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Online Addiction Counselling · Margate
Online Addiction Counselling in Margate
Online addiction counselling for Margate, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Margate, from the Old Town and the seafront to the streets around the sands, 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 Margate
Addiction Counselling for Margate, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Margate: from the Old Town and the seafront to Cliftonville, Westbrook and nearby Ramsgate
- Known for
- The sands, the Turner Contemporary and Dreamland
- 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 Margate
What brings people in Margate to counselling?
Margate works in seasons. Summer fills the Old Town and the sands, the Turner Contemporary gallery and Dreamland pull weekenders down the high-speed link, and the tourism and hospitality sector takes on everyone it can. Then October arrives and most of that stops. For long stretches after that, Cliftonville, Westbrook and Dane Valley are quiet, underpaid and short of daylight, and out at this end of Thanet the nearest of anything is a train ride away. Habits fill that space efficiently. A betting account open at two in the afternoon. A phone that has become the whole day. Drink starting earlier each week once the shifts thin out. Nobody is about to remark on any of it.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Margate
CliftonvilleWestbrookOld TownGarlingePalm BayNorthdownDane ValleyWestgate-on-Sea
Wherever you are in Margate, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Margate
Official figures for Margate, 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 does addiction counselling involve?
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 addiction counselling page sets out the methods, how I work, sessions and fees covers the practicalities, and professional standards and 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.
There is no room in Margate. Bradley works from Hove and sees people across Thanet online, by secure video, which removes the thing that genuinely stops people here: distance. Nothing has to be travelled to, so an appointment does not hang on a bus, a lift or the price of a ticket. It also means no reception and no chance of passing somebody you know, which counts in a town where the same faces recur.
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 Margate
Why people in Margate come for addiction counselling
Addiction is taken broadly on this page. Alcohol and drugs are part of it, and so are gambling, gaming, shopping, pornography and the phone: whatever has turned into the automatic answer to a feeling. Gambling deserves particular mention in a seasonal economy, because a betting app pays attention to you at exactly the hours when nothing else does. Kent's recorded picture is not extreme, with alcohol-specific admissions at 463.2 per 100,000 in 2023/24 against an England average of 611.7 per 100,000, but a county average flattens the difference between a comfortable commuter belt and a coastal town living on insecure work. The work here looks at the loop instead of the substance: what it does for you, when it took hold, what it costs, and which feeling it arrives to cover. Kent County Council's drug and alcohol support is the statutory route, and East Kent Mind covers Thanet.
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 Margate
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Margate, 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.
Margate questions
Online Addiction Counselling in Margate: common questions
Getting to appointments is usually what stops me. How does this actually start?
With a free 15-minute conversation by video or phone, normally arranged within a few days. There is no form to fill in and no referral to chase up. If it feels workable, a weekly time tends to open within a week or two, and none of it asks you to leave Margate.
The season is over and money is tight. What does this cost?
That first 15-minute consultation is free and you are under no obligation afterwards. Sessions are then £80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min or £120 / 120 min, paid one at a time so nothing is committed in advance. Kent County Council's support is free, and worth approaching alongside or instead.
What is the local council route for addiction here?
Kent County Council's drug and alcohol support is the way in to statutory services across the county, Thanet included. Anything prescribed, and anything medical, goes through there or through your GP. East Kent Mind, which covers Margate and Canterbury, is there for the mental health side.
Is it all by video, or can I use the phone?
Either works. Video is the default and most people settle into it quickly, but telephone appointments are steadier when the connection is poor out here. You can keep the camera off at the beginning. Some people take the hour parked somewhere quiet rather than at home.
My gambling got worse over the winter once the work dried up. Is that common enough to bring?
It is precisely what this service is for. Seasonal work leaves long empty stretches, and betting apps are built to fill them at those exact hours. A habit does not need a substance to be expensive, and the ones that cost the most tend to be the ones nobody can see.
Margate looks all revived on the surface, but life here is harder than that. Can I talk about that gap?
Absolutely. Many people in Margate feel that distance between the bright, regenerated image and their own day-to-day reality. Online sessions give you a private, unhurried space to talk about exactly that, without any pretence, held from the comfort of home.
How soon can I start online addiction counselling in Margate?
Usually within a week. After a free 15-minute consultation we set a regular time. Out on the Isle of Thanet, Margate can feel a long way from anywhere, so online closes that distance: you join securely from home in Cliftonville, Westbrook or the Old Town, with nothing to travel to.
What are the fees in Margate, 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 work on Thanet, are evening online sessions available in Margate?
Yes. Because it is online, sessions flex around insecure, seasonal hours, evening or daytime, with no journey off the island to fit in. That helps when the gap between the bright postcard and daily reality is hard to carry. The room is in Hove, along the same coast, for in-person meetings if preferred.
Online Addiction Counselling in Margate, 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: Canterbury, Ashford. See all of London & South East.
People who come for addiction counselling in Margate often also look at substance use counselling, counselling for drinking problems and trauma counselling.
There is more on this in my writing: a cognitive-restructuring exercise for compulsive behaviour and the four-stage cycle of addiction.
Closer to the Sussex coast? The same addiction counselling is available in person, in Brighton, or see every area I cover.