Daily or binge drinking
Support whatever your pattern looks like.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems · Derry
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Derry
Online counselling for drinking problems for Derry, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Derry, from within the walls and the centre to the streets around the Peace Bridge, 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 Derry
Counselling for Drinking Problems for Derry, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Derry: from within the walls and the centre to the Bogside, the Waterside and Creggan
- Known for
- The city walls, the Peace Bridge and the river Foyle
- 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 Derry
Why do people in Derry reach out?
Drink in Derry is woven into the good parts of the city as much as the hard ones. It belongs to the welcome and the wit, to the bars inside the walls, and to the crowds that fill the streets each autumn for the Halloween festival. That makes a developing problem almost impossible to see, because the drinking looks exactly like belonging. The change is quieter than the celebration. It is the drinking that carries on after everybody else has stopped, the day measured out from how bad the morning is, the widening gap between the person at the table and the one awake at four. Nobody here is short of company. Plenty are drinking alone regardless.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Derry
BogsideWatersideCregganBishop StreetRosemountCulmoreShantallowthe DiamondBallymagroarty
Wherever you are in Derry, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Derry
Official figures for Derry, for context rather than as a description of you.
There were 49 alcohol-specific deaths registered in the Derry City and Strabane council area in 2023, the second-highest of any Northern Ireland LGD, out of 341 across Northern Ireland. Source: NISRA - Alcohol-specific deaths in Northern Ireland, 2023 (2023).
In Derry City and Strabane, 7.7% 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 actually happens in counselling for drinking problems?
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 method travels; only the geography changes. everything on counselling for drinking problems explains it properly, session lengths and fees answers the practical questions, and how to check my registration shows how the practice is held to account.
How does meeting by video work in practice?
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, since there is no room in this city and Bradley sees people from Hove. No waiting area, no name read out, nobody in a corridor who knows your cousin. A fixed weekly hour also gives the drinking something to answer to that is not a promise made to yourself at midnight. Morning appointments are available, and the morning is often the most honest hour of the day. You need not be dry to attend, only able to hold a conversation.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
Which difficulties does counselling for drinking problems address?
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 Derry
Why people in Derry come for counselling for drinking problems
Two ideas keep people out of alcohol counselling and both deserve taking apart. The first is that you have to want to stop for good before anyone will help you. The second is that the drinking must already have cost you a job or a marriage before it counts as a problem. Neither is true, and the second leaves people waiting quietly while the amount increases. The scale locally is serious. NISRA registered 49 alcohol-specific deaths in the Derry City and Strabane council area in 2023, the second-highest of any council area in Northern Ireland, out of 341 across it. The hour looks at what alcohol has been doing for you rather than counting units. Grief, pain, sleeplessness, money, a memory that only speaks at night: those are what move the amount once they get attention. For heavy daily drinking, get medical advice from your GP first.
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 Derry
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Derry, 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.
Derry questions
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Derry: common questions
I drink most nights but I hold down everything else. Is that a problem?
It might be, and holding everything else together is not evidence that it is not. Functioning is what allows heavy drinking to continue for years without challenge. The questions worth sitting with are what it costs you privately and what happens on the nights you intend to skip.
How much are sessions and what is free?
That opening 15-minute call costs nothing. Sessions after it are £80 for an hour, £100 for ninety minutes and £120 for two hours. There are no separate charges for anything, and no fee is taken for a session cancelled with reasonable notice.
What alcohol support exists in this area besides counselling?
ASCERT provides drug and alcohol support across Northern Ireland, and the NHS find a service directory shows what is running near your postcode. Your GP is the way into Health and Social Care. If a night turns dangerous, Lifeline answers free on 0808 808 8000 around the clock.
The whole city drinks at Halloween. How do I get through that?
Deliberately, and with a plan made well before the week itself. Big communal occasions are hard because refusing is conspicuous and nobody is counting but you. We would work out in advance what you want from the night, what you will say, and how you get home.
Will I be told to give up drink altogether?
No. Some people choose that eventually and find it suits them; others get to a place where alcohol no longer runs the week. Which one applies to you is not something to settle in advance. What the early sessions need is accuracy about the amount, not a pledge.
Do I have to give up drinking completely to get help?
No. Some people aim to stop, others to cut back or understand their drinking first. The goal is yours to set. Online sessions across Northern Ireland let you explore it honestly from home in Derry, without pressure and without judgement.
How soon can I get help for a drinking problem in Derry?
You can usually begin within a week. A free 15-minute consultation lets us talk honestly with no pressure, then we book a first full session. Everything is online by secure video, so you can start from home in Derry without the long journey to Belfast.
What does drinking support cost compared with the NHS in Derry?
NHS alcohol services in the north-west are free through the Western Trust and local community groups, though you may wait to be seen. With me it is £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free 15-minute consultation, and no waiting to start.
Do you run evening online sessions for drinking in Derry?
Yes. Evenings often suit best, since drinking so often gathers around the end of the day. Sessions take place by secure video from your own home, whether near the walls, in the Bogside or across in the Waterside, somewhere private and away from a clinic.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Derry, 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, Craigavon. See all of Northern Ireland.
Related work in Derry: addiction counselling, substance use counselling and depression counselling.
If you would like to read more first, I have written about 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.