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Online Addiction Counselling · Southampton
Online Addiction Counselling in Southampton
Online addiction counselling for Southampton, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Southampton, from the city centre and Ocean Village to the streets around the waterfront, 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 Southampton
Addiction Counselling for Southampton, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Southampton: from the city centre and Ocean Village to Portswood, Shirley and Bitterne
- Known for
- The waterfront, the docks and the Common
- Region
- London & South East (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- Southampton City Council's drug and alcohol support
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Southampton
What is going on for people in Southampton?
Southampton never quite settles. The docks and cruise terminals work to their own timetable, Southampton General Hospital runs continuously, and the University of Southampton and Solent University bring a large population that arrives, stays a few years and leaves again. People are always coming and going, which means a lot of individuals here are some distance from anyone who knew them a decade ago. That is the condition in which a habit grows without commentary. A drink to close a shift that finished at an odd hour. A betting account filling the evening in a shared house in Portswood. The recorded anxiety figure gives some sense of the background: 33.8% of adults reported a high anxiety score in 2022/23, above the England average of 23.8%.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Southampton
PortswoodShirleyBitterneWoolstonSt DenysBevois ValleyHighfieldMillbrookFreemantle
Wherever you are in Southampton, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Southampton
Official figures for Southampton, for context rather than as a description of you.
the rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions (narrow definition) was 711.6 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 5.2 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 is addiction counselling, in practice?
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: everything on addiction counselling sets out the methods, how I work covers the practicalities, and professional standards and registration covers accountability.
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, so Southampton is seen online by secure video. In a city working around the clock, that means an appointment can be placed where it genuinely fits: after a shift at the docks, before a hospital rota begins, or in the middle of an ordinary weekday. There is no building here to attend and nothing to travel to, which also means nobody watches you arriving anywhere.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What can addiction counselling in Southampton 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 Southampton
Why people in Southampton come for addiction counselling
This service is the broad one. Alcohol and drugs are included, and so are gambling, gaming, shopping, pornography and the phone: whatever has become the automatic answer when a feeling turns up. The alcohol picture in this city is severe. Hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions ran at 1712.9 per 100,000 in 2023/24, against an England average of 611.7 per 100,000, and the alcohol-specific death rate was 27.7 per 100,000 in 2024 against 13.8 nationally. Gambling produces no equivalent figure at all, which is part of why it stays unnamed for so long. What the work follows is the loop rather than the substance: what it does for you, when it took hold, what it takes, and which feeling it steps in front of. Southampton City Council's drug and alcohol support is the statutory route, and Change Grow Live runs the drug and alcohol service for the city.
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 Southampton
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Southampton, free local drug and alcohol support is available through Southampton City 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.
Southampton questions
Online Addiction Counselling in Southampton: common questions
How does someone actually start?
With a free 15-minute consultation, usually available within a few days and at a time that fits a rota. It is a conversation rather than an assessment, and nothing has to be decided in it. If you want to go on, a weekly slot typically opens within a week or two.
What are the fees, and do I commit to a course?
There is no course to commit to. Sessions are £80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min and £120 / 120 min, paid one at a time, and you may stop whenever you choose. The 15-minute consultation costs nothing, so the fit can be tested before any money is spent.
What is the council route for addiction in Southampton?
Southampton City Council's drug and alcohol support is the statutory way in, and Change Grow Live delivers the drug and alcohol service for the city. Prescribing and medical treatment belong there. Solent Mind, Hampshire's largest mental health charity, covers wellbeing support in Southampton.
I share a house. How do I keep this private?
Headphones handle most of it, and a slot can be chosen for when the house is empty, which in a student house is often the middle of the day. The camera can stay off. Some people take the hour in a car, and telephone works when the wifi will not.
My gambling has grown but I have never had a drink problem. Is this still the right page?
It is. Behavioural addictions belong in this service, and gambling in particular hides well because there is nothing physical to notice. What gets examined is the same either way: what the habit does for you, what sets it off, and what it has quietly been costing.
I work shifts around the docks and my hours change week to week. Can that work?
Yes. Since there is no appointment to travel to, we can set sessions to suit a rotating pattern and adjust when your shifts move. Many people in the port and warehouse economy find online counselling far easier to keep up than fixed in-person slots.
How soon can I start online addiction counselling in Southampton?
Usually within a week. After a free 15-minute consultation we agree a regular time, arranged around the docks, the hospital or the university term. Because sessions are online, there is nothing to travel to across the city and no local waiting list, so you can begin before or after a shift.
What does addiction counselling cost in Southampton, and is it 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 Southampton's council-funded drug and alcohol service accepts self-referrals, with student services also available if you are at university here.
I work shifts at the port. Are online sessions flexible enough for Southampton?
Yes. Shift work rarely fits office hours, which is exactly why online helps: you meet from home before or after a shift, with nothing to travel to across the city. Evenings and early slots are workable. The room is in Hove, a train along the coast, if you prefer meeting in person.
Online Addiction Counselling in Southampton, 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: Portsmouth, Basingstoke. See all of London & South East.
Related work in Southampton: 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.