Daily or binge drinking
Support whatever your pattern looks like.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems · Newtownabbey
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Newtownabbey
Online counselling for drinking problems for Newtownabbey, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Newtownabbey, from Glengormley and the centre to the streets around the Antrim hills, 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 Newtownabbey
Counselling for Drinking Problems for Newtownabbey, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Newtownabbey: from Glengormley and the centre to Rathcoole, Monkstown and Mossley
- Known for
- The Antrim hills, Belfast Lough and the shore road
- Region
- Northern Ireland
- Local NHS / support route
- ASCERT, which supports people across Northern Ireland with drug and alcohol use
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Newtownabbey
What is going on for people in Newtownabbey?
Drinking here rarely needs an excuse and never needs a venue. There is the pint after work, the carry-out picked up at the Abbey Centre on the way home, the long evening in front of the television while the lough goes dark outside. In a commuter town alcohol quietly becomes the boundary between work and everything else, and that boundary thickens year by year. The first drink used to wait until after you had eaten. Now it is the first thing that happens through the door. Walk the Loughshore Park along Belfast Lough on a weekday morning and the town looks entirely ordinary, which it is, and ordinary is where most drinking problems live.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Newtownabbey
GlengormleyRathcooleMonkstownMossleyCarnmoneyWhiteabbeyJordanstownBawnmoreHazelbank
Wherever you are in Newtownabbey, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Newtownabbey
Official figures for Newtownabbey, for context rather than as a description of you.
There were 20 alcohol-specific deaths registered in the Antrim and Newtownabbey council area in 2023, out of 341 across Northern Ireland. Source: NISRA - Alcohol-specific deaths in Northern Ireland, 2023 (2023).
In Antrim and Newtownabbey, 2.0% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, well below the Northern Ireland average of 5.2%. Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Personal well-being estimates by local authority (Year ending March 2023 (2022-23)).
Reviewed June 2026.
What would we do together 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.
Rather than say the same thing on every page, the substance lives on everything on counselling for drinking problems, with how sessions run and what they cost for the practical questions and my BACP registration for 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.
All work is by secure video from Hove, so nothing has to be fitted around the commute, the traffic or somebody else's opening hours. Where drink is the difficulty, a weekly hour that stays in the diary matters far more than the room it happens in. Some people deliberately choose a morning slot, since the morning is when the previous night is hardest to argue with. Nothing is asked of you in advance beyond being able to take part.
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 Newtownabbey
Why people in Newtownabbey come for counselling for drinking problems
You do not have to be finished with drink to start this, and you do not have to have wrecked anything visible yet. Those two assumptions cost people years of their lives. There were 20 alcohol-specific deaths registered in the Antrim and Newtownabbey council area in 2023, out of 341 across Northern Ireland, and drinking of that seriousness usually spends a long time looking unremarkable first. The sessions go after the function rather than the quantity. Alcohol may be doing sleep, or nerves, or the ending of a day that otherwise refuses to end, or something older that only shows itself once the house is quiet. When the function is understood and something else can take it over, the amount stops being the whole fight. If you drink heavily every day, ask your GP for medical advice before changing it, and ASCERT covers alcohol support across Northern Ireland.
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 Newtownabbey
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Newtownabbey, your GP can refer you to local drug and alcohol services, and you can find support through ASCERT, which supports people across Northern Ireland with drug and alcohol use.
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 Lifeline free on 0808 808 8000. Lifeline is free on 0808 808 8000, 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.
Newtownabbey questions
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Newtownabbey: common questions
Is it worth coming if I have already tried to cut down on my own?
Yes, and most people here have tried several times. Cutting down alone tends to work until the week the reason for drinking comes back, which is why the reason itself is what these sessions go after. Previous attempts are useful information rather than evidence against you.
How much is it, and is there anything free?
Your first 15-minute call is free. Beyond that, an hour costs £80, ninety minutes £100 and two hours £120. There are no extra charges of any kind, and the fee is the same whether the session runs by video or over the telephone.
What official alcohol support is there for this area?
A GP referral opens Health and Social Care for anything medical, and ASCERT provides drug and alcohol support throughout Northern Ireland. Whatever else operates nearby is listed in the NHS find a service directory. Lifeline is free on 0808 808 8000 if a night becomes unsafe.
I drink at home rather than out. Does that make it less of a problem?
It usually makes it less visible and more constant. Drinking at home has no closing time, no company to pace you and no bill at the end to register the amount. Plenty of the heaviest drinking anywhere happens in a quiet living room with the television on.
What if I do not want to give it up completely?
That is where most people start, and it is not a barrier. The early work is about understanding what drink does for you rather than extracting a promise. Some people later choose to stop and some settle into drinking far less. Both are real outcomes worth having.
How much drinking is too much?
There is no single line. If alcohol has become how you cope, or others are concerned, it is worth talking about whatever the amount. An online session across Northern Ireland lets you explore your drinking honestly from home in Newtownabbey, without judgement.
How soon can I get help for a drinking problem in Newtownabbey?
You can usually begin within a week. A free 15-minute consultation lets us talk without pressure, then we book a first full session. Everything is online by secure video, so you can start from home in Newtownabbey rather than travelling into Belfast for an appointment.
What does drinking support cost compared with the NHS in Newtownabbey?
NHS alcohol support here is free through the Northern Trust and community services, though you may wait to be seen. With me it is £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free 15-minute consultation, and no waiting before your first session.
Do you run evening online sessions for drinking in Newtownabbey?
Yes. Evenings often work best when a drink has become part of unwinding after the commute. Sessions take place by secure video from your own home, from Glengormley to Whiteabbey, somewhere private and with no need to head into the city after work.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Newtownabbey, 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 Northern Ireland: Belfast, Ballymena. See all of Northern Ireland.
People who come for counselling for drinking problems in Newtownabbey 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.
Within reach of Sussex? counselling for drinking problems is offered in the room in Brighton as well as online; see the full list of areas.