Daily or binge drinking
Support whatever your pattern looks like.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems · Maidstone
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Maidstone
Online counselling for drinking problems for Maidstone, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Maidstone, from the town centre and the river to the streets around the Medway, 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 Maidstone
Counselling for Drinking Problems for Maidstone, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Maidstone: from the town centre and the river to Penenden Heath, Shepway and Allington
- Known for
- The Medway, the Archbishop's Palace and the surrounding orchards
- 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 Maidstone
Why people in Maidstone get in touch
Alcohol in Maidstone keeps polite hours. A glass while the dinner cooks in Bearsted, a couple on the train back from a long day, a bottle shared on a Friday that has quietly become a bottle each. The county's hospital figures look reassuring: admissions for alcohol-specific conditions ran at 463.2 per 100,000 in 2023/24, below the England average of 611.7 per 100,000, and the alcohol-specific death rate was 10.2 per 100,000 in 2024 against 13.8 nationally. Those numbers count crises. They do not count the four in the morning waking, the arithmetic about whether you are still over the limit, or a day arranged around how six o'clock is going to feel.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Maidstone
Penenden HeathShepwayAllingtonBarmingTovilBearstedPalace WoodRinglestoneLoose
Wherever you are in Maidstone, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Maidstone
Official figures for Maidstone, 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 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 how I work, sessions and fees and qualifications, registration and ethics.
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.
Maidstone is worked with online, by secure video, since there is no room here and Bradley is in Hove. For drinking that carries one specific advantage: the conversation happens in the same rooms as the drinking, which keeps it concrete. Morning and daytime appointments can be arranged for anyone who would rather not discuss alcohol in the evening, when the day is already tipping that way. You do not have to be dry beforehand.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What does counselling for drinking problems 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 Maidstone
Why people in Maidstone come for counselling for drinking problems
Neither abstinence nor catastrophe is a condition of coming here. That matters in a town like this, where the drinking that causes trouble is mostly the sort that never looks like trouble from outside. Hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions across Kent ran at 433.7 per 100,000 in 2023/24, below the England average of 504.1 per 100,000, and almost none of what people actually bring to counselling ever appears in a figure of that kind. So the work does not begin with how much. It begins with what the drink is for: the edge it takes off a day of meetings, the way it marks the end of a commute, the thing it lets you stop turning over. Then we look at what it charges you for that. Kent County Council's drug and alcohol support is the way in to statutory help, and there is a Change Grow Live hub in the town.
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 Maidstone
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Maidstone, 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.
Maidstone questions
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Maidstone: common questions
How do I know if my drinking is bad enough to book?
There is no threshold to cross, and no waiting list to join either. If you are counting, hiding it, or promising yourself a night off and not taking it, that is enough to bring. A free 15-minute consultation can usually be arranged within days, and a weekly slot within a week or two.
What are the fees for alcohol counselling?
An hour is £80 / 60 min, ninety minutes £100 / 90 min and two hours £120 / 120 min, paid as you go rather than upfront. You pay nothing for the 15-minute call that comes before any of it. Kent County Council's service costs nothing at all, so it is entirely reasonable to try both.
Is there NHS or council alcohol help in Maidstone?
Yes. Kent County Council's drug and alcohol support covers the county, and Change Grow Live runs the West Kent wellbeing service with a hub here. They provide structured treatment and the medical side. Please speak to them, or to your GP, before altering a daily drinking pattern.
Can I do this without leaving the house?
That is the only way it runs. Every appointment is by secure video from wherever you are, with telephone as a fallback. Nobody sees you arrive, because there is nowhere to arrive at, and no neighbour has to be given a reason for the car being out on a Tuesday.
Do I need to have stopped drinking before we begin?
No. Nobody will ask that of you, and it is far more useful to see the pattern as it genuinely is. If you drink heavily every day, please talk to your GP or the county service before making any change, because coming off alcohol suddenly can be dangerous and that part is medical.
By the time work and the kids are done, wine feels like the only thing that's mine. Is that a problem?
It is worth exploring. Using a drink as your one bit of relief is understandable, but it can quietly become something you lean on too heavily. We can look at what it gives you and find other ways to claim that space, without pressure or judgement.
How quickly can I get online help for a drinking problem in Maidstone?
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 trip through the county town and no waiting list, so you can start quietly from home wherever you are in Maidstone.
Can I get drinking problem counselling on the NHS in Maidstone?
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 fit the grind of money, time and family in Maidstone?
It can. Being online, sessions sit in the evening or around the working day, with none of the travel a Kent commute already demands. Somewhere confidential to stop and take stock can make that load easier to bear. In-person meetings are available in Hove if you can reach the coast.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Maidstone, 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: Tunbridge Wells, Ashford, Canterbury. See all of London & South East.
People who come for counselling for drinking problems in Maidstone often also look at addiction counselling, substance use counselling and depression counselling.
You may also find it useful to read about why practice makes permanent and questioning “once an addict”.
Within reach of Sussex? counselling for drinking problems is offered in the room in Hove, where the room is as well as online; see the full list of areas.