Online Relationship Counselling · Aberdeen

Online Relationship Counselling in Aberdeen

Online relationship counselling for Aberdeen, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Aberdeen, from the granite centre and the harbour to the streets around the granite architecture, 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 relationship counselling for Aberdeen, introducing his approach
ConfidentialA safe, private space
Person-centredThe therapy fits you

In and around Aberdeen

Relationship Counselling for Aberdeen, at a glance

Areas covered online
All of Aberdeen: from the granite centre and the harbour to Old Aberdeen, Torry and Bridge of Don
Known for
The granite architecture, the harbour and the North Sea
Region
Scotland
Local NHS / support route
NHS psychological therapies (Scotland)
Format
Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.

Life in Aberdeen

Why do people in Aberdeen reach out?

Aberdeen keeps time by the rota. Three weeks out, three weeks home, and a partnership that has to be reassembled every time the door opens. Couples in Bridge of Don and Dyce describe two households running in parallel: one person holding the school run and the boiler, the other living by the flights out to the rigs. When the price of energy turns, the worry reaches the kitchen table long before anyone puts it into words. Add a north-east winter, when the granite goes steel-grey for weeks on end, and a quiet distance can set hard. A couple in Rosemount or Cults can be perfectly polite with one another for months and still not be close.

the North Sea oil and gas industrythe University of AberdeenRobert Gordon UniversityAberdeen harbour

Areas covered

Neighbourhoods in and around Aberdeen

Old AberdeenTorryBridge of DonRosemountFerryhillMannofieldFootdeeDyceCultsKincorth

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

The local picture

The local picture in Aberdeen

Official figures for Aberdeen, for context rather than as a description of you.

Reviewed June 2026.

What would we do together in relationship counselling?

Relationship counselling here, for couples or individuals, slows down the pattern you are caught in and builds healthier ways of hearing and being heard.

Rather than say the same thing on every page, the substance lives on everything on relationship counselling, with how sessions run and what they cost for the practical questions and qualifications, registration and ethics for registration and ethics.

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 counselling room in Aberdeen. Bradley works from Hove and sees people here by secure video, which for a couple on a rota helps in two ways. When you are both at home you can sit together in your own front room. When one of you is away, you each join from wherever you happen to be, and the work does not stop for three weeks at a time. Coming on your own is a normal way to begin.

Book a free 15-minute call

What I help with

Which difficulties does relationship counselling address?

Communication and conflict

Breaking the cycle of the same argument.

Trust and repair

Rebuilding safety after betrayal or addiction.

Distance

Finding your way back to closeness.

Long-distance couples

Sessions you can join from different places.

Anxiety and reassurance

Working with people-pleasing and the need for control.

Individual work

You do not need to come as a couple to change the dynamic.

Relationship Counselling in Aberdeen

Why people in Aberdeen come for relationship counselling

Distance is the word that comes up most. Not a row, not a crisis, just two people who have managed separately for so long that they have stopped telling each other anything that matters. In a city where the North Sea oil and gas industry sets the calendar, that pattern is easy to grow into and hard to name out loud. Some couples arrive because drinking has crept into the weeks at home and neither of them will say so. Others come after a redundancy, when one partner has lost a job and both have lost the shape of the day. The work is slow and practical: what gets said, what gets swallowed, and how repair actually happens after a bad night. If you would rather go through the health service, your GP can refer you to NHS psychological therapies, NHS inform carries trusted self-help, and Breathing Space is free on 0800 83 85 87.

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 Aberdeen

My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Aberdeen, your GP can refer you to NHS psychological therapies, and you can find trusted self-help through NHS inform. You can find support through NHS inform; for confidential listening support, Breathing Space is free on 0800 83 85 87.

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 NHS 24 on 111 for urgent mental health support. Breathing Space is free on 0800 83 85 87, the Samaritans are on 116 123, and you can text SHOUT to 85258.

Aberdeen questions

Online Relationship Counselling in Aberdeen: common questions

Can we do couples sessions if my partner is offshore half the month?

Yes. In the weeks you are both in Aberdeen you can sit together at one screen. In the weeks one of you is away, you can each join from separate places, or you can keep the slot for yourself and use it alone. The thread of the work carries across the rota either way.

What does relationship counselling cost, and can we split it between us?

For the two of you together, a 60-minute session is £80, 90 minutes is £100 and two hours is £120. Couples often choose the longer slot so there is room for both voices. A free 15-minute consultation comes first, so you can hear how it would work before either of you commits. How you split it is your own arrangement.

Is there an NHS route for relationship difficulties in Aberdeen?

In Scotland it begins with your GP, who can refer you on to NHS psychological therapies. NHS inform holds trusted self-help you could read tonight, and Breathing Space is free on 0800 83 85 87 if the evenings are the hardest part. That route is worth taking whether or not you also see someone privately.

I live in Torry and my partner will not come. Is there any point on my own?

There is. One person changing how they respond changes the pattern between two people, sometimes more than a joint session would. You can look at what you bring to the arguments, what you find impossible to ask for, and what you actually want to decide. Your partner is welcome to join later if that changes.

Does the winter darkness here really affect a relationship?

It can. The light goes early for months, the social diary shrinks, and two people spend long evenings in the same flat with little to say. Low mood in one partner is easily read as coldness by the other. Naming that out loud, rather than letting it harden over a winter, is often the first useful thing we do.

Can couples counselling fit around an offshore rota?

Yes. Because sessions are held by secure video, we can arrange times during your onshore weeks and resume when you return. If one of you is away, you can still join from separate screens. The pattern of the work matters far less than having a private hour.

How soon can relationship counselling start in Aberdeen?

Usually within a week or two. We begin with a free 15-minute consultation, then book a first session that fits you both. Everything runs by secure video across Aberdeen, so there is no waiting list and no room in the city to reach, even with offshore rotas to plan around.

What does couples counselling cost against NHS help in Aberdeen?

Sessions are £80 for an hour, £100 for 90 minutes and £120 for two hours, after a free 15-minute consultation. NHS Grampian seldom offers dedicated couples work this far north and waits can be long, so many Aberdeen couples choose private online sessions to start sooner.

One of us works offshore, can couples sessions still work?

Yes. Because sessions are by secure video, we can arrange times around onshore weeks, and if one partner is away you can join from two different places. Evening slots help too, so an Aberdeen couple split by rig rotas can stay in the same conversation.

Online Relationship Counselling in Aberdeen, 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 Scotland: Dundee, Perth. See all of Scotland.

If relationship counselling is not quite what you are looking for, counselling and therapy, trauma counselling and addiction counselling may fit better in Aberdeen.

You may also find it useful to read about the Imago dialogue for couples.

If you can reach the south coast, this work is also done face to face in Hove, where the room isall in-person areas are listed here.