Daily or binge drinking
Support whatever your pattern looks like.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems · Hastings
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Hastings
Online counselling for drinking problems for Hastings, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Hastings, from the Old Town and the Stade to the streets around the fishing beach, 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 Hastings
Counselling for Drinking Problems for Hastings, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Hastings: from the Old Town and the Stade to St Leonards, Ore and Silverhill
- Known for
- The Old Town, the fishing beach and the cliffs
- Region
- London & South East (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- East Sussex County Council's drug and alcohol support (STAR, Change Grow Live)
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Hastings
What is going on for people in Hastings?
Drinking in Hastings has a long season and no obvious edges. There is the sociable version around the Old Town, and there is the version that happens at home in Bohemia or West Hill on a wet Tuesday in January with the season months away. Insecure work, thin winters and a town that has always been proud of doing things its own way add up to a place where heavy drinking draws no comment. That is what makes it hard to catch. People who get in touch are usually nowhere near crisis. They have started keeping a private tally and have not liked the total.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Hastings
Old TownSt LeonardsOreSilverhillHollingtonBohemiaWest HillClive ValeCentral St Leonards
Wherever you are in Hastings, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Hastings
Official figures for Hastings, for context rather than as a description of you.
the rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions was 507.1 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 10.8 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.
Rather than say the same thing on every page, the substance lives on the main counselling for drinking problems page, with the practical side for the practical questions and how to check my registration for registration and ethics.
What happens in 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.
Alcohol counselling for Hastings runs online from Hove. That takes out the journey, which from this end of the coast is a real deterrent, and the exposure of being seen entering a service in a town where everybody recognises everybody. You are already at home when the hour ends. Daytime and evening appointments are both possible, and the earlier ones are frequently more useful where drinking is the subject.
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 Hastings
Why people in Hastings come for counselling for drinking problems
Rock bottom is not the entry requirement and neither is a promise to stop for good. Both ideas keep people waiting, and the waiting is the expensive part. If the drinking has begun to bother you, that is the whole qualification, and what you do about it stays yours to decide. Early sessions usually look at what the drink is for rather than how much of it there is: the hour it is aimed at, what it makes bearable, and what could take that job on instead. Isolation and low mood get examined beside it, since recorded depression stood at 17.4% of adults on GP registers in 2024/25 against 14.3% across England. The rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions was 507.1 per 100,000 in 2023/24, below the England average of 611.7. For structured help the free route is East Sussex County Council's drug and alcohol support, and drinking heavily every day needs a GP involved first of all.
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 Hastings
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Hastings, free local drug and alcohol support is available through East Sussex County Council's drug and alcohol support (STAR, Change Grow Live).
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.
Hastings questions
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Hastings: common questions
How quickly could this start?
Usually within a fortnight. The free 15-minute conversation tends to happen within days of you asking, and a weekly slot generally follows soon after. Nothing requires a referral or an assessment appointment first, which matters when the decision to ask has taken a long time to arrive.
What is the cheapest way to do this properly?
Weekly hours at £80 give the work momentum, but fortnightly at the same rate is a legitimate way to keep going on less. Ninety minutes is £100 and two hours is £120 if you prefer depth to frequency. The first 15-minute conversation costs nothing either way.
What does East Sussex County Council's drug and alcohol support provide here?
It is the free statutory route, delivered by Change Grow Live through the STAR service with a hub at Thrift House, and it covers the medical side including any withdrawal conversation. Counselling works alongside it on the pattern and the reasons rather than on the medicine.
Can I take a session if the house is noisy?
Most people manage with headphones and a closed door, and the camera can stay off throughout. Parked cars are the usual fallback and they work well. The requirement is somewhere you can talk honestly for an hour rather than anywhere particularly quiet or comfortable.
I drink far more in winter than in summer. Is that a real pattern?
It is a very common one on this coast, where the work and the daylight thin out at the same time. A seasonal pattern is still a pattern, and it tends to extend by a few weeks at each end every year. Naming it is usually the first useful step.
Money is tight and I drink partly because of the stress. Can counselling help with both?
Yes. Drinking and money strain often feed each other, especially through the lean months here. Online sessions spare you any travel cost, and we can talk openly about both the drinking and the pressures behind it, working towards changes that are realistic for your situation.
How quickly can I get online help for a drinking problem in Hastings?
Often within a week. The free 15-minute consultation lets us talk through your drinking first, then we set a regular time. Working online means no long trip up the line and no waiting list, so you can start quietly from home wherever you are in Hastings or St Leonards.
Can I get drinking problem counselling on the NHS in Hastings?
Yes. Your GP can refer you and East Sussex'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 help through the long winters once visitors have gone?
It can. When the visitors leave and the winters weigh heavily, a regular online session keeps a steady thread going, reaching you at home with no journey along the coast. Evenings are workable. Being on the same shore, Hove is reachable for an in-person meeting if you would ever prefer.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Hastings, 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: Eastbourne. See all of London & South East.
People who come for counselling for drinking problems in Hastings often also look at 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.
If you can reach the south coast, this work is also done face to face in Brighton — all in-person areas are listed here.