Daily or binge drinking
Support whatever your pattern looks like.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems · Leicester
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Leicester
Online counselling for drinking problems for Leicester, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Leicester, from the centre and the Cultural Quarter to the streets around the market, 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 Leicester
Counselling for Drinking Problems for Leicester, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Leicester: from the centre and the Cultural Quarter to Belgrave, Highfields and Clarendon Park
- Known for
- The market, the King Richard III centre and the universities
- Region
- Midlands (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- Leicester City Council's alcohol and drugs support
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Leicester
Why people in Leicester get in touch
Drinking is not the whole of Leicester's habit, and that matters here. In communities where alcohol has no part in ordinary life, a drinking problem carries a particular weight of shame and is often hidden with real skill. Elsewhere, in Clarendon Park or Oadby or around the covered market, it stays entirely unremarkable until suddenly it is not. Both situations arrive at the same place in the end. Admissions for alcohol-specific conditions in the city reached 645.1 per 100,000 in 2023/24, above the England average of 611.7 per 100,000. Behind that figure are people who drink openly and people who have never once been seen with a glass in their hand.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Leicester
BelgraveHighfieldsClarendon ParkEvingtonKnightonAylestoneBraunstoneStoneygateWestcotesOadby
Wherever you are in Leicester, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Leicester
Official figures for Leicester, for context rather than as a description of you.
the rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions was 645.1 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 18.4 per 100,000 in 2024, above the England average of 13.8 per 100,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Alcohol-specific mortality (2024).
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, how I work, sessions and fees answers the practical questions, and my credentials and registration shows how the practice is held to account.
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.
The city is served online, by secure video, since Bradley works from Hove. For alcohol that removes the two hardest practicalities in one go. There is no journey, so an evening session does not depend on whether you have had a drink, and there is no doorway anybody can watch you use. If home is not private, a parked car does the job. What matters is an hour where you are neither overheard nor interrupted.
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 Leicester
Why people in Leicester come for counselling for drinking problems
You do not have to want to stop for good, and you do not have to have reached anything resembling rock bottom. Those two supposed requirements keep more people away than anything else. Wanting to drink less, or simply to understand why the amount keeps climbing, is reason enough by itself. The work looks at where alcohol has been doing something useful for you: settling the body at the end of a day, making a room easier to be in, covering an anger or a grief with nowhere else to go. Then it looks at the price. The alcohol-specific death rate in Leicester stood at 18.4 per 100,000 in 2024, well above the England average of 13.8 per 100,000. Leicester City Council's alcohol and drugs support is the local route to alcohol treatment, delivered by Turning Point Leicester.
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 Leicester
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Leicester, free local drug and alcohol support is available through Leicester City Council's alcohol and drugs 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.
Leicester questions
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Leicester: common questions
What actually happens in a first session?
You talk and I listen, for the most part. There is no form to complete and no verdict at the end of it. We look at when the drinking happens and what surrounds it, and by the close you should have a sense of whether this is worth carrying on with.
How much are sessions, and when do I pay?
Payment comes after each session rather than before a block of them. The hour is £80 / 60 min, a ninety-minute session comes to £100 / 90 min, and two hours is £120 / 120 min. The 15-minute consultation at the very start costs nothing whatsoever.
Is Turning Point Leicester where I should go if I drink every day?
If you drink every day then yes, begin there or with your GP, since daily drinking can involve a physical dependence that needs medical assessment. Leicester City Council's alcohol and drugs support is how you reach them. Counselling then runs beside that treatment rather than ahead of it.
Nobody in my family drinks. How would I explain where I am going?
You do not have to explain anything, because you are not going anywhere. The session happens where you already are, and there is no appointment card, letter or building to account for. Many people choose a time when the house is empty for exactly that reason.
I only drink at home, on my own. Is that worse?
It is not worse, though it is easier to conceal, which tends to let it grow. Drinking alone usually means the alcohol is doing a job rather than accompanying company. That job is the useful thing to look at, and it is far more interesting than the amount.
Do I need to give up alcohol before we start?
No. You do not need to have stopped or to have it all figured out. Counselling is a space to look honestly at your drinking and decide what you want to change, at your pace. Many people come while still drinking and unsure what they want.
How soon can I get help for a drinking problem in Leicester?
Soon. Help for a drinking problem is offered online across Leicester from the Hove room, so there is no local queue. A free 15-minute consultation lets us talk quietly first, and a full session usually follows within the same week, at a time that works for you.
What are the fees for drinking problem counselling, and how does NHS alcohol help in Leicester compare?
Private sessions are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for two hours, after a free 15-minute consultation. Leicester's NHS alcohol services are free but can carry a wait, while private counselling begins more quickly and discreetly, at hours that suit you.
Would drinking problem counselling be in person, and are evenings available for Leicester?
It is online, since the room is in Hove and Leicester is served by video, so nobody locally need know. That discretion helps where family and tradition sit close. Evening appointments can often be arranged, useful when drinking worries are tangled with everyday city pressures.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Leicester, 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 Midlands: Nottingham, Coventry, Derby. See all of Midlands.
People who come for counselling for drinking problems in Leicester often also look at addiction counselling, substance use counselling and depression counselling.
Some further reading, if that helps before getting in touch: questioning “once an addict” and riding out an urge.
Closer to the Sussex coast? The same counselling for drinking problems is available in person, in Hove, where the room is, or see every area I cover.