Daily or binge drinking
Support whatever your pattern looks like.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems · Inverness
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Inverness
Online counselling for drinking problems for Inverness, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Inverness, from the centre and the castle to the streets around the river Ness, 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 Inverness
Counselling for Drinking Problems for Inverness, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Inverness: from the centre and the castle to Crown, Hilton and Inshes
- Known for
- The castle, the river Ness and the Highlands beyond
- Region
- Scotland
- Local NHS / support route
- NHS inform's drugs and drug use pages
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Inverness
Why do people in Inverness reach out?
Drinking has a long-standing place in Highland life, and around Inverness it is woven through hospitality, celebration and simply getting through a February. Seasonal tourism work runs hard through the summer and stops; the pubs stay open and the evenings get very long. In Crown and Westhill it is quiet drinking at home after work, in the way a comfortable house hides well. Further out, the nearest neighbour may be a field away and nobody is counting anything. The culture is warm and the drinking is companionable, right up until the point where it is neither and has been for some time.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Inverness
CrownHiltonInshesMerkinchDalneighCullodenSmithtonRaigmoreWesthill
Wherever you are in Inverness, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Inverness
Official figures for Inverness, for context rather than as a description of you.
the age-standardised alcohol-specific death rate in the Highland council area averaged 22.6 per 100,000 over 2020-2024, slightly above the Scotland average of 21.9 Source: National Records of Scotland, Alcohol-specific deaths 2024 (Table 4B) (2020-2024).
In Highland, the council area covering Inverness, 3.0% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, well below the Scotland average of 6.1%. 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. the main counselling for drinking problems page explains it properly, session lengths and fees answers the practical questions, and my BACP registration shows how the practice is held to account.
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.
Because Bradley is based in Hove there is no Inverness premises, and sessions run by secure video. For alcohol that removes the winter drive, the icy road and the wasted journey when you cannot face it. You can talk from your own kitchen in the early evening, before the usual hour, and there is nowhere to be seen going into. The free 15-minute consultation costs nothing and settles nothing in advance.
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 Inverness
Why people in Inverness come for counselling for drinking problems
Nothing here requires a crisis first, and abstinence does not have to be your goal to begin. Alcohol-specific deaths in the Highland council area averaged 22.6 per 100,000 over 2020-2024, slightly above the Scotland average of 21.9, which puts alcohol ahead of drugs as the substance doing most damage in this part of the country. Nearly all of that harm accumulates slowly, in households where the drinking looks companionable. Sessions look at what alcohol is doing for you at the hour you reach for it: warming a cold evening, ending a long season of work, silencing something you would rather not think about. Mikeysline supports people across the Highlands, the NHS 'find a service' directory lists alcohol treatment, and your GP is the person to see before altering 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 Inverness
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Inverness, your GP can refer you to local drug and alcohol services, and you can find support through NHS inform's drugs and drug use pages.
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 24 on 111 for urgent mental health support. Breathing Space is free on 0800 83 85 87, 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.
Inverness questions
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Inverness: common questions
The nearest alcohol service is a long drive. What are my options?
Your GP can refer you locally and the NHS 'find a service' directory lists what treatment exists. Counselling by video removes the drive completely, which for people outside the city often decides whether they get any regular support at all rather than occasional contact.
What do you charge for a session?
£80 for sixty minutes, £100 for ninety and £120 for a two-hour session, paid one at a time. Weekly at first suits most people, moving to fortnightly later. The initial 15-minute consultation is free, so nothing is spent before you know what you are buying.
What else is there across the Highlands if I want help alongside this?
Mikeysline provides mental health and suicide prevention support with an Inverness base and its Hives across the Highlands. Your GP handles referrals into NHS care, the NHS 'find a service' directory covers alcohol treatment, and Breathing Space Scotland is on 0800 83 85 87.
Can I be seen during the day, between seasonal shifts?
Daytime slots are available and often suit tourism and hospitality work better than evenings do. With no travel involved, a session fits into a gap that would otherwise be too short to use, including between a lunch service and an evening one.
Everyone up here drinks. What would make mine the problem one?
Because the comparison that matters is with your own life rather than your neighbours'. A regional culture can normalise a level of drinking that is still taking your sleep, your money and your patience, and none of that becomes acceptable by being widespread.
The winters are long and I drink more to get through them, can that be helped?
Yes. Using drink to get through the dark months is more common than you would think, and it is something we can work on. By secure video we look at what alcohol is doing for you through the season and find other ways to steady yourself, without any journey.
How quickly can I get help for a drinking problem online in the Inverness area?
Often within a week. We start with a free 15-minute consultation, then arrange your first secure video session. There is no long drive into Inverness and no waiting list, so you can begin from home, in the city or out in the glens, whenever you are ready.
What do sessions cost, and how does that compare to NHS help near Inverness?
Sessions are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free 15-minute consultation. NHS Highland alcohol support is free but travel and waits are common across such a large area; paying privately brings a cost yet a sooner start.
Can I have evening online sessions about my drinking from a Highland village?
Yes. Secure video means we can meet in the evening from wherever you have privacy, however remote. Through the isolating winter months especially, a regular confidential hour reaches you without a drive to Inverness, which many people across the Highlands find far more manageable.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Inverness, 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 Scotland: Aberdeen, Perth. See all of Scotland.
If counselling for drinking problems is not quite what you are looking for, addiction counselling, substance use counselling and depression counselling may fit better in Inverness.
There is more on this in my writing: why practice makes permanent and questioning “once an addict”.
If you can reach the south coast, this work is also done face to face in Hove, where the room is — all in-person areas are listed here.