Panic attacks
Support for racing thoughts, panic episodes and chest tightness.
Online Anxiety Counselling · Durham
Online Anxiety Counselling in Durham
Online anxiety counselling for Durham, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Durham, from the peninsula and the centre to the streets around the cathedral, 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 Durham
Anxiety Counselling for Durham, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Durham: from the peninsula and the centre to Gilesgate, Neville's Cross and Framwellgate
- Known for
- The cathedral, the castle and the river Wear
- Region
- Yorkshire & North East (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- Durham and Darlington Talking Therapies
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Durham
Why do people in Durham reach out?
Durham looks composed from the outside. The cathedral and its World Heritage setting, the colleges, the visitors on the peninsula in summer - none of it suggests a place where people lie awake. Yet Durham University brings a particular kind of pressure, the sort where everyone appears to be coping effortlessly and admitting otherwise feels like failing publicly, and the former pit villages around the city carry a very different pressure about work and money. Reported high anxiety here ran at 22% of adults in 2022/23, below the England average of 23.8%, which says more about who fills in surveys than about what is being carried in Gilesgate, Sherburn or Framwellgate Moor.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Durham
GilesgateNeville's CrossFramwellgate MoorBelmontCrossgateElvetSherburnBearparkUshaw MoorNewton Hall
Wherever you are in Durham, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Durham
Official figures for Durham, for context rather than as a description of you.
22% of adults reported a high anxiety score in 2022/23, below the England average of 23.8%. Source: OHID Fingertips – Self-reported wellbeing: high anxiety score (2022/23).
Reviewed June 2026.
What would we do together in anxiety counselling?
Anxiety counselling here is practical and solution-focused: we work on the worry, panic, social anxiety and over-thinking that are actually affecting your day, and on simple ways to settle a nervous system stuck on high alert.
Because the work itself is the same wherever you live, the detail sits in one place rather than all of them: the main anxiety counselling page sets out the methods, the practical side covers the practicalities, and my credentials 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.
All of this happens by secure video, since my room is in Hove and there is nothing to attend in the city. For anxiety, the practical gain is that the hour fits into a day without being an event in itself. No walking into a building where you might be seen, no sitting in a corridor with your heart going, no journey home while you are still churning. Students keep the same slot through term and vacation; shift workers move theirs to match the rota.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What sort of things do people bring?
Social anxiety
Help with confidence, self-consciousness and fear of judgement.
Chronic worry
Support for overthinking, catastrophising and decision paralysis.
People-pleasing
Working with the need for control and approval.
Sleep and tension
Calming a nervous system stuck on high alert.
Responding differently
Tools for when anxiety starts to take hold.
Anxiety Counselling in Durham
Why people in Durham come for anxiety counselling
Two quite different sets of people bring anxiety here, and the work adapts to both. There is the academic version - the deadline dread, the panic before a presentation, the conviction that being found out is imminent, the sleep that goes first in the run-up to assessments. And there is the version that belongs to the county rather than the colleges: uncertain hours, money, a long drive to work, a household holding several things together at once. Either way the approach is concrete. We work out what triggers it, what your body does, which avoidances are keeping it fed, then rehearse responses you can use while it is actually happening. Durham and Darlington Talking Therapies is the NHS service covering the city and it accepts self-referrals with no GP appointment needed first. There is nothing wrong with using both routes at once.
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 callFinding support in Durham
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Durham, you can refer yourself directly to Durham and Darlington Talking Therapies for free NHS talking therapy, with no GP referral needed.
Private sessions with me usually mean you can start sooner and stay with the same counsellor throughout; I am glad to work alongside any NHS or GP support you already have.
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.
Durham questions
Online Anxiety Counselling in Durham: common questions
Which NHS anxiety service covers Durham and can I refer myself?
Durham and Darlington Talking Therapies is the local NHS service, and yes, self-referral is how most people go in - a GP appointment is not required first. Waiting times move around through the year, so it is worth referring early even if you are still deciding about private work.
I am at the university and everyone else looks fine. Is that normal?
It is close to universal, and it is largely an illusion produced by everyone hiding the same thing. Durham University is a high-achieving environment where visible struggle feels costly, so anxiety gets managed privately until it stops being manageable. That does not make it rarer, only quieter.
What are the fees and is there anything free to begin with?
Nothing is charged for the introductory 15 minutes, and it ties you to nothing. Sessions after that are £80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min or £120 / 120 min, paid as you go. Anxiety work typically runs at the 60-minute session, weekly at first and less often as things improve.
Can sessions carry on if I go home outside term time?
Yes, and that continuity is one of the strongest arguments for working online. The same slot follows you anywhere in the country, so a vacation does not interrupt the work or hand you back to a fresh waiting list in January. Nothing has to be restarted with someone new.
My anxiety comes as panic in the middle of the night. What do we do about that?
We take it apart carefully, because night panic is frightening and it convinces people something is physically wrong. We look at what your body is doing and why, what the wind-down before bed looks like, and what to do in the middle of an episode rather than just afterwards.
I'm a student at Durham and the pressure is relentless, can this fit?
Yes. Because we meet online, sessions carry on through term, exams and trips home wherever you are. I work privately, separate from the university's own wellbeing service, so you can use both if you wish, without breaking the continuity of our work.
How soon can I start anxiety counselling online in Durham?
Usually within a week. After a free 15-minute consultation we book a first session by secure video. I'm based in Hove and work online across Durham, so being far to the south makes no difference; there's no waiting list and no trip into the city to arrange.
What are your fees, and how do they compare with NHS help in Durham?
Sessions are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for two hours, after a free 15-minute consultation. NHS talking therapies in Durham are free but can involve a wait; privately and online, you can usually start sooner and keep one regular time.
Can we meet online in the evening rather than in person in Durham?
Yes. I work from Hove by secure video, not a room in Durham, so there's no trip into the city or in from the county villages. Evening slots are often possible, which suits anxiety that flares around study, work or family life.
Online Anxiety Counselling in Durham, 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: Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland, Darlington. See all of Yorkshire & North East.
Also available in Durham: depression counselling, trauma counselling and counselling and therapy.
Some further reading, if that helps before getting in touch: settling a spike of urgency and the miracle question.
For anyone near the coast, the same anxiety counselling runs in person in Brighton. Every area covered is listed separately.