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Online Addiction Counselling · Newcastle upon Tyne
Online Addiction Counselling in Newcastle upon Tyne
Online addiction counselling for Newcastle upon Tyne, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Newcastle upon Tyne, from the Quayside and the centre to the streets around the bridges, 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 Newcastle upon Tyne
Addiction Counselling for Newcastle upon Tyne, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Newcastle upon Tyne: from the Quayside and the centre to Jesmond, Heaton, Byker and Gosforth
- Known for
- The bridges, the Quayside and the two universities
- Region
- Yorkshire & North East (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- Newcastle Treatment and Recovery (NTaR), the city's NHS drug and alcohol service
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Newcastle upon Tyne
Why do people in Newcastle upon Tyne reach out?
Newcastle is warm, funny and famously good at a night out, and that reputation does a lot of concealing work. When heavy drinking or heavy spending is treated as local character, a compulsion can hide in plain sight for a decade. Students from Newcastle University and Northumbria University keep Jesmond and Sandyford busy; young professionals around Newcastle Helix and Ouseburn work long and unwind hard; in Walker, Benwell and Kenton the pressures are older and less social. Pride runs through all of it. Being the one who copes is a fine thing to be until the coping has quietly become the problem.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Newcastle upon Tyne
JesmondHeatonBykerGosforthOuseburnFenhamSandyfordBenwellWalkerKenton
Wherever you are in Newcastle upon Tyne, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Newcastle upon Tyne
Official figures for Newcastle upon Tyne, for context rather than as a description of you.
the rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions (narrow definition) was 676 per 100,000 in 2023/24, above 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 11.2 per 100,000 in 2022 - 24, above 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.
Because the work itself is the same wherever you live, the detail sits in one place rather than all of them: the main addiction counselling page sets out the methods, how sessions run and what they cost covers the practicalities, and professional standards and registration covers accountability.
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.
Counselling here is delivered online by secure video. Bradley is in Hove, so there is no room in Newcastle and no door for anybody to see you go through. In a city where people run into each other constantly, that anonymity is often the deciding factor. Sessions can be booked before work, in a gap between lectures, or late enough that a flat in Heaton or Gosforth has gone quiet. The introductory 15 minutes cost nothing and settle nothing in advance.
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 Newcastle upon Tyne
Why people in Newcastle upon Tyne come for addiction counselling
The hardest part for most people from Tyneside is not the habit itself but saying it out loud, because the local instinct is to make light of things and carry on. What arrives in the first session is usually years of managing it alone. Addiction takes in gambling, gaming and compulsive spending as well as drink and drugs, and the betting side thrives on exactly the sociable, football-shaped week the city is built around. We look at what triggers the loop, what it reliably delivers, and what it quietly charges. Newcastle City Council's drugs and alcohol support is the free local route, Newcastle Treatment and Recovery works with drink and drugs across the city, and Tyneside and Northumberland Mind supports the wider mental health side. This work sits beside them. Where use is daily, involve your GP before altering anything at all.
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 Newcastle upon Tyne
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Newcastle upon Tyne, free local drug and alcohol support is available through Newcastle Treatment and Recovery (NTaR), the city's NHS drug and alcohol service.
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.
Newcastle upon Tyne questions
Online Addiction Counselling in Newcastle upon Tyne: common questions
My drinking looks like everyone else's on a night out - how would I know?
Notice what happens when the night ends. Whether you keep going alone, whether the next day is written off, whether you plan around availability rather than company. A social setting can disguise a pattern that has stopped being social in any meaningful sense.
Does this cover betting, given half my mates have an account?
It does, and that ordinariness is part of what makes it difficult. In-play markets are built to be constant and forgettable, so losses accumulate without a single moment that feels like a decision. The counselling looks at the same loop whether the object is a bet or a bottle.
What do sessions cost and is there a free service in Newcastle?
Fees are £80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min and £120 / 120 min, with a free 15-minute consultation before anything is booked. Newcastle Treatment and Recovery provides free confidential drug and alcohol help, and Newcastle City Council's drugs and alcohol support explains the referral route.
I am a student in Jesmond - is this the sort of thing students actually use?
Regularly, yes, and usually earlier than older clients do. Student patterns are concentrated and intense, which makes them easier to interrupt before they set. Working online also means the work continues over vacations rather than stopping every time you leave the city.
How many sessions would I be committing to?
None in advance. Sessions are arranged one at a time and you can stop whenever you want. Some people come for six or eight weeks to break a specific pattern; others stay longer because what sits underneath turns out to be the real subject. You decide as you go.
Are you actually in Newcastle?
No. I work from Hove and see Newcastle clients by secure video call. Being hundreds of miles away makes no difference online - sessions come to you at home rather than needing a trip to the Quayside or the centre, which is often easier to keep up week to week.
Can I start addiction counselling in Newcastle upon Tyne soon?
Yes. I'm Bradley Riddell, a counsellor based in Hove, and I see people across Newcastle upon Tyne online rather than from a room in the city. We begin with a free 15-minute consultation, then set a regular weekly slot for addiction support, usually starting within a week or two once you feel ready.
Do you offer in-person or evening addiction counselling in Newcastle upon Tyne?
For Newcastle upon Tyne it is online rather than in person, since my room is in Hove on the south coast. Many find secure video suits addiction work well, joining from home in Jesmond or Heaton without a commute. I hold some daytime and early-evening slots, so we can usually find a regular time that fits.
Online Addiction Counselling in Newcastle upon Tyne, 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 Yorkshire & North East: Sunderland, Gateshead, Durham. See all of Yorkshire & North East.
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 Newcastle upon Tyne.
If you would like to read more first, I have written about the four-stage cycle of addiction and the four Rs framework.
For anyone near the coast, the same addiction counselling runs in person in Hove, where the room is. Every area covered is listed separately.