Daily or binge drinking
Support whatever your pattern looks like.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems · Oxford
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Oxford
Online counselling for drinking problems for Oxford, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Oxford, from the city centre and Jericho to the streets around the dreaming spires, 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 Oxford
Counselling for Drinking Problems for Oxford, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Oxford: from the city centre and Jericho to Cowley, Headington and Summertown
- Known for
- The dreaming spires, the Cherwell and the colleges
- Region
- London & South East (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- Oxfordshire County Council's alcohol and drug support
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Oxford
Why people in Oxford get in touch
Alcohol in Oxford is woven into the institutions themselves. There is the dinner, the drinks after the seminar, the pub in Jericho where the conversation is the point and the drinking is only the setting. There is also the bottle at home afterwards that nobody sees. Hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions here ran at 413.8 per 100,000 in 2023/24, below the England average of 504.1 per 100,000, and the alcohol-specific death rate was 7.7 per 100,000 in 2024 against 13.8 nationally. By the numbers this is a moderate city. Moderate cities still contain people who wake at four, count backwards, and arrange a whole day around how the evening will go.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Oxford
JerichoCowleyHeadingtonSummertownBotleyMarstonIffleyRose HillWolvercote
Wherever you are in Oxford, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Oxford
Official figures for Oxford, for context rather than as a description of you.
the rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions was 430.9 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 7.7 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 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.
What actually happens in the room is the same everywhere, so it is written up once: see the counselling for drinking problems page for the methods, how sessions run and what they cost for fees and session lengths, and my credentials and registration if you want to check who you would be working with.
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 there is no room in Oxford, everything runs online by secure video from Hove. For drinking that places the weekly hour in the same rooms where the drinking happens, which keeps the account detailed and honest rather than general. Daytime slots are available for anyone who would rather not have this particular conversation in the evening. You are not required to have gone without beforehand.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What can counselling for drinking problems in Oxford 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 Oxford
Why people in Oxford come for counselling for drinking problems
Two conditions get imagined that do not actually exist. One is that you must commit to stopping altogether before anybody will talk to you. The other is that something must already have gone badly wrong. Neither applies, and in a city that prizes holding it together the second belief is especially costly, because it means waiting for a collapse that a capable person will work extremely hard to prevent. So the opening question is not how much. It is what the alcohol is for: the pressure to perform, a calendar that never lets up, the loneliness of being new somewhere that assumes you already belong. Then we look at what it charges for that. Oxfordshire County Council's alcohol and drug support is the statutory route, Roads to Recovery Oxfordshire is the local Turning Point service, and Oxfordshire Mind covers wellbeing alongside.
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 Oxford
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Oxford, free local drug and alcohol support is available through Oxfordshire County Council's alcohol and drug 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.
Oxford questions
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Oxford: common questions
How do I know if it is bad enough to book?
There is nothing to qualify for. Counting, hiding, or planning nights off that keep not happening is enough to bring, and so is a vague sense that it has grown. The free 15-minute consultation exists for exactly that uncertainty, and it can usually be booked within a few days.
What will it cost?
An hour is £80, ninety minutes £100 and two hours £120, paid appointment by appointment with nothing signed. The initial 15-minute consultation is free of charge. Because no travel is involved, an appointment costs you the fee and not also a journey across a congested city.
Is there NHS or council alcohol help in Oxford?
Yes. Oxfordshire County Council's alcohol and drug support is the way in, and Roads to Recovery Oxfordshire, run by Turning Point from a city centre hub, provides treatment. Please talk to them or to your GP before changing a daily drinking pattern, because that part is medical.
Can I be seen face to face anywhere nearby?
Not in Oxford. Bradley's room is in Hove, and everything for this city is held by secure video, with telephone available if that proves steadier. For most people that is the point rather than a compromise, because a video call leaves no trace in a place where faces are recognised.
My drinking only really shows up in term time. Is that a problem?
It is worth looking at. Drinking that tracks a calendar is drinking doing a specific job, usually holding pressure at a manageable distance. The pattern tends to widen quietly over the years until the quiet periods stop being quiet. What matters is the function rather than the timing.
My drinking feels tied to the whole culture here. Can that really change?
It can. Understanding why you drink, and how it links to the pressure around you, is often the first shift. We look at your own relationship with alcohol rather than the crowd's, and build changes that fit your life, at a pace you can actually sustain.
How quickly can I get online help for a drinking problem in Oxford?
Often within a week. The free 15-minute consultation lets us talk through your drinking first, then we set a regular time around lectures, clinics or work. Online means no journey and no queue, so you can start quietly wherever you are in the city or out towards Headington.
Can I get drinking problem counselling on the NHS in Oxford?
Yes. Your GP can refer you and Oxfordshire's council-funded alcohol service accepts self-referrals for free, with Drinkline offering confidential phone advice, and college welfare available to students. Private sessions here are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free consultation.
Can drinking counselling flex around Oxford's relentless term-time pace?
It can. Being online, sessions fit the gaps in a demanding academic week, evening or daytime, with no travel eating into your time. That flexibility helps when the pressure to keep achieving leaves little room to admit you are struggling. In-person meetings are available in Hove if you can reach the coast.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Oxford, 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: Reading, Aylesbury, High Wycombe, London. See all of London & South East.
Related work in Oxford: addiction counselling, substance use counselling and depression counselling.
Some further reading, if that helps before getting in touch: why practice makes permanent and questioning “once an addict”.
For anyone near the coast, the same counselling for drinking problems runs in person in Hove, where the room is. Every area covered is listed separately.