Daily or binge drinking
Support whatever your pattern looks like.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems · Bournemouth
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Bournemouth
Online counselling for drinking problems for Bournemouth, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Bournemouth, from the seafront and the centre to the streets around the pier, 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 Bournemouth
Counselling for Drinking Problems for Bournemouth, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Bournemouth: from the seafront and the centre to Boscombe, Winton and Charminster
- Known for
- The pier, the beaches and the pines
- Region
- South West (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- BCP Council's drug and alcohol support services
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Bournemouth
What brings people in Bournemouth to counselling?
A resort makes drinking invisible. There are bars for visitors, bars for students, bars for people finishing a shift at three in the afternoon, and a seafront that treats a drink at any hour as unremarkable. That holds up until your own drinking stops matching anybody else's. People who retired here, or arrived alone, can end up drinking through unstructured days in Kinson or Throop with nothing to mark the evening apart. Hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions ran at 621 per 100,000 in 2023/24, above the England average of 611.7, and the alcohol-specific death rate reached 15.6 per 100,000 in 2024. Behind the holiday version of the town, that is the quieter reality.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Bournemouth
BoscombeWintonCharminsterWestbourneSouthbourneSpringbourneKinsonThroopPokesdown
Wherever you are in Bournemouth, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Bournemouth
Official figures for Bournemouth, for context rather than as a description of you.
the rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions was 621 per 100,000 in 2023/24, above the England average of 611.7 per 100,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Admission episodes for alcohol-specific conditions (2023/24).
the alcohol-specific death rate was 15.6 per 100,000 in 2024, above the England average of 13.8 per 100,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Alcohol-specific mortality (2024).
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 everything on counselling for drinking problems, alongside how I work, sessions and fees and qualifications, registration and ethics.
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.
Appointments are online by secure video, because Bradley works from Hove. Drinking is the thing people least want on any waiting-room list, and this arrangement obliges nobody. There is no drive home afterwards and no risk of being recognised. An early slot suits you if evenings are the difficult stretch; a later one suits you if the house only goes quiet after eight. Consistency matters more than the exact hour.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What can counselling for drinking problems in Bournemouth 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 Bournemouth
Why people in Bournemouth come for counselling for drinking problems
Nothing here depends on having lost a job, a marriage or a licence first. Rock bottom is a story rather than a requirement, and waiting to reach one is how a great many years get spent. Nor do you have to promise never to drink again in order to begin. Plenty of people come to look honestly at what alcohol is doing before deciding what they want to do about it. We look at when it started, what it steadies, and what it now costs in sleep, money, mood and honesty. If you drink heavily every day, stopping abruptly can be genuinely dangerous, so speak to a doctor first; BCP Council's drug and alcohol support services is the route to that, delivered here by We Are With You. Dorset Mind covers the anxiety and low mood that so often sit underneath.
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 Bournemouth
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Bournemouth, free local drug and alcohol support is available through BCP Council's drug and alcohol support services.
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 NHS 111 and choose the mental health option. The Samaritans are free, day or night, on 116 123, or 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.
Bournemouth questions
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Bournemouth: common questions
How do I know if I have a drinking problem rather than a busy social life?
The measure is not units and it is not other people. It is whether you can leave it alone when you planned to, whether you think about it long before it happens, and whether you have begun editing what you tell people. Any of those is worth an hour.
What are the costs here?
Sixty minutes is £80. Ninety minutes is £100 and two hours is £120, and the opening 15-minute conversation is free. Most people take the hour weekly. Where earnings are seasonal, sessions can pause and restart rather than being paid for in advance.
Where do I go if I need medical help to stop?
BCP Council's drug and alcohol support services, which leads to We Are With You for this area, or your own GP. Counselling does not prescribe and does not supervise withdrawal. Where drinking is heavy and daily, that medical conversation comes first and this runs alongside it.
Can I do this from home if I live with family?
Most people do. Headphones help, and so does picking an hour when the house empties. Some take the session parked near Southbourne or Westbourne instead, purely for the quiet. If nowhere at home works, we can find a time that does before anything is booked.
I moved here to retire and I am drinking more than I ever did. Why?
Retirement removes the structure that used to cap it, and moving removes the people who would have noticed. This town attracts both at once. Days without shape and evenings without company are a very common reason drinking grows, and it is workable once it is said aloud.
I drink to cope with feeling alone in Bournemouth. Can regular counselling help?
Yes. A steady, confidential conversation offers a fixed point when the people around you keep changing, and space to look at your drinking honestly. Sessions are held online by secure video from home. The counselling room is in Hove, on the Sussex coast.
How quickly can I get help for a drinking problem in Bournemouth?
Usually within days. We start with a free 15-minute consultation to see whether we are a good fit, then book your first full session. It is all online, so you can begin from anywhere in Bournemouth, from Throop to Pokesdown, without joining a local waiting list.
What will drinking problem counselling cost, and is NHS help available in Bournemouth?
My fees are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 minutes and £120 for 120 minutes, after a free 15-minute consultation. NHS alcohol support in Bournemouth, through your GP or the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, is free but can mean a wait, whereas private online sessions with me are paced around you.
Is online drinking problem counselling private, and can we meet in the evening in Bournemouth?
Yes. Online sessions are discreet, and you speak from home rather than a clinic anywhere in Bournemouth, including Boscombe or Winton. I offer some evening slots for after work. My only in-person room is in Hove, so face-to-face suits those able to travel to the Sussex coast.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Bournemouth, 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 South West: Poole, Southampton. See all of South West.
Also available in Bournemouth: addiction counselling, substance use counselling and depression counselling.
Some further reading, if that helps before getting in touch: riding out an urge and why practice makes permanent.
If you can reach the south coast, this work is also done face to face in Brighton — all in-person areas are listed here.