Daily or binge drinking
Support whatever your pattern looks like.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems · Bangor
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Bangor
Online counselling for drinking problems for Bangor, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Bangor, from the marina and the centre to the streets around the coastal path, 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 Bangor
Counselling for Drinking Problems for Bangor, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Bangor: from the marina and the centre to Ballyholme, Groomsport and Conlig
- Known for
- The marina, the coastal path and Belfast Lough
- Region
- Northern Ireland
- Local NHS / support route
- ASCERT, which supports people across Northern Ireland with drug and alcohol use
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Bangor
Why people in Bangor get in touch
Bangor drinks the way a lot of comfortable coastal towns drink, which is freely and without much comment. The summer trade, the visitors, the boats at the marina and the long light evenings all make it look sociable. Winter turns it domestic. Once the season is over and the last train home is the only fixed point in a day, drinking moves indoors and stops being an event at all. Two glasses become four somewhere along the way, and that line is never a date anyone could name afterwards. Nobody in Clandeboye or around Ward Park is counting on your behalf, and the recycling goes out in the dark.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Bangor
BallyholmeGroomsportConligBloomfieldClandeboyeWhitehillRathgaelBryansburn
Wherever you are in Bangor, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Bangor
Official figures for Bangor, for context rather than as a description of you.
There were 28 alcohol-specific deaths registered in the Ards and North Down council area (which covers Bangor) in 2023, 8.2% of the 341 alcohol-specific deaths registered across Northern Ireland that year. Source: NISRA - Alcohol-specific deaths in Northern Ireland, 2023 (Table 6) (2023).
In Ards and North Down, the council area covering Bangor, 3.3% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, compared with a Northern Ireland average of 5.2%, 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 counselling for drinking problems involve?
Counselling for drinking problems here looks beneath the habit at what drives it, you do not need to have hit rock bottom to begin, and signposts medical, detox and peer support where useful.
The approach does not change with the postcode, so rather than repeat it on every page you can read it in full, the methods and what each session covers, on the main counselling for drinking problems page, alongside how sessions run and what they cost and my credentials and registration.
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.
Everything runs by secure video from Hove, so no part of this involves being seen anywhere in the town. Where drink is concerned that is often the deciding factor. A regular hour at home also puts the conversation inside the room where the evening usually goes wrong, which keeps it specific. Early appointments before the train and later ones once the house is quiet are both possible, and you need only be clear enough to take part.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What sort of things do people bring?
The cause, not the habit
Looking beneath the drinking to what drives it.
Anxiety and low mood
Working with what the alcohol has been managing.
Privacy at home
Sensitive support without anyone needing to know.
Signposting
Links to medical, detox and peer support where useful.
Without the anaesthetic
Reconnecting with the person beneath the drinking.
Counselling for Drinking Problems in Bangor
Why people in Bangor come for counselling for drinking problems
Two things are worth saying before anybody books. You do not have to give up drink to do this work, and you do not have to have reached some dramatic low point to qualify for it. The second belief does the greater damage. A great deal of drinking that eventually wrecks somebody's health involves no scene, no sacking and no court date; it simply carries on politely for twenty years. What the sessions do is get underneath the amount. Drink is nearly always doing a job, whether that is switching off after a commute, dulling a marriage that has gone quiet, taking the edge off a long winter, or holding down something older that has never had words attached to it. The amount tends to shift once the job is clear. A GP can refer you through Health and Social Care, ASCERT covers alcohol support across Northern Ireland, and heavy daily drinking needs medical advice before any change.
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 callDrug, alcohol & addiction support in Bangor
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Bangor, your GP can refer you to local drug and alcohol services, and you can find support through ASCERT, which supports people across Northern Ireland with drug and alcohol use.
For confidential information and advice, FRANK (on 0300 123 6600) and Drinkline on 0300 123 1110 are free, and Alcoholics Anonymous and SMART Recovery run peer-support meetings you can find online.
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 Lifeline free on 0808 808 8000. Lifeline is free on 0808 808 8000, the Samaritans are on 116 123, and you can text SHOUT to 85258.
If you drink heavily or use drugs daily, do not stop suddenly on your own. Withdrawal can cause seizures and can be dangerous. Speak to your GP or a local drug and alcohol service first, and they can arrange a safe, medically supported withdrawal. Counselling works alongside that, not instead of it.
Bangor questions
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Bangor: common questions
How would I know whether my drinking is bad enough to bring here?
There is no line drawn in advance and no score to reach. The useful questions are simpler: whether you can leave it when you intend to, whether the evening still feels like a choice, and what it takes from your sleep, your temper and the people in your house.
What does this cost, and is the first call included?
Nothing is charged for that first 15-minute call. After that an hour is £80, ninety minutes £100, and two hours £120 if a longer session would help. Nothing extra is charged for evening or early slots, and the fee is identical whether you use video or the phone.
What alcohol help exists locally alongside counselling?
Your GP refers into Health and Social Care, and ASCERT provides drug and alcohol support throughout Northern Ireland. The NHS find a service directory sets out what is available by area. Lifeline, free on 0808 808 8000, answers through the night when things become frightening.
Everyone here drinks at the sailing club and the bars in summer. Is mine different?
The comparison rarely helps. A town with a strong social season can normalise a level of drinking that quietly costs people a great deal, and it hides the person who has kept going after the season stopped. Yours is measured against your own life, not the town's.
Would I have to tell my family I am doing this?
Only if you want to. Nothing is sent to your home, no letters arrive and nobody is informed that you have booked. A session at a time when the house is empty is the arrangement plenty of people choose, at least until they decide for themselves who to tell.
Can I get help for drinking without anyone locally knowing?
Yes. Sessions are held privately by secure video from your own home in Bangor, with no local waiting room to be seen in. The counsellor works confidentially across Northern Ireland from a Hove base, which many in a small coastal town value.
How soon can I get help for a drinking problem in Bangor?
You can usually begin within a week. A free 15-minute consultation gives us space to talk without pressure, then we set a first full session. It is all online by secure video, so you can start from home in Bangor rather than waiting for a place in Belfast.
What does drinking support cost compared with the NHS in Bangor?
NHS alcohol support here is free through the South Eastern Trust and local services, though there can be a wait. Working with me costs £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free 15-minute consultation, and you can begin without delay.
Do you offer evening online sessions for drinking in Bangor?
Yes. Evenings can suit best, and the quiet winter season by the lough is often when drinking creeps up. Sessions are held by secure video from your own home, from the marina to Groomsport, somewhere private with no need to travel for an appointment.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Bangor, 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 Northern Ireland: Belfast, Newtownabbey. See all of Northern Ireland.
Related work in Bangor: addiction counselling, substance use counselling and depression counselling.
There is more on this in my writing: questioning “once an addict” and riding out an urge.
For anyone near the coast, the same counselling for drinking problems runs in person in Hove, where the room is. Every area covered is listed separately.