Anxiety and worry
When your mind will not settle and everything feels urgent.
Online Counselling and Therapy · Dudley
Online Counselling and Therapy in Dudley
Online counselling and therapy for Dudley, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Dudley, from the town centre and the castle to the streets around the Black Country Living Museum, 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 Dudley
Counselling and Therapy for Dudley, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Dudley: from the town centre and the castle to Brierley Hill, Sedgley and Netherton
- Known for
- Dudley Castle, the Black Country Living Museum and the Clent Hills
- Region
- Midlands (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- NHS Talking Therapies (find via the NHS finder)
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Dudley
What is going on for people in Dudley?
Some weeks you can point at a reason. Most weeks you cannot, and that is the part that makes people put off ringing anybody. Dudley carries a lot of quiet weight: insecure work, money that does not go far enough, and a strong local instinct to manage it without asking. So the flatness gets explained away as tiredness, and the tiredness gets explained away as work, and years pass. You do not have to arrive with a diagnosis or a story that makes sense. Something being off is a sufficient reason, whether you are in Lye, Kingswinford or up by the Clent Hills.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Dudley
Brierley HillSedgleyNethertonGornalKingswinfordCoseleyQuarry BankLyeWoodsettonHolly Hall
Wherever you are in Dudley, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Dudley
These figures are local context from official sources, not a description of you, but they show the scale of what people in and around Dudley are living with, and why local support matters.
19.9% 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).
recorded depression on GP registers stood at 17.2% of patients aged 18+ in 2024/25, above the England average of 14.3%. Source: OHID Fingertips – Depression: QOF prevalence (2024/25).
the rate of emergency hospital admissions for self-harm was 102.8 per 100,000 in 2023/24, below the England average of 117 per 100,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Emergency Hospital Admissions for Intentional Self-Harm (2023/24).
Local data last reviewed June 2026. Each figure shows the year and links to the official source it was read on.
What is counselling and therapy, in practice?
Counselling and therapy here is one steady starting point for whatever you are carrying, anxiety, low mood, addiction, relationships or the past, integrative and led by you, so we begin with what matters most and shape the work around you.
What actually happens in the room is the same everywhere, so it is written up once: see the main counselling and therapy page for the methods, how I work, sessions and fees for fees and session lengths, and professional standards and registration if you want to check who you would be working with.
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.
Counselling here happens online from Hove, which suits a town where privacy is hard to come by. No appointment is visible to anyone, and there is nothing to explain to a neighbour. The free 15-minute conversation needs half an hour and somewhere quiet, nothing more. After that, sessions are usually weekly hours, and they can be fitted round shift work, caring for someone at home, or a week when money is tight.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What does counselling and therapy help with?
Low mood and depression
For the flatness, exhaustion and loss of interest that drain the colour from things.
Addiction and habits
Alcohol, drugs, gambling or behaviours that have stopped feeling like a choice.
Relationships
Conflict, distance and trust, as a couple or on your own.
Trauma and the past
When something you have been through still shapes your present.
Life feeling stuck
For the big transitions, losses and crossroads that leave you unsure which way to turn.
Counselling and Therapy in Dudley
Why people in Dudley come for counselling and therapy
You do not need a label to start, and most people here have not got one. We begin with the plain facts of your week rather than with your history: what you got through, what you avoided, what you have given up without deciding to. The naming comes out of that. It matters locally, too, because recorded depression on Dudley GP registers stood at 17.2% of patients aged 18 and over in 2024/25, above the England average of 14.3%. That is one of the higher figures in the country and it says clearly that this is common ground, not a personal failing. The work is present-focused and often shorter than people fear. Six to twelve sessions changes a great deal for many people. If something deeper turns up, we will both see it and you can choose what to do. The NHS Talking Therapies finder is the self-referral route in England.
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 Dudley
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Dudley, you can refer yourself directly to NHS talking therapies for anxiety and depression, with no GP referral needed. You can find support through the NHS Talking Therapies finder.
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.
Dudley questions
Online Counselling and Therapy in Dudley: common questions
Is it worth coming if nothing bad has actually happened to me?
Yes. A good many people who start counselling have no single event to point at, only a slow loss of interest and energy. Waiting for something bad enough to justify it is how years get lost. Whatever you can describe on the first call is enough to work with.
How much is a session, and can I pay as I go?
Sixty minutes is £80, ninety is £100, two hours is £120, and sessions are taken one at a time rather than bought as a package. Most people beginning here stay with the hour. The 15-minute consultation before you commit to anything at all is free.
Is there an NHS route I should try first?
In England the NHS Talking Therapies finder lets you refer yourself for anxiety or low mood without a GP appointment, and it is a reasonable first move. Waits vary. Some people start privately and keep that referral running, so they are not left with nothing while a list moves.
I am not one for talking about feelings. Will I be any good at this?
Being out of practice is normal and it is not a test. Nobody is made to describe emotions they have no words for yet. A lot of early sessions are about ordinary events, and the feelings turn up in their own time once it stops feeling like an examination.
Depression seems common round here. Does that make mine less serious?
It does not. A high local rate tells you that plenty of people are carrying the same thing quietly; it says nothing about how heavy yours is. If anything it is a reason to take it seriously earlier, rather than treating it as the normal background of living here.
There's no easy train from Dudley, does that matter for sessions?
Not at all. Because counselling is online, there is no need to reach a station or drive across town. You meet by video from wherever feels private at home, which many people in Dudley find far more convenient than arranging travel.
Is there a waiting list to start online counselling in Dudley?
Counselling and therapy is open to anyone in Dudley online, with no waiting list. It begins with a free 15-minute consultation to check the fit, and weekly sessions usually follow shortly, whether you live in Gornal, Coseley or Quarry Bank.
How much is private counselling in Dudley compared with NHS talking therapies?
Dudley's NHS Talking Therapies are free but often oversubscribed, so a wait is likely. Private sessions cost £80 an hour, 100 for 90 minutes and 120 for two hours, after a free 15-minute consultation. Some people use both routes while the NHS list moves.
How does online counselling work for people in Dudley, and can sessions be in the evening?
Sessions are held by video, which spares the bus-and-car journeys Dudley's limited rail links usually mean. A private space and a reliable connection are all you need, from Lye to Woodsetton, and evening appointments are often possible.
Online Counselling and Therapy in Dudley, 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 Midlands: Wolverhampton, Walsall, Birmingham. See all of Midlands.
Close to this in Dudley, there is anxiety counselling, depression counselling and psychotherapy.
If you would like to read more first, I have written about how change actually sticks and where to start when you cannot name it.
Closer to the Sussex coast? The same counselling and therapy is available in person, in Brighton, or see every area I cover.