Daily or binge drinking
Support whatever your pattern looks like.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems · Southampton
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Southampton
Online counselling for drinking problems for Southampton, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Southampton, from the city centre and Ocean Village to the streets around the waterfront, 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 Southampton
Counselling for Drinking Problems for Southampton, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Southampton: from the city centre and Ocean Village to Portswood, Shirley and Bitterne
- Known for
- The waterfront, the docks and the Common
- Region
- London & South East (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- Southampton City Council's drug and alcohol support
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Southampton
What brings people in Southampton to counselling?
Southampton drinks hard and the figures show it plainly. Hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions reached 1712.9 per 100,000 in 2023/24, far above the England average of 611.7 per 100,000, and admissions for alcohol-related conditions ran at 711.6 per 100,000 against an England average of 504.1 per 100,000. The alcohol-specific death rate was 27.7 per 100,000 in 2024, well over the England average of 13.8 per 100,000. Behind numbers of that size sit ordinary evenings: a shift finishing when nothing else is open, a shared student house in Bevois Valley where drinking is simply the timetable, a bottle at home in Shirley that stopped being an occasion some time ago.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Southampton
PortswoodShirleyBitterneWoolstonSt DenysBevois ValleyHighfieldMillbrookFreemantle
Wherever you are in Southampton, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Southampton
Official figures for Southampton, for context rather than as a description of you.
the rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions was 1712.9 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 27.7 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 actually happens 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.
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 everything on counselling for drinking problems, alongside how sessions run and what they cost and how to check my registration.
How do online sessions actually work?
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 Southampton, so the work is online by secure video from Hove. For drinking, holding the hour in the place where the drinking happens keeps the account concrete instead of general. Early and daytime appointments can be arranged, which suits hospital and dock rotas, and suits anybody who would rather not raise this subject during the hours they would normally be drinking.
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 Southampton
Why people in Southampton come for counselling for drinking problems
You are not required to be abstinent and you are not required to have hit anything. It is worth being firm about that in a city with figures like these, because very high numbers give everybody else permission to feel fine by comparison. Admissions and deaths record the end of a story. They say nothing about the far larger number of people whose drinking is quietly taking their sleep, their money and their patience with the people they live with. So the work starts with the job the alcohol is doing: closing an unsociable shift, filling time in a place where people keep moving on, holding down the kind of anxiety that 33.8% of adults here reported in 2022/23 against an England average of 23.8%. Southampton City Council's drug and alcohol support and Change Grow Live cover treatment.
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 Southampton
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Southampton, free local drug and alcohol support is available through Southampton City 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.
Southampton questions
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Southampton: common questions
Is my drinking bad enough to bother with counselling?
There is no bar to clear. Counting, hiding it, or planning nights off that keep not happening is reason enough, and so is a sense that it has grown. Given how high the alcohol figures run in this city, waiting until it obviously qualifies is a poor strategy.
What are the fees?
One hour is £80, ninety minutes £100 and two hours £120. There is no block booking and no minimum, and each session is settled as it happens. Before any of it comes a free 15-minute consultation, so nothing is spent while you are still deciding whether to.
What alcohol services are there in Southampton?
Southampton City Council's drug and alcohol support is the statutory route, and Change Grow Live runs the drug and alcohol service for the city, covering structured treatment and the medical side. Please speak to them or to your GP before changing a heavy daily pattern.
Do I need to travel anywhere for appointments?
Nowhere at all. Sessions are held by secure video wherever you are in the city, with telephone available if the connection is unreliable. Given how traffic moves around the docks and the hospital, an hour with no journey attached is often the only version that survives a rota.
Drinking is just what everyone does around the docks and the pubs here. Why would mine count?
Because a shared culture can still be costing you individually. A whole crew or ward can drink at a level nobody deliberately chose, and shift work removes the audience that might otherwise notice. What matters is your own account of your sleep, your money and your temper.
My drinking picked up since starting at uni here. Is it too soon to get help?
It is never too soon. Catching a pattern early, before it hardens, is often the easiest time to change it. We can look at how the drinking took hold and what it is doing for you, privately and without any pressure to label yourself.
How quickly can I get online help for a drinking problem in Southampton?
Often within a week. The free 15-minute consultation lets us talk through your drinking first, then we agree a regular time. Working online means no journey across the city and no waiting list, so you can start quietly from home, whatever your hours at the port or hospital.
Can I get drinking problem counselling on the NHS in Southampton?
Yes. Your GP can refer you and Southampton's council-funded alcohol service accepts self-referrals for free, with Drinkline offering confidential phone advice. If you would rather go private, sessions here are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free consultation.
Can drinking counselling fit around antisocial hours in Southampton?
It can. Because it is online, sessions sit before or after a shift at the docks or the hospital, with no travel to add to your day. That flexibility matters when money worries and unsettled routines wear you down. Face-to-face meetings are available in Hove if you can reach the Sussex coast.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Southampton, 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: Portsmouth, Basingstoke. See all of London & South East.
People who come for counselling for drinking problems in Southampton often also look at addiction counselling, substance use counselling and depression counselling.
If you would like to read more first, I have written about riding out an urge and why practice makes permanent.
For anyone near the coast, the same counselling for drinking problems runs in person in Brighton. Every area covered is listed separately.