Online Psychotherapy · Belfast

Online Psychotherapy in Belfast

Online psychotherapy for Belfast, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Belfast, from the city centre and the Cathedral Quarter to the streets around the City Hall, with the same BACP-registered, confidential support as an in-person session, and no journey.

Online across the UKSecure videoFree 15-min consultation
BACP registered member25+ years of experienceLived experience
Bradley Riddell, BACP-registered counsellor offering online psychotherapy for Belfast, introducing his approach
ConfidentialA safe, private space
Person-centredThe therapy fits you

In and around Belfast

Psychotherapy for Belfast, at a glance

Areas covered online
All of Belfast: from the city centre and the Cathedral Quarter to the Falls, the Shankill, east Belfast and the south of the city
Known for
The City Hall, the Titanic Quarter and the shipyard cranes
Region
Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland)
Local NHS / support route
NHS psychological therapies (Northern Ireland)
Format
Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.

Life in Belfast

Why people in Belfast reach out

Belfast is a resilient, fast-changing capital still living with the legacy of the Troubles alongside the ordinary pressures of a modern city. Intergenerational trauma, community divisions and real deprivation in parts of the city all shape what people here carry, and privacy can matter all the more.

Belfast wraps around the Lagan and the great yellow cranes of the old Harland and Wolff yard, a city that has remade itself around the Titanic Quarter, Queen's University and a lively Cathedral Quarter. Days move between the Glider buses running east and west, the covered stalls of St George's Market, and the green rise of Cave Hill above the north of the city. Students fill Botanic and the Holylands, workers pour through the new Grand Central Station, and the ferries slip out towards Cairnryan and Liverpool. From Ballyhackamore's cafes to the murals of the Falls and the Shankill, it is a place of strong loyalties and warm humour, where a great deal of ordinary life is lived close to a complicated past.

Queen's University BelfastBelfast Harbour and the former Harland and Wolff shipyardthe Cathedral Quarter arts sceneUlster University's Belfast campus

Where work follows shifts and the rhythm of the docks, online sessions bend around unsociable hours rather than asking you to fit your life around them.

Belfast is home to Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University's city campus, and to the Royal Victoria Hospital and Belfast City Hospital, with health and social care delivered by the Belfast HSC Trust.

Areas covered

Neighbourhoods in and around Belfast

Cathedral QuarterTitanic QuarterFallsShankilleast BelfastBotanicStranmillisOrmeauBallyhackamoreAndersonstownMaloneSydenham

Wherever you are in Belfast, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.

The psychotherapy itself

Psychotherapy here goes a little deeper and usually a little longer than counselling, into the patterns, beliefs and early relationships that shape how you feel now, so change is understood at the root and holds.

The approach is the same wherever you live, so rather than repeat it on every page you can read it in full, the methods, what each session covers and fees, on the main psychotherapy page and on how I work.

How online sessions work

Sessions run over a secure, encrypted video link held to the same strict BACP confidentiality as meeting in person. After a free fifteen-minute call to check we are a good fit, you join each session from any private space using a phone, tablet or laptop, no software to install, no waiting room and no journey at either end.

Reaching support in Belfast can be as simple as finding a quiet hour and a reliable connection. Sessions here are held online, by secure video, right across Northern Ireland, so you never need to cross the city or sit in a waiting room. Please know the counsellor is based in Hove and works UK-wide by video rather than seeing anyone in person here, which means help fits around your day wherever you are in the city.

Book a free 15-minute call

What I help with

How online psychotherapy in Belfast can help

Recurring patterns

When the same difficulty keeps returning in different forms.

Attachment and relationships

How early bonds still shape the way you connect now.

Identity and self-worth

Working with a harsh inner voice and a shaky sense of self.

The past in the present

When something unresolved keeps replaying beneath the surface.

Beyond symptom relief

Understanding the root, not just quieting the symptom.

Lasting change

Insight that holds, so change does not slip back.

Psychotherapy in Belfast

Why people in Belfast come for psychotherapy

Some of what people in Belfast carry runs deeper than the present day. In a city still living with the legacy of the Troubles, patterns of guardedness, grief or trauma can pass quietly down the generations and shape how a person feels long before they can explain why. Psychotherapy is slower, longer work, space to trace those threads back and loosen their hold rather than only easing this week's stress. Sessions take place online by secure video, held steadily over time from the privacy of home. Bradley is based in Hove and works UK-wide, so this deeper work fits around your own life.

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 call

Finding support in Belfast

My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Belfast, your GP can refer you to talking therapies and counselling through Health and Social Care. You can find support through Lifeline, Northern Ireland's crisis helpline, free on 0808 808 8000.

Private sessions with me usually mean you can start sooner and stay with the same counsellor throughout; I am glad to work alongside any NHS or GP support you already have.

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, and the Samaritans are on 116 123.

Belfast questions

Online Psychotherapy in Belfast: common questions

Can I get online psychotherapy if I live in Belfast?

Yes. I work with people right across Belfast, from the city centre and the Cathedral Quarter outwards, and anywhere else in Northern Ireland, by secure video, no need to travel to Hove, and just as confidential as meeting in the room.

How is psychotherapy different from counselling?

Psychotherapy usually goes deeper and longer, into the patterns, beliefs and early relationships shaping how you feel now, rather than only the present difficulty. It suits people who notice the same things keep coming round.

Does it have to be long-term?

Not necessarily, but depth work benefits from time. We agree the pace and depth together and review as we go, so it stays led by you.

Will I have to talk about my childhood?

Only where it helps make sense of the present. We follow what is alive and relevant for you, gently, never forcing a return to anything before you are ready.

How is psychotherapy different from ordinary counselling?

Counselling often focuses on what is troubling you now; psychotherapy works more slowly, exploring the deeper roots and long-held patterns beneath it. In Belfast, where the past can weigh heavily, that steady, longer-term work is done online by secure video, from home.

How do I start longer-term psychotherapy in Belfast, and how soon?

You begin with a free 15-minute consultation, then usually your first full session within a week or two. Psychotherapy is deeper, ongoing work held online by secure video, so you can commit to regular sessions from home in Belfast without the weekly trip across the city.

Is private psychotherapy worth the fee when Belfast has NHS services?

NHS psychological therapies in Belfast are free but tend to be shorter-term and waited-for. Private psychotherapy at GBP80 an hour, or GBP100 to GBP120 for longer sessions, offers open-ended, consistent work with the same counsellor, which deeper difficulties often need. A free 15-minute call helps you decide.

Does deeper psychotherapy really work online for someone in Belfast?

Many people find the steady rhythm of weekly video sessions supports deep work well. From a private room anywhere in Belfast, you build the same trusting relationship over time. Evening slots are available too, so ongoing therapy fits around work, study and the city's busy pace.

Can I see the counsellor in person in Belfast?

No. The counsellor is based in Hove and works only online, by secure video, with people across Northern Ireland. You can have sessions from home anywhere in Belfast, which many people find more private than attending somewhere in the city.

Does online counselling work as well from Belfast?

Many people find a video session from their own front room easier than travelling across the city. All you need is a private space and a steady connection, whether you are in the east, the north or the south of Belfast.

Online Psychotherapy in Belfast, 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: Lisburn, Newtownabbey, Bangor. See all of Northern Ireland.

All counselling & therapy in Belfast: Addiction · Substance Use · Drinking Problems · Anxiety · Depression · Relationship · Trauma · Counselling & Therapy.

Closer to the Sussex coast? The same psychotherapy is available in person in Brighton & Hove, or see all in-person areas.