Anxiety and worry
When your mind will not settle and everything feels urgent.
Online Counselling and Therapy · Stoke-on-Trent
Online Counselling and Therapy in Stoke-on-Trent
Online counselling and therapy for Stoke-on-Trent, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Stoke-on-Trent, from across the six towns, Hanley and Stoke to the streets around the bottle kilns, 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 Stoke-on-Trent
Counselling and Therapy for Stoke-on-Trent, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Stoke-on-Trent: across the six towns, from Hanley and Stoke to Burslem, Tunstall, Longton and Fenton
- Known for
- The bottle kilns, the Potteries and the canals
- Region
- Midlands (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Talking Therapies
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Stoke-on-Trent
What is going on for people in Stoke-on-Trent?
Across the six towns there is a strong instinct to get on with it. You are up, you are working, you are sorting other people out, and the thing that has been sitting on your chest since the spring does not get mentioned to anyone. Some of what people carry here is specific: a firm that closed, hours cut, an agency contract that never turns into anything, the feeling of a place that has been talked down for years. Some of it has no obvious cause at all, which is somehow harder. You do not need to have had a breakdown or a bereavement to justify a conversation. Plenty of people book because they have simply stopped feeling like themselves.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Stoke-on-Trent
HanleyBurslemTunstallLongtonFentonStokeMeirBentileeTrenthamBucknall
Wherever you are in Stoke-on-Trent, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Stoke-on-Trent
Official figures for Stoke-on-Trent, for context rather than as a description of you.
25.6% of adults reported a high anxiety score in 2022/23, above the England average of 23.8%. Source: OHID Fingertips – Self-reported wellbeing: high anxiety score (2022/23).
recorded depression on GP registers stood at 20.2% 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 110.5 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).
Reviewed June 2026.
What does counselling and therapy involve?
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.
The method travels; only the geography changes. everything on counselling and therapy explains it properly, how I work, sessions and fees answers the practical questions, and my BACP registration shows how the practice is held to account.
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.
Everything is done by secure video, from your own front room. Bradley is in Hove and Stoke-on-Trent clients are seen online, which means no travel costs, no time booked off and nobody in Meir or Fenton knowing you have gone anywhere. A phone or laptop and one private hour is the whole requirement. Sessions usually run to 60 minutes, weekly to start with, and the first 15-minute consultation is free and puts you under no obligation.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What can counselling and therapy in Stoke-on-Trent 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 Stoke-on-Trent
Why people in Stoke-on-Trent come for counselling and therapy
This is the entry point, made for people who cannot yet put a name to it. It is present-focused, shorter than psychotherapy, and needs no diagnosis to begin. High anxiety was reported by 25.6% of adults across the city in 2022/23, above the England average of 23.8%, which is a lot of people going about a normal week with their shoulders up round their ears. We start where you are: what the last fortnight has been like, when it is worst, what helps even slightly. Then we look at what keeps the pattern in place and what could shift without your whole life being rearranged. For a good many people six to twelve sessions is where this settles. Others use it to work out what they are dealing with and stop there. Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Talking Therapies is the free NHS route and accepts self-referrals.
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 Stoke-on-Trent
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Stoke-on-Trent, you can refer yourself directly to Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent 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.
Stoke-on-Trent questions
Online Counselling and Therapy in Stoke-on-Trent: common questions
I do not know what is wrong with me. Where would I even start?
With the ordinary detail of a recent week. What you did, what you avoided, when the day got heavier. Naming things is most of the early work, and it happens through description rather than by picking a category before you begin.
What are your fees and are there any hidden costs?
One hour is £80, 90 minutes £100 and two hours £120. That is the whole cost, with no assessment charge, no registration fee and nothing to pay for the initial 15-minute consultation. You pay per session and can stop whenever you decide to.
I have self-referred to Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Talking Therapies and I am waiting. Should I just wait?
Only you can weigh that, but you do not have to choose one or the other. That service is free and effective for many people. Starting privately while you wait means the difficult months are not spent alone, and you can stop when the NHS course starts.
Is this really for someone like me, or is therapy for a different sort of person?
It is for anyone who has run out of ways to sort something out alone. Bradley works with people who came reluctantly and expected it to be soft. It is more direct and more practical than most people imagine before they try it.
I work nights and sleep in the day. Can sessions fit round that?
They can. Times outside standard office hours are available and can be set around your rota rather than the other way round. Because there is no travel involved, a session costs you an hour rather than half a day of sleep.
I've never tried counselling, how does it actually work?
It is straightforward. Sessions happen over a video call at an agreed time, from wherever you feel private, whether that is one of the six towns or somewhere quieter nearby. You need only a reliable connection and a space where you will not be interrupted.
Is there a waiting list to start online counselling in Stoke-on-Trent?
Counselling and therapy is available to anyone in Stoke-on-Trent online, with no waiting list. It starts with a free 15-minute consultation to see if we fit, and regular weekly sessions usually follow soon after, wherever you are from Tunstall to Meir.
How much is private counselling in Stoke-on-Trent compared with NHS talking therapies?
Stoke's NHS Talking Therapies are free but often busy, so expect a wait. Private sessions are £80 an hour, 100 for 90 minutes and 120 for two hours, with a free 15-minute consultation first. Students at Staffordshire University sometimes use private work alongside campus support.
How does online counselling work for people in Stoke-on-Trent, and can sessions be in the evening?
Everything is by video, so a private room and a steady connection are all you need, whether in Bentilee or Fenton. Evening slots are frequently available, which suits long shifts across the potteries and the wider manufacturing that shapes working life here.
Online Counselling and Therapy in Stoke-on-Trent, 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: Derby, Telford, Tamworth. See all of Midlands.
If counselling and therapy is not quite what you are looking for, anxiety counselling, depression counselling and psychotherapy may fit better in Stoke-on-Trent.
You may also find it useful to read about how change actually sticks and where to start when you cannot name it.
For anyone near the coast, the same counselling and therapy runs in person in Brighton. Every area covered is listed separately.