Daily or binge drinking
Support whatever your pattern looks like.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems · London
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in London
Online counselling for drinking problems for London, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across London, from the inner boroughs to the streets around the City, 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 London
Counselling for Drinking Problems for London, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of London: from the inner boroughs to the outer suburbs, Zone 1 out to the edges of the M25
- Known for
- The City, the West End, the river and the great parks
- Region
- London & South East (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- NHS drug & alcohol service finder (see below)
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in London
Why people in London get in touch
Drinking in London has more cover than almost anywhere. There is the round after work near the City, the launch in the West End, the can opened on the train out to Ealing, the two glasses that mark the end of a day nobody else witnessed. None of it looks unusual, which is precisely the trouble. What changes first is private: the four in the morning wake-up, the arithmetic about whether you are still over the limit, the day quietly arranged around how you expect to feel by six. Everybody around you appears to be doing something similar, so there is never an obvious moment at which it becomes a thing worth mentioning to anyone.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around London
IslingtonCamdenHackneyShoreditchBrixtonCroydonEalingGreenwichCanary WharfWandsworthWalthamstow
Wherever you are in London, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in London
Official figures for London, for context rather than as a description of you.
Across the London region as a whole (all 32 boroughs), the rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions was 564.4 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).
Across the London region as a whole (all 32 boroughs), the alcohol-specific death rate was 10.9 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 is counselling for drinking problems, in practice?
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 approach does not change with the postcode, so rather than repeat it on every page you can read it in full, the methods and what each session covers, on counselling for drinking problems in detail, alongside session lengths and fees and qualifications, registration and ethics.
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.
Because Bradley works from Hove, all Londoners are seen online by secure video. For drinking that has a particular use: the weekly hour lands in the same space where the drinking itself happens, so nothing we discuss stays abstract. Early morning appointments before the commute suit some people far better than evening ones, and both exist. You are not asked to have drunk nothing beforehand in order to attend.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What can counselling for drinking problems in London help with?
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 London
Why people in London come for counselling for drinking problems
Two beliefs stop people starting, and both are worth setting aside. The first is that you have to sign up to never drinking again. You do not have to decide that in order to begin, and being pushed towards it early usually turns the whole subject into something you avoid. The second is that something must have gone badly wrong first: a job lost, a licence gone, a marriage ended. Most drinking that quietly narrows a life never reaches any of that. It simply continues, a little heavier each year, until you notice how much of your thinking it occupies. What we look at instead is the job alcohol is doing for you. Sleep, nerves, boredom, grief, money, an old memory that surfaces only when the flat goes quiet. If you want a statutory route as well, the NHS find a service directory lists alcohol services borough by borough.
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 London
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. You can find your nearest free NHS-funded drug and alcohol service via the NHS “find a service” directory (search “London”).
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.
London questions
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in London: common questions
Am I drinking enough for counselling to be worth it?
If the question has occurred to you, that is usually answer enough. There is no threshold you have to reach. People come because the evening stopped feeling like a choice, or because of something they said last week, or because of how they feel at six in the morning. Any of those will do.
How much does each appointment cost?
Sixty minutes is £80, ninety minutes is £100, and two hours is £120 when you want more room in one go. The opening 15-minute conversation is free. The fee is the same whether we meet by video or by telephone, and it does not change according to how your week has gone.
Do I need to stop drinking before the first session?
Not at all, and you will not be asked to. Turning up as you are is the honest version, and it gives us something real to work with rather than a tidied-up account. What is asked is only that you are sober enough during the hour to remember afterwards what was said in it.
What if I want NHS alcohol support in my borough too?
That is a sensible thing to want, and the two work well together. The NHS find a service directory will show what is commissioned where you live, since the 32 boroughs differ. If your drinking is heavy and daily, speak to your GP before making any change to it.
Everyone I work with in the City drinks like this. Does that mean mine is fine?
It mainly means the comparison is not much use. Whole offices can drink at a level that quietly costs each person something, and a hospitality culture normalises a great deal. The measure that counts is your own: what it takes from your sleep, your mood, your money and the people closest to you.
Everyone I know drinks like this. How do I know if mine is a problem?
That comparison is exactly what keeps many Londoners stuck. What matters is not how others drink but how it sits with you: the creeping amounts, the broken promises to cut down, the difficult mornings. We can look at your own pattern honestly, without any label being forced on it.
How quickly can I get help for a drinking problem online in London?
Often within a week. A free 15-minute consultation lets us talk through your drinking and what you want to change, then we set a regular time. Working online means no waiting list and no trek across the boroughs, so you can start from wherever suits in the city.
Can I get counselling for a drinking problem on the NHS in London?
Yes, there are free NHS routes: your GP can refer you and every borough funds a local alcohol service you can usually self-refer to, with Drinkline offering free confidential advice by phone. The private sessions here are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120.
I do a lot of work drinking in London. Can sessions fit around that?
They can. Sessions are online and flexible, so they sit around client dinners, late finishes and early starts, taken discreetly from home or a quiet room at work. Evenings are often easiest. If you would rather meet in person, the room is in Hove, a short train from London.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in London, 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: Watford, Slough, Reading, Guildford. See all of London & South East.
People who come for counselling for drinking problems in London often also look at addiction counselling, substance use counselling and depression counselling.
There is more on this in my writing: 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.