Daily or binge drinking
Support whatever your pattern looks like.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems · Belfast
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Belfast
Online counselling for drinking problems for Belfast, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Belfast, from the city centre and the Cathedral Quarter to the streets around the City Hall, 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 Belfast
Counselling for Drinking Problems for Belfast, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Belfast: from the city centre and the Cathedral Quarter to the Falls, the Shankill, east Belfast and the south of the city
- Known for
- The City Hall, the Titanic Quarter and the shipyard cranes
- 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 Belfast
What is going on for people in Belfast?
Drink in Belfast has more cover than anything else does. There is the Friday in the Cathedral Quarter, the pint after a shift near the harbour, the family occasion where refusing draws more comment than accepting, and the bottle at home in Ballyhackamore that nobody but you is counting. None of it looks unusual from outside. What alters first is entirely private: waking at four, the arithmetic about whether you are still over the limit to drive, days planned backwards from how you expect to feel. Nothing in the city has changed at all. What has changed is how much of your week now goes on managing the drink and the recovery from it.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Belfast
Cathedral QuarterTitanic QuarterFallsShankilleast BelfastBotanicStranmillisOrmeauBallyhackamoreAndersonstownMaloneSydenham
Wherever you are in Belfast, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Belfast
Official figures for Belfast, for context rather than as a description of you.
There were 77 alcohol-specific deaths registered in the Belfast council area in 2023, the highest of any Northern Ireland LGD and 22.6% of the 341 alcohol-specific deaths across Northern Ireland that year. Source: NISRA - Alcohol-specific deaths in Northern Ireland, 2023 (2023).
In the Belfast council area, 8.6% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, well above the Northern Ireland average of 5.2%. Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Personal well-being estimates by local authority (Year ending March 2023 (2022-23)).
Reviewed June 2026.
What is counselling for drinking problems, in practice?
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 counselling for drinking problems in detail, alongside how sessions run and what they cost and professional standards and registration.
What do I need for 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.
All of this runs by secure video, because Bradley works from Hove rather than anywhere in Northern Ireland. For drinking, a fixed weekly hour at home has one particular use: it lands in the same place the drinking happens, so nothing stays theoretical for long. Morning appointments suit some people far better than evening ones, and either can be arranged. You are not asked to arrive dry, only able to remember the conversation afterwards.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What does counselling for drinking problems help with?
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 Belfast
Why people in Belfast come for counselling for drinking problems
Two beliefs keep people out of this work for years. One is that you must sign up to never drinking again before you are allowed through the door. You need not, and being pushed there early tends to turn the whole subject into something avoided. The other is that you have to have lost a job, a licence or a marriage first. Most of the drinking that quietly takes a life never announces itself that way; it simply continues, a little heavier each year, until the years add up. NISRA registered 77 alcohol-specific deaths in the Belfast council area in 2023, more than any other council area in Northern Ireland and 22.6 per cent of the 341 registered across it. The work itself looks at what the drink is doing for you: sleep, nerves, grief, money, the memory that only surfaces when the house is quiet. If your drinking is heavy and daily, speak to your GP before changing it.
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 Belfast
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Belfast, 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.
Belfast questions
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Belfast: common questions
Am I drinking badly enough for this to be worth it?
Asking the question is usually the answer. There is no threshold you must cross first and no measurement taken. People come because the evening stopped being a decision, or because of something said last week, or because of how six in the morning feels now. Each of those is reason enough.
How much are appointments?
The usual hour is £80, with £100 for ninety minutes and £120 for two hours if you want more space in a single sitting. Your first 15-minute consultation costs nothing at all. The fee stays the same whether a particular week has gone well or badly.
Do I have to give up drink to do this?
Not to begin, and not as a condition of continuing. Some people end up stopping, others end up drinking very differently, and both count. Deciding the destination in week one usually just means deciding it dishonestly. What matters early is telling the truth about the size of it.
What alcohol support exists here besides counselling?
The NHS find a service directory lists alcohol services by area, ASCERT works across Northern Ireland on drink and drugs, and your GP can refer you through Health and Social Care. If things reach crisis at night, Lifeline is free on 0808 808 8000 and answers around the clock.
Half the people I know drink exactly as I do. Does that settle it?
It makes the comparison useless. Entire workplaces and whole streets can drink at a level that costs them something without anyone naming it, and a city with a strong pub culture normalises a great deal. The measure that counts is your own sleep, mood, money and the people close to you.
How do I know if my drinking is actually a problem?
If drink has become how you cope, or others have voiced concern, it is worth talking about, whatever the amount. There is no threshold to cross first. A confidential online session across Northern Ireland lets you explore it honestly from home in Belfast.
How soon can I get help for a drinking problem in Belfast?
You can usually begin within a week. A free 15-minute consultation lets us talk without pressure, then we book a first full session that suits you. Everything is online by secure video, so you can start from anywhere in Belfast without joining a waiting list.
What does help for drinking cost here compared with NHS options in Belfast?
NHS alcohol support in Belfast is free through the Belfast Trust and community services, though it can take time to be seen. Working with me privately costs £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free 15-minute consultation, with no delay in starting.
Do you offer evening online sessions for a drinking problem in Belfast?
Yes. Evenings often work best when drinking has become tied to the end of the day. Sessions are held by secure video from home, whether you live near Botanic, the Ormeau Road or out east, so you can talk somewhere private without heading into the city.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Belfast, 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: Lisburn, Newtownabbey, Bangor. See all of Northern Ireland.
Related work in Belfast: addiction counselling, substance use counselling and depression counselling.
You may also find it useful to read about questioning “once an addict” and riding out an urge.
Closer to the Sussex coast? The same counselling for drinking problems is available in person, in Brighton, or see every area I cover.