Daily or binge drinking
Support whatever your pattern looks like.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems · Wakefield
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Wakefield
Online counselling for drinking problems for Wakefield, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Wakefield, from the cathedral and the centre to the streets around the Hepworth gallery, 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 Wakefield
Counselling for Drinking Problems for Wakefield, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Wakefield: from the cathedral and the centre to Sandal, Horbury and Lupset
- Known for
- The cathedral, the Hepworth gallery and the old coalfield
- Region
- Yorkshire & North East (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- NHS drug & alcohol service finder (see below)
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Wakefield
Why people in Wakefield get in touch
Wakefield's drinking figures cut two ways. Hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions ran at 550.1 per 100,000 in 2023/24, below the England average of 611.7, yet the alcohol-specific death rate reached 18.3 per 100,000 in 2024 against 13.8 nationally. In other words, a great deal of serious drinking here never reaches a ward until very late. It looks unremarkable from outside: a few cans most nights in Normanton after a shift, wine that starts earlier each evening in Sandal, a drink that began as company on a long weekend and is now simply how the day is brought to a close.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Wakefield
SandalHorburyLupsetAgbriggKettlethorpeOutwoodStanleyOssettNormantonWrenthorpe
Wherever you are in Wakefield, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Wakefield
Official figures for Wakefield, for context rather than as a description of you.
the rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions was 550.1 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 18.3 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 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 I work for the practical questions and my BACP registration for registration and ethics.
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.
All sessions run online by secure video, so there is no evening journey and no waiting room. Bradley is in Hove and keeps no room in this district. That suits people who would never risk being seen going into somewhere local, and it suits anyone whose energy for going out has already gone. You can talk from a bedroom in Horbury, a kitchen in Lupset once the house is empty, or a parked car. That initial 15-minute call is free and entirely without pressure.
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 Wakefield
Why people in Wakefield come for counselling for drinking problems
Two ideas do a great deal of damage around drinking, and they hold on tightly here. The first is that you have to want to give up entirely before anyone will take you seriously. The second is that something must go visibly wrong before you have earned the right to be worried. Neither is true. You can come while the job is fine and nothing has been said, and that is the point at which the work is shortest. What we examine is the job the alcohol is doing for you: closing down a day, taking the edge off an anxiety this district reports more of than most, filling an evening that nothing else fills. Free help is available through the NHS 'find a service' directory and from Turning Point Inspiring Recovery. Do not stop abruptly if you drink heavily every day; talk to your GP first.
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 Wakefield
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. You can find your nearest free NHS-funded drug and alcohol service via the NHS “find a service” directory (search “Wakefield”).
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.
Wakefield questions
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Wakefield: common questions
Do I have to give it up completely for this to work?
No. Cutting down, changing when and where you drink, or working on what sits underneath are all legitimate places to start. Some people later choose to stop altogether, and a decision reached that way tends to survive far better than one imposed at the outset.
Everyone I know drinks the same - so how would I tell?
By looking at grip rather than volume. Whether the first drink decides the next three, whether your evening quietly organises itself around when it can begin, whether you drink to steady yourself. Measure against your own life a few years back, not against the street.
What free alcohol help is there in the Wakefield district?
Turning Point Inspiring Recovery is the district's free confidential drug and alcohol service and takes self-referrals for drinking. The NHS 'find a service' directory will show you it and anything else nearby. Using either does not rule out counselling alongside.
I mostly drink alone at home - does that change anything?
It makes it easier to overlook. Solitary drinking has no social ceiling and nobody to notice the increase, so it climbs without any obvious turning point. It is also usually doing something specific for the evening, and that is where the sessions start.
Can I be sure my family will not overhear?
In almost every case, yes. Headphones mean only your side of it is audible, and most people pick an hour when the house is at work or school. Nothing is posted to you, and there is no appointment card or diary entry unless you create one yourself.
Do I have to give up drinking completely to start?
No. Counselling isn't about handing you rules. Some people aim for abstinence, others to cut down or make sense of their drinking. We start from where you are and what you want, and work out together what change would genuinely help.
Is there drinking problem counselling available in Wakefield, and how quickly?
There is no consulting room in Wakefield, but I work right across the area by secure video from Hove. Whether you are near Sandal or Horbury, we can arrange a free 15-minute call first and then a weekly time for drinking counselling, often within days of you getting in touch.
Is drinking problem counselling for Wakefield done online or face to face?
I do not offer face-to-face sessions in Wakefield; everything is by confidential video call. For drinking, that often helps, as you can speak openly from a private space rather than a waiting room. I keep a few evening slots alongside daytime ones, so working around The Hepworth and the wider district is manageable.
Online Counselling for Drinking Problems in Wakefield, 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 Yorkshire & North East: Leeds, Barnsley, Huddersfield. See all of Yorkshire & North East.
Also available in Wakefield: 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”.
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.