Panic attacks
Support for racing thoughts, panic episodes and chest tightness.
Online Anxiety Counselling · Middlesbrough
Online anxiety counselling for Middlesbrough, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Middlesbrough, from the centre and the Transporter to the streets around the Transporter Bridge, with the same BACP-registered, confidential support as an in-person session, and no journey.

In and around Middlesbrough
Life in Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough grew on iron, steel and chemicals on Teesside, and the decline of that heavy industry has left some of the sharpest deprivation in the country. Insecure work, money pressure and health inequality weigh heavily here, and pride can make asking for help feel hard.
Middlesbrough grew almost overnight in the nineteenth century as an iron and steel town on the south bank of the Tees, and its blue Transporter Bridge, still carrying cars across the river in a swinging gondola, remains the emblem of that industrial age. The Riverside Stadium sits by the water near the old dock, while in the centre mima, the modern art gallery, and Teesside University bring a different energy. Albert Park offers green space, and the town looks south to the Cleveland Hills and the edge of the North York Moors, with Roseberry Topping a landmark on the skyline. The chemical and process works strung along the Tees still shape the local economy, now amid the vast redevelopment of the Teesworks site.
Where work follows shifts and the rhythm of the docks, online sessions bend around unsociable hours rather than asking you to fit your life around them.
Middlesbrough is home to Teesside University and to South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the James Cook University Hospital, a major regional trauma centre; the town grew on the Teesside iron, steel and chemicals industries.
Areas covered
Wherever you are in Middlesbrough, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
These figures are local context from official sources, not a description of you, but they show the scale of what people in and around Middlesbrough are living with, and why local support matters.
23.7% 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).
Local data last reviewed June 2026. Each figure shows the year and links to the official source it was read on.
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.
The approach is the same wherever you live, so rather than repeat it on every page you can read it in full, the methods, what each session covers and fees, on the main anxiety counselling page and on how I work.
Sessions run over a secure, encrypted video link held to the same strict BACP confidentiality as meeting in person. After a free fifteen-minute call to check we are a good fit, you join each session from any private space using a phone, tablet or laptop, no software to install, no waiting room and no journey at either end.
I'm based in Hove, far to the south, and work with people in Middlesbrough online, by secure video, rather than in person. Distance is no obstacle by video, you meet from home in Linthorpe or Acklam, or wherever's quiet, without any trip across Teesside. We'd keep a steady weekly time that fits around shift patterns, work or family.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
Support for racing thoughts, panic episodes and chest tightness.
Help with confidence, self-consciousness and fear of judgement.
Support for overthinking, catastrophising and decision paralysis.
Working with the need for control and approval.
Calming a nervous system stuck on high alert.
Tools for when anxiety starts to take hold.
Anxiety Counselling in Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough grew on iron, steel and chemicals on Teesside, and the decline of that heavy industry has left some of the sharpest hardship in the country, with pride that can make asking for help feel hard. Insecure work and money pressure can leave anxiety simmering, a chest that tightens before a shift, restless nights, a mind that races when things go quiet. I'm Bradley Riddell, a counsellor based in Hove, and I work with people across Middlesbrough by secure video rather than in person. Together we look at what drives the worry and build steadier ways to hold it, at a weekly time joined from Linthorpe, Acklam or wherever you can speak privately.
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 callMy online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Middlesbrough, you can refer yourself directly to Impact on Teesside, the TEWV NHS Talking Therapies service 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:
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.
Middlesbrough questions
Yes. I work with people right across Middlesbrough, from the centre and the Transporter outwards, and anywhere else in Yorkshire & North East, by secure video, no need to travel to Hove, and just as confidential as meeting in the room.
Yes. We work on what happens in your body when anxiety spikes and rehearse practical ways to settle it, which translates well to video sessions you do from a place you already feel safe.
That is common and completely workable. We can start with the camera off, keep early sessions short and build up at your pace; many anxious clients find home the easiest place to begin.
It varies, but solution-focused work often makes a difference within a handful of sessions. We review together rather than committing you to an open-ended course.
It's a very common feeling, and reaching out actually takes real strength. Counselling isn't a sign of failing; it's a confidential conversation with someone outside your world. Meeting online, from your own space, can make that first step feel a good deal easier.
Usually within a week. We start with a free 15-minute consultation, then a first session by secure video. I'm based in Hove and work online across Middlesbrough, so being far to the south makes no difference; there's no waiting list and no trip across Teesside.
Fees are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for two hours, after a free 15-minute consultation. NHS talking therapies in Middlesbrough are free but can mean a wait; online and private, you can usually start sooner and keep a steady weekly time.
Yes. I work from Hove by secure video, not a room on Teesside, so you join from home in Linthorpe or Acklam. We can find evening or off-peak slots that fit around process-industry rotas rather than office hours, and move them when a shift changes.
No. I work from Hove and see Middlesbrough clients by secure video call rather than face to face. Being at a distance makes no difference online, sessions come to you at home, which many find easier to keep up than travelling to an appointment across town.
Yes. Because sessions are online, we can find a time that works around rotas and awkward hours, and moving a video session when a shift changes is far simpler than rearranging a journey. We'd aim for a regular slot and flex it when needed.
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: Darlington, Sunderland, Durham. See all of Yorkshire & North East.
All counselling & therapy in Middlesbrough: Addiction · Substance Use · Drinking Problems · Depression · Relationship · Trauma · Counselling & Therapy · Psychotherapy.
Closer to the Sussex coast? The same anxiety counselling is available in person in Brighton & Hove, or see all in-person areas.