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Online Addiction Counselling · Pontypridd
Online Addiction Counselling in Pontypridd
Online addiction counselling for Pontypridd, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Pontypridd, from the town centre and the old bridge to the streets around the Rhondda confluence, 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 Pontypridd
Addiction Counselling for Pontypridd, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Pontypridd: from the town centre and the old bridge to Graig, Treforest and Rhydyfelin
- Known for
- The old bridge, the Rhondda confluence and the university campus
- Region
- Wales
- Local NHS / support route
- DAN 24/7, the Wales Drug and Alcohol Helpline
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Pontypridd
What brings people in Pontypridd to counselling?
Pontypridd is where the valleys meet and where everybody passes through. The Old Bridge, the market, Sardis Road on a Saturday, the University of South Wales campus down at Treforest bringing a few thousand students into the middle of an old coal town. It is sociable and it is also close-knit in a way that can work against you. Word travels along a valley faster than it travels across a city, and anyone worried about a habit tends to calculate exactly who would find out. So it stays indoors, in Graig or Maesycoed or Cilfynydd, getting steadily more established while the person carrying it behaves normally in every visible way.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Pontypridd
GraigTreforestRhydyfelinHawthornCilfynyddGlyncochTrallwnYnysybwlMaesycoed
Wherever you are in Pontypridd, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Pontypridd
Official figures for Pontypridd, for context rather than as a description of you.
In Rhondda Cynon Taf (the council area covering Pontypridd) the age-standardised drug-misuse death rate was 11.6 per 100,000 in 2022 to 2024, above the Wales average of 8.5 per 100,000. Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Deaths related to drug poisoning by local authority, England and Wales (drug misuse, Table 6) (2022 to 2024).
In Rhondda Cynon Taf, the council area covering Pontypridd, 7.4% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, in line with the Wales average of 6.9%. 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.
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 my credentials 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.
Everything for Pontypridd is done remotely, Bradley's base being Hove. In practice that means no bus down from Ynysybwl, no parking, and no chance of being spotted going into somewhere recognisable. Sessions are weekly by secure video at a time you have chosen, and they work as well from a house high up a valley as from the town itself. If your week is unpredictable, we can look at which slot is likeliest to survive it.
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 Pontypridd
Why people in Pontypridd come for addiction counselling
Addiction counselling covers the full range, and the range matters here. Alcohol and drugs are part of it. So is gambling, which in a rugby-following town with an app on every phone has become remarkably easy to sustain and remarkably hard to admit to. So are gaming, spending and eating patterns that have taken on a life of their own. The common structure is a promise you keep making and cannot keep. Working on it means going past the behaviour to what it is regulating, which is usually something you have never had a good place to put. For statutory support, DASPA is the single point of access for drug and alcohol help on 0300 333 0000, Rhondda Cynon Taf Council publishes local information, and the NHS find a service directory lists the rest.
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 Pontypridd
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Pontypridd, your GP can refer you to local drug and alcohol services, and you can find support through DAN 24/7, the Wales Drug and Alcohol Helpline.
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 press 2 for urgent mental health support. The CALL Helpline for Wales is free on 0800 132 737, 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.
Pontypridd questions
Online Addiction Counselling in Pontypridd: common questions
How do I take a first step without committing to anything?
The free 15-minute call exists precisely for that. It is a short conversation, no notes taken, no expectation that you will book afterwards. People often use it to ask what counselling for this actually involves before deciding whether they want it at all.
What do sessions cost here?
£80 for the hour, which is what most people have. Longer appointments are £100 for 90 minutes and £120 for two hours. The introductory 15 minutes are free. Nothing is charged in advance and there is no package to sign up to.
What does the council or NHS offer locally?
Rhondda Cynon Taf Council publishes information on drug and alcohol support, and DASPA is the single point of access on 0300 333 0000, with the Cwm Taf Integrated Substance Use Service delivering treatment. The NHS find a service directory covers the national picture.
Everyone knows everyone here. How private is this really?
Very. There is no local building, no receptionist and no appointment card. The session happens on your own device, and what is said in it is confidential under the BACP Ethical Framework. Nobody in Pontypridd learns anything from me about whether you are attending.
Can counselling help if my habit is betting on sport?
Yes, and it comes up often. Sport and betting have been tied together so tightly that the habit passes as enthusiasm for years. We look at the losses honestly, at the hiding that goes with them, and at what the next bet is actually being asked to fix.
I live up the Rhondda, can we still work together?
Yes. Because everything is done by secure video, where you are in the valleys makes no difference to the appointment. The session reaches you at home, which spares the journey down to Pontypridd or into Cardiff and makes it far easier to keep going.
How soon can I start online addiction counselling in Pontypridd?
Usually within a week. After a free 15-minute consultation we book your first full session. Whether you are in Graig, Treforest or up the Rhondda, everything runs by secure video, so there is no waiting list and no drive down to the town or into Cardiff to begin.
How do your fees compare with NHS addiction services in Pontypridd?
NHS substance misuse support through Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board and the free Dan 24/7 helpline costs nothing, though waits vary. My private sessions are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free 15-minute consultation and with no waiting list.
Do you offer evening online addiction sessions in Pontypridd?
Yes. For people up the Rhondda or Cynon valleys the evening drive is a real barrier, so I keep some later slots. You meet me by secure video from home, whether in Rhydyfelin or Cilfynydd, with no travel once the working day and session are done.
Online Addiction Counselling in Pontypridd, 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 Wales: Merthyr Tydfil, Cardiff, Cwmbran. See all of Wales.
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 Pontypridd.
You may also find it useful to read about 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.