Daily or binge drinking
Support whatever your pattern looks like.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems · Portsmouth
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Portsmouth
Online counselling for drinking problems for Portsmouth, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Portsmouth, from across Portsea Island, Southsea and Old Portsmouth to the streets around the Spinnaker Tower, 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 Portsmouth
Counselling for Drinking Problems for Portsmouth, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Portsmouth: across Portsea Island, from Southsea and Old Portsmouth to Fratton, Cosham and Copnor
- Known for
- The Spinnaker Tower, the harbour and the seafront
- Region
- London & South East (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- Portsmouth City Council's drug and substance misuse support
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Portsmouth
Why do people in Portsmouth reach out?
Drinking in Portsmouth has deep roots and plenty of company. There is the run of pubs, the round that marks a return, the routine of a city where a great many people work shifts and finish at odd hours. The numbers are stark. Hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions ran at 557.7 per 100,000 in 2023/24, above the England average of 504.1 per 100,000, and the alcohol-specific death rate reached 24.8 per 100,000 in 2024, well over the England average of 13.8 per 100,000. Behind figures like that sit a great many ordinary evenings in Milton and Buckland that never look like anything from the outside.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Portsmouth
SouthseaOld PortsmouthFrattonCoshamCopnorNorth EndPortseaMiltonBuckland
Wherever you are in Portsmouth, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Portsmouth
Official figures for Portsmouth, for context rather than as a description of you.
the rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions was 932.3 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 24.8 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 does counselling for drinking problems involve?
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 the counselling for drinking problems page, alongside session lengths and fees and my BACP registration.
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.
There is no room in Portsmouth, so the work is done online by secure video from Hove. For drinking that means the weekly hour happens where the drinking happens, which keeps the detail real. Daytime and early appointments can be arranged for shift workers and for anyone who would rather not talk about alcohol just as the evening starts. You do not need to have been dry to attend.
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 Portsmouth
Why people in Portsmouth come for counselling for drinking problems
Neither abstinence nor a disaster is a condition of starting. That has to be said in a city with figures like these, because high numbers create their own barrier: people measure themselves against an image of serious trouble and decide they have not reached it. Alcohol-specific hospital admissions of 932.3 per 100,000 in 2023/24, against an England average of 611.7 per 100,000, count the people who ended up on a ward. They say nothing about the far larger group whose drinking is steadily taking sleep, money and patience. So the work begins with what the alcohol is doing: filling the gap left by an absence, marking the end of a shift, holding down something that surfaces at night. Portsmouth City Council's drug and substance misuse support and The Portsmouth Recovery Hub cover the medical and structured side of things.
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 Portsmouth
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Portsmouth, free local drug and alcohol support is available through Portsmouth City Council's drug and substance misuse 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.
Portsmouth questions
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Portsmouth: common questions
How quickly can I speak to somebody?
Usually within days. The first step is a free 15-minute consultation, which is a conversation rather than an assessment, and there is no referral form and no queue to join. If it feels right, a weekly appointment normally becomes available within a week or two of that call.
What are the costs involved?
One hour is £80, ninety minutes £100, two hours £120. Payment is per appointment, with no package to purchase and no commitment beyond the next one. The opening 15-minute consultation is free, so the work and the fit can be discussed before anything is spent at all.
What alcohol services exist here if I want the NHS route too?
Portsmouth City Council's drug and substance misuse support is the statutory route, and The Portsmouth Recovery Hub provides local treatment. Solent Mind covers mental health support in the city. Please speak to them or your GP before altering a heavy daily pattern, since that is medical ground.
Do I have to come to an appointment somewhere?
No, and there is nowhere in Portsmouth to come to. Everything runs by secure video wherever you are, with telephone as a backup on a poor line. On an island where you tend to meet people you know, having no doorway to be seen entering is often the deciding factor.
My partner is away for months at a time and I drink far more then. Is that the thing to bring?
It is precisely the thing. Long separations rearrange a household, and alcohol slips easily into the space left behind, filling the evenings and taking the edge off the waiting. Then the pattern is still there when they come home. That is common here and entirely workable.
My partner is away a lot and I drink more when they are. Can counselling help?
Yes. The loneliness of deployments and long separations is something many Portsmouth families carry, and drink is a common way to fill it. Online sessions fit around childcare and a service routine, held privately whether your partner is home or away, so you can look at that pattern safely.
How quickly can I get online help for a drinking problem in Portsmouth?
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 journey across Portsea and no waiting list, so you can start quietly from home, discreetly and without anyone needing to know.
Can I get drinking problem counselling on the NHS in Portsmouth?
Yes. Your GP can refer you and Portsmouth's council-funded alcohol service accepts self-referrals for free, with Drinkline offering confidential phone advice, and military welfare available to serving personnel. Private sessions here are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free consultation.
Can drinking counselling stay private in a densely built place like Portsmouth?
It can. Because sessions are online and done from home, there is no local waiting room and no one need see you attend, which matters where neighbours are close and privacy is scarce. Evenings are workable. If you would rather meet in person, the room is in Hove along the coast.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Portsmouth, 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: Southampton, Chichester. See all of London & South East.
Close to this in Portsmouth, there is addiction counselling, substance use counselling and depression counselling.
You may also find it useful to read about 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.