Persistent low mood
Support for ongoing sadness and emotional heaviness.
Online Depression Counselling · Aberdeen
Online Depression Counselling in Aberdeen
Online depression counselling for Aberdeen, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Aberdeen, from the granite centre and the harbour to the streets around the granite architecture, 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 Aberdeen
Depression Counselling for Aberdeen, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Aberdeen: from the granite centre and the harbour to Old Aberdeen, Torry and Bridge of Don
- Known for
- The granite architecture, the harbour and the North Sea
- Region
- Scotland
- Local NHS / support route
- NHS psychological therapies (Scotland)
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Aberdeen
What brings people in Aberdeen to counselling?
The Aberdeen winter is the part people underestimate. The light gives out early for months, the granite turns steel-grey, and a city on the north-east coast can feel a long way from everywhere. Depression settles neatly into a rota. Three weeks of relentless structure offshore, then three weeks at home with none at all, and by the second week you are up at noon and no closer to the things you promised yourself you would do. Money worry threads through it whenever the industry wobbles. And a place that prizes graft can make low mood feel like a character flaw rather than an illness. You keep turning up in Bridge of Don, and quietly stop answering anybody.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Aberdeen
Old AberdeenTorryBridge of DonRosemountFerryhillMannofieldFootdeeDyceCultsKincorth
Wherever you are in Aberdeen, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Aberdeen
Official figures for Aberdeen, for context rather than as a description of you.
In Aberdeen City, 8.9% of adults reported a low happiness score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, in line with the Scotland average of 9.1%. Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Personal well-being estimates by local authority (Year ending March 2023 (2022-23)).
In Aberdeen City, 5.0% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, compared with a Scotland average of 6.1%, a difference the survey's margin of error does not confirm. Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Personal well-being estimates by local authority (Year ending March 2023 (2022-23)).
Reviewed June 2026.
What does depression counselling involve?
Depression counselling here is steady and structured: we focus on the low mood, lost motivation and disconnection affecting you now, and on rebuilding the energy, routine and self-worth that hold a day together.
Rather than say the same thing on every page, the substance lives on the depression counselling page, with session lengths and fees for the practical questions and my credentials and registration for registration and ethics.
What happens in an online session?
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 here happens by secure video, because there is no counselling room in this city; Bradley sees people in Aberdeen from Hove. When getting washed and out of the door is the hardest task of the day, removing the journey matters more than it sounds. A fixed weekly appointment also gives an unshaped week one dependable edge. Some people take the call from the car for privacy, and that is a perfectly ordinary way to do it.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What sort of things do people bring?
Lost motivation
Help with drive, focus and finishing tasks.
Isolation
Support for withdrawal and feeling numb.
Energy and routine
Rebuilding the rhythms that hold a day together.
Self-worth
Gently challenging a harsh inner voice.
Reconnection
Finding your way back to the parts of life that feel distant.
Depression Counselling in Aberdeen
Why people in Aberdeen come for depression counselling
Depression rarely announces itself. It arrives as a slow subtraction: the friends you stopped replying to, the walk along the harbour you used to take, the interest in your own life. On a rota that fading gets blamed on tiredness for years, and offshore it can be hidden entirely behind a shift pattern. The work is steady rather than clever. We start with the actual shape of your days and put small, genuinely doable pieces back into them, because motivation tends to follow action rather than turn up first. We also look at the voice calling this laziness, which is often somebody else's from a long time ago. Drink complicates low mood more than it lifts it: on the National Records of Scotland measure, the alcohol-specific death rate for Aberdeen City averaged 21.7 per 100,000 over 2020-2024 against a Scotland figure of 21.9. Alongside private work your GP can refer you into NHS psychological therapies, NHS inform holds practical self-help, and Breathing Space is free on 0800 83 85 87.
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 Aberdeen
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Aberdeen, your GP can refer you to NHS psychological therapies, and you can find trusted self-help through NHS inform. You can find support through NHS inform; for confidential listening support, Breathing Space is free on 0800 83 85 87.
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 24 on 111 for urgent mental health support. Breathing Space is free on 0800 83 85 87, the Samaritans are on 116 123, and you can text SHOUT to 85258.
Aberdeen questions
Online Depression Counselling in Aberdeen: common questions
I cannot promise I will manage every week. Does that rule me out?
Not at all. Low mood makes any commitment feel enormous, so we begin with one session and see how it lands. If a week disappears, we pick it back up rather than treating it as a failure. The regular slot is there to help, not to judge you.
What does depression counselling cost in Aberdeen?
The hour is £80, with £100 for ninety minutes and £120 for two hours. Most people in this city take the hour and keep it weekly. Before any of that there is a free 15-minute consultation, with no obligation afterwards and no pressure applied at the end of it.
Should I see my GP in Aberdeen as well?
It is usually worth it. In Scotland the GP is the door into NHS psychological therapies, and they are also the person to talk to about sleep, appetite or medication. NHS inform is a reliable place to read up meanwhile, and Breathing Space is free on 0800 83 85 87.
The dark months here flatten me every year. Does that come into the work?
It does, directly. When the light goes at teatime for months on end, mood follows it down, and in this part of the country that pattern repeats reliably. We map your own version, then build a few anchors into the worst stretch instead of waiting to see how far it goes.
Nobody at work can know. Is any of this shared?
No. Nothing goes to your employer, your occupational health service or your GP unless you specifically ask for it. Counselling is confidential within the usual professional limits, and those limits are explained plainly at the start so there are no surprises later.
The winters here really drag me down, is that something you work with?
Yes. Low mood that deepens through the dark northern months is very common, and it responds well to steady, regular support. Meeting by secure video means we can keep going right through the winter from your own home in Aberdeen, with no cold journey to face.
How quickly can depression counselling begin in Aberdeen?
Often within a week of a free 15-minute consultation. There is no local waiting list, so you can start from home in Ferryhill or Bridge of Don. When depression makes the cold, grey days harder, beginning from your own room removes one barrier.
Is private depression counselling worth it against the Grampian wait?
That is your choice. NHS Grampian is free but waits for depression support can be long this far north. I charge £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free 15-minute consultation, with no queue to begin.
Are evening online depression sessions available in Aberdeen?
Yes. The rhythm of energy-sector work and long shifts can leave only evenings free, so those slots often suit best. You join securely from home in Mannofield or Cults, with no journey and the same steady hour whatever the weather off the North Sea.
Online Depression Counselling in Aberdeen, 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 Scotland: Dundee, Perth. See all of Scotland.
Related work in Aberdeen: anxiety counselling, counselling and therapy and psychotherapy.
If you would like to read more first, I have written about a solution-focused exercise and small repeated steps.
For anyone near the coast, the same depression counselling runs in person in Brighton. Every area covered is listed separately.