past the ring road the Kent orchards and agricultural sector work to a different clock again, seasonal and weather-bound. A lot of people here leave early for the capital and come back after dark. What that produces is a town of private evenings. In Bearsted or Penenden Heath nobody sees what the commute costs you, and the habit that has crept in, whether that is a betting account, a bottle opened before the coat is off, or a phone that eats the hours between the last train and sleep, has no audience at all.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Maidstone
Penenden HeathShepwayAllingtonBarmingTovilBearstedPalace WoodRinglestoneLoose
Wherever you are in Maidstone, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Maidstone
Official figures for Maidstone, 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 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.
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 main addiction counselling page, alongside session lengths and fees and qualifications, registration and ethics.
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 is in Hove, so Maidstone is seen online by secure video. That suits a town whose days are already shortened at both ends by travel: the hour is the hour, with nothing added on either side of it. There is no waiting area in which to be recognised, which counts for something in a place where working life gathers around a handful of large employers. People join from a spare bedroom, from a car, or from a booked meeting room.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What sort of things do people bring?
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 Maidstone
Why people in Maidstone come for addiction counselling
This service takes addiction in its wide sense. Alcohol and drugs belong in it, but so do gambling, gaming, shopping, pornography and compulsive scrolling: whatever has become automatic when a particular feeling turns up. Gambling is usually the last to be named, because it leaves no evidence anyone else can find, only money that has gone. Kent's figures do not look alarming from outside. Hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions ran at 433.7 per 100,000 in 2023/24, below the England average of 504.1 per 100,000, and deaths from drug misuse at 4.8 per 100,000 across 2022 to 2024. Averages hide individual households. What we work on is the loop itself: what it does for you, when it started, what it takes, and which feeling it keeps stepping in front of. Kent County Council's drug and alcohol support is the statutory route, and Change Grow Live runs a West Kent wellbeing service with a Maidstone hub.
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 Maidstone
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Maidstone, 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.
Maidstone questions
Online Addiction Counselling in Maidstone: common questions
I want to start before I talk myself out of it. How quickly can that happen?
Quickly. There is no referral to submit and no assessment panel to sit in front of, so a free 15-minute consultation can usually be arranged within days, and a regular weekly slot within a week or two of that. Kent County Council's service costs nothing but has its own intake process, which takes longer to move through.
What will this cost me?
The first 15-minute consultation is free. After that you pay session by session, with no block booking and no contract: £80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min, £120 / 120 min. Most people settle into the hour. The longer appointments help when a lot of history needs laying out at once.
What is the council route for addiction in Maidstone?
Kent County Council's drug and alcohol support is the way in to statutory help across the county, and Change Grow Live runs the West Kent wellbeing service with a hub in Maidstone. Anything medical or prescribed has to come through there or through your GP. Counselling sits alongside that rather than replacing it.
Do sessions happen in Maidstone itself?
No. Bradley works from Hove and sees everyone here by secure video, so there is nothing to drive to and no parking to find near the town centre. Telephone is available when the connection is poor. A first session with your camera off is perfectly acceptable if that feels easier.
My problem is a betting app rather than drink. Is this the right service?
It is. Behavioural addictions belong here alongside substances, and betting hides best of all because there is nothing to smell and nothing to throw away. In a town where so many people commute, an entire journey can vanish into a phone, twice a day, without one person noticing.
I'm juggling a demanding office job with family life. How would counselling fit in?
Online sessions are designed to fit around exactly that. With no room to travel to across the county town, we can find a time between work and family, including the evening, and keep it steady week to week so support becomes one less thing to organise.
How soon can I start online addiction counselling in Maidstone?
Usually within a week. After a free 15-minute consultation we agree a regular time. The roads through the county town are rarely quick, so online helps: you join securely from home in Penenden Heath, Shepway or Allington, around the office day or the school run, with nothing to travel to.
What are the fees in Maidstone, 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.
Balancing council-town work and family, are evening online sessions possible in Maidstone?
Yes. Because it is online, sessions fit the evening or around the office diary and the school run, without a further trip through the county town. That helps when work and family pressures build into low mood people tend to carry on with. The room is in Hove for in-person meetings if preferred.
Online Addiction Counselling in Maidstone, 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: Tunbridge Wells, Ashford, Canterbury. See all of London & South East.
Related work in Maidstone: substance use counselling, counselling for drinking problems and trauma counselling.
Some further reading, if that helps before getting in touch: a cognitive-restructuring exercise for compulsive behaviour and the four-stage cycle of addiction.
If you can reach the south coast, this work is also done face to face in Brighton — all in-person areas are listed here.