Daily or binge drinking
Support whatever your pattern looks like.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems · Chester
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Chester
Online counselling for drinking problems for Chester, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Chester, from the Rows and the walls to the streets around the river Dee, 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 Chester
Counselling for Drinking Problems for Chester, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Chester: from the Rows and the walls to Hoole, Boughton and Blacon
- Known for
- The city walls, the Rows and the river Dee
- Region
- North West (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- Cheshire West and Chester Council's drug and alcohol services
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Chester
Why do people in Chester reach out?
Chester drinks socially and well. The bars around the Rows fill up on a Friday, the restaurants are busy, and a bottle of something decent at home is a reasonable end to a working week. It is a city where drinking looks like taste rather than trouble, and that makes the shift almost impossible to name. In Upton, Vicars Cross or Handbridge, nobody is going to comment on a second bottle. The tourism trade around the walls keeps the city pouring all year. If your own drinking has changed, the surroundings will offer you no clue at all. Nor will anyone you drink with.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Chester
the city centre within the wallsHooleBoughtonBlaconHandbridgeNewtonUptonVicars Cross
Wherever you are in Chester, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Chester
Official figures for Chester, for context rather than as a description of you.
the rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions was 655.5 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 11.8 per 100,000 in 2024, below the England average of 13.8 per 100,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Alcohol-specific mortality (2024).
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.
What actually happens in the room is the same everywhere, so it is written up once: see the full counselling for drinking problems page for the methods, how I work, sessions and fees for fees and session lengths, and my credentials and registration if you want to check who you would be working with.
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.
Bradley works from Hove; there is no room in Chester and none is needed. Sessions happen by video, at a time you choose, which for drinking has a plain advantage: no driving either way, and no arriving anywhere with the smell of last night still on you. Daytime and early evening slots are both possible. Nothing goes through a local address, and nobody in the city needs to know the hour exists.
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 Chester
Why people in Chester come for counselling for drinking problems
You do not need to have hit anything to bring drinking here, and you do not need to want to stop. Chester's overall figures look reassuring: hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions were 472 per 100,000 in 2023/24, below the England average of 504.1 per 100,000, and the alcohol-specific death rate was 11.8 per 100,000 in 2024, below the England average of 13.8 per 100,000. Reassuring city-wide figures are cold comfort at the level of one household, and they can make it harder to take your own drinking seriously. The work starts with the honest detail: when it happens, what it does, what it is protecting you from. Cheshire West and Chester Council's drug and alcohol services and New Beginnings are there for medical support, and a GP should be involved before any change to a heavy daily intake.
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 Chester
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Chester, free local drug and alcohol support is available through Cheshire West and Chester Council's drug and alcohol 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.
Chester questions
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Chester: common questions
In my circle everyone drinks like this. How would I know if I have a problem?
Comparison with your friends is the least reliable measure available, especially in a city where good wine is a hobby. A better test is whether you can leave it when you decide to, and whether the decision is getting harder. If you are quietly managing the answer, that is the answer.
Would I have to give up alcohol altogether?
Not unless you want to. Cutting down, drinking on fewer days, or keeping the social side while losing the solitary side are all real goals. The one caution is medical: if you drink heavily every day, changes need a GP's involvement, because stopping abruptly can be genuinely dangerous.
What would the council's drug and alcohol services offer someone like me?
Cheshire West and Chester Council's drug and alcohol services set out the local options, and New Beginnings is the service behind them. They cover assessment and medical support, including for alcohol. Some use that alongside counselling; others never need it. It is worth knowing the route exists before you need it in a hurry.
What is the cost per session?
£80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min or £120 / 120 min, and the first 15-minute consultation is free. Payment is per session, not in advance, so there is nothing to lose if you decide after two or three that the timing is wrong.
Can counselling help if my partner is the one worried, not me?
It can, though it works better if you find a reason of your own somewhere in the first few sessions. Coming because someone else asked is a perfectly ordinary start. What tends to change things is discovering a question you actually want answered about your own drinking.
Everyone around me drinks socially. How do I know mine's a problem?
It's not about how it compares to others but what it's doing to you. If you're drinking more than you mean to, thinking about it a lot, or finding it hard to stop, that matters regardless of Chester's social scene. We can look at it together, honestly and without pressure.
How do I begin counselling for a drinking problem in Chester?
Book a free 15-minute consultation, we talk through what is worrying you, and if it feels right we set a first session, usually within a week. It runs online from Hove, so wherever you are in Chester, from Newton to Upton, you can start from home.
What will drinking problem counselling cost compared with the NHS in Chester?
Chester's NHS alcohol support is free but can involve a wait. With me you get a free 15-minute consultation, then £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120 minutes, with nothing hidden in the fee.
Is online counselling for drinking as good as meeting in Chester, and are evenings possible?
For many, home is the easier place to be honest about drinking, and online keeps that. In a prosperous-looking city, difficulty can feel out of place; speaking privately from home helps. My room is in Hove only, and evenings are usually available.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Chester, 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 North West: Warrington, Liverpool, Crewe. See all of North West.
Close to this in Chester, there is addiction counselling, substance use counselling and depression counselling.
You may also find it useful to read about riding out an urge and why practice makes permanent.
For anyone near the coast, the same counselling for drinking problems runs in person in Brighton. Every area covered is listed separately.