Daily or binge drinking
Support whatever your pattern looks like.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems · Folkestone
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Folkestone
Online counselling for drinking problems for Folkestone, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Folkestone, from the Creative Quarter and the Leas to the streets around the Harbour Arm, 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 Folkestone
Counselling for Drinking Problems for Folkestone, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Folkestone: from the Creative Quarter and the Leas to Cheriton, Sandgate and Morehall
- Known for
- The Leas, the Harbour Arm and the Creative Quarter
- Region
- London & South East (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- Kent County Council's drug and alcohol support
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Folkestone
What brings people in Folkestone to counselling?
There is a version of Folkestone that drinks in the sun on the harbour and a version that drinks in a flat in Cheriton in November, and they are often the same person six months apart. The season gives the town a rhythm and drinking slots into it easily: busy and social while the visitors are here, quiet and solitary once they are not. Nobody notices the second version. That is what makes it durable. What usually prompts somebody to look for help is not a single bad night but a growing recognition that the winter pattern has stopped waiting for winter.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Folkestone
CheritonSandgateMorehallFoordBroadmeadEast FolkestoneHarvey CentralPark Farm
Wherever you are in Folkestone, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Folkestone
Official figures for Folkestone, for context rather than as a description of you.
the rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions was 463.2 per 100,000 in 2023/24, below 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 10.2 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 would we do together 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.
Because the work itself is the same wherever you live, the detail sits in one place rather than all of them: the main counselling for drinking problems page sets out the methods, how I work, sessions and fees covers the practicalities, and professional standards and registration covers accountability.
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.
Alcohol sessions for Folkestone happen by secure video from Hove. That removes the drive at both ends, which is not a trivial matter on an evening when the entire question is whether you are drinking or not. No car sits outside a building and nobody has to be told anything. Morning and early-afternoon appointments are available, and for drinking they often work better than one placed at the end of the day.
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 Folkestone
Why people in Folkestone come for counselling for drinking problems
There is no requirement to have reached rock bottom and no requirement to commit to stopping for good. Between them those two ideas keep people drinking for years while they wait to be bad enough to deserve help. If the drinking bothers you, that is enough to start on. Whether you stop, cut back, or change when and why it happens stays your decision throughout. The work usually begins with the hour rather than the amount: what the first drink is for, what it makes tolerable, and what could hold that hour if it were not doing so. Hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions across this part of Kent stood at 433.7 per 100,000 in 2023/24, where England as a whole recorded 504.1. Kent County Council's drug and alcohol support is the free structured route, and anybody drinking heavily every day should speak to a GP before changing anything.
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 Folkestone
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Folkestone, free local drug and alcohol support is available through Kent County Council's drug and alcohol support.
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.
Folkestone questions
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Folkestone: common questions
How soon could I speak to somebody?
The free 15-minute consultation usually happens within a few days of getting in touch. Regular sessions tend to follow within a fortnight if you want them. There is no referral, no assessment appointment and no list, which is often what makes the difference at the point of deciding.
Do I have to commit to a number of sessions?
No. Each one is booked and paid separately: £80 for an hour, £100 for 90 minutes, £120 for two. Some people come six times, some for a year, and stopping requires nothing more than saying so. The opening 15 minutes costs you nothing.
Would Kent County Council's drug and alcohol support be more use to me?
Possibly as well as this rather than instead of it. It is free, it is the statutory route, and it holds anything medical, withdrawal included, with Change Grow Live running the Kent Recovery Houses. Counselling starts faster and stays private. The combination is very common indeed.
Can I have the session somewhere other than home?
Anywhere you can talk uninterrupted. Parked cars are the most common alternative, then a room at work with the door closed, occasionally a quiet corner outdoors with headphones in. The camera is optional and nobody needs to see where you are sitting.
I drink most in the off-season. Is a seasonal pattern still a problem?
It can be. A pattern that only appears for four months a year is easy to explain away and easy to repeat, and it often lengthens quietly, a few weeks at each end. Noticing that the season is stretching is usually the point worth acting on.
My drinking rises when the town empties out for winter. Can that pattern shift?
It can. Drinking to fill the seasonal comedown is a familiar pattern in Folkestone, and understanding what it does for you is the first step. Online sessions run straight through the quiet months, so you have steady support exactly when the drinking feels hardest to manage.
How quickly can I get online help for a drinking problem in Folkestone?
Often within a week. The free 15-minute consultation lets us talk through your drinking before you commit, then we set a regular time. Working online means no long journey along the coast and no waiting list, so you can start quietly from home wherever you are in Folkestone.
Can I get drinking problem counselling on the NHS in Folkestone?
Yes. Your GP can refer you and Kent's council-funded alcohol service accepts self-referrals for free, with Drinkline offering confidential phone advice. Going private, sessions here are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free 15-minute consultation.
Can drinking counselling stay steady through Folkestone's seasonal swings?
It can. When the summer crowds thin and the light goes off the sea, a dependable online session keeps a regular thread going, reaching you at home with no travel through busy season or quiet months alike. Being on the same coast, Hove is reachable for an in-person meeting if you prefer.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Folkestone, 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 London & South East: Dover, Ashford. See all of London & South East.
Also available in Folkestone: addiction counselling, substance use counselling and depression counselling.
If you would like to read more first, I have written about why practice makes permanent and questioning “once an addict”.
For anyone near the coast, the same counselling for drinking problems runs in person in Brighton. Every area covered is listed separately.