Communication and conflict
Breaking the cycle of the same argument.
Online Relationship Counselling · Ballymena
Online Relationship Counselling in Ballymena
Online relationship counselling for Ballymena, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Ballymena, from the town centre and the Braid to the streets around the town clock, 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 Ballymena
Relationship Counselling for Ballymena, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Ballymena: from the town centre and the Braid to Harryville, Ballykeel and Galgorm
- Known for
- The Braid, the town clock and the Antrim countryside
- Region
- 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 Ballymena
What is going on for people in Ballymena?
Ballymena is a plain-spoken town, and plain speaking is not the same as saying what is wrong. Couples here have often built a life around work that used to be certain and is not any more. The town made things for generations, Wrightbus still does, and several large employers have gone in living memory. When hours are cut or a contract ends, the argument at home is almost never called money. It arrives as snapping about the dishes, about who is late, about a phone left face down. Meanwhile Harryville and Ballykeel are small enough that you meet your in-laws in the queue, so the pressure to look fine in public sits on top of everything else.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Ballymena
HarryvilleBallykeelGalgormBroughshaneBalleeDunclugCullybackeyDoury Road
Wherever you are in Ballymena, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Ballymena
Official figures for Ballymena, for context rather than as a description of you.
In Mid and East Antrim, the council area covering Ballymena, 5.8% of adults reported a low happiness score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, compared with a Northern Ireland average of 8.2%, a difference the survey's margin of error does not confirm. Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Personal well-being estimates by local authority (Year ending March 2023 (2022-23)).
In Mid and East Antrim, the council area covering Ballymena, 15.9% of adults reported a high anxiety score (6 or above out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, compared with a Northern Ireland average of 19.0%, a difference the survey's margin of error does not confirm. Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Personal well-being estimates by local authority (Year ending March 2023 (2022-23)).
In Mid and East Antrim, the council area covering Ballymena, 5.0% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, in line with the Northern Ireland average of 5.2%. Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Personal well-being estimates by local authority (Year ending March 2023 (2022-23)).
Reviewed June 2026.
What does relationship counselling involve?
Relationship counselling here, for couples or individuals, slows down the pattern you are caught in and builds healthier ways of hearing and being heard.
The method travels; only the geography changes. the main relationship counselling page explains it properly, how I work answers the practical questions, and how to check my registration shows how the practice is held to account.
What happens in 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.
Bradley is in Hove and works with people in the town by secure video, so this costs you no train from the Belfast to Derry line and no evening lost to a drive. Two of you can sit at the same table, or join separately if one is still at work. Rates are £80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min and £120 / 120 min, after a free 15-minute consultation. Couples in Cullybackey or out towards Broughshane get what anyone in a city gets.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
Which difficulties does relationship counselling address?
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 Ballymena
Why people in Ballymena come for relationship counselling
Relationship counselling in a town like this usually begins with something small that has been going on for years. One of you has stopped saying anything to keep the peace. The other has stopped asking because the answer is always fine. Somewhere in there is real hurt, sometimes an affair, sometimes drinking that has quietly taken up more room in the house than either of you admits. The sessions are for slowing that down, separating the row from what the row is about, and rebuilding a way of talking that survives disagreement. Couples come together and individuals come alone, and both are proper ways to do this work. Where alcohol is part of it, ASCERT supports partners and family members as well as the person drinking. Your GP can also refer you to talking therapies through Health and Social Care, and Lifeline is free on 0808 808 8000 at any hour.
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 callFinding support in Ballymena
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Ballymena, 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, the Samaritans are on 116 123, and you can text SHOUT to 85258.
Ballymena questions
Online Relationship Counselling in Ballymena: common questions
My husband would never sit in front of a counsellor. Can I go by myself?
You can, and plenty do. Working alone still changes the relationship, because it changes what you bring to it and what you will no longer put up with quietly. Some partners come along later once they hear it is a conversation rather than a hearing.
Redundancy and money are behind most of our rows. Is that a counselling issue?
In a town that has lost big employers, it is one of the commonest ones. The work is not financial advice. It looks at what the argument is standing in for, usually shame, fear about the future or a sense of being unappreciated, and gets those said directly instead of sideways.
What is the charge when there are two of us?
One session, one fee, whether one of you attends or both: £80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min or £120 / 120 min, and the opening 15 minutes cost you nothing. Many couples take the longer appointment so that neither person is still waiting their turn when the hour runs out.
Is there anything locally through the health service?
Your GP is the route, and can refer you into talking therapies through Health and Social Care. Lifeline is free on 0808 808 8000 around the clock if a night gets frightening, and Inspire Wellbeing offers wellbeing support across Northern Ireland while any referral is moving.
Everyone knows everyone here. How private is it really?
Nothing takes place in a building anyone could see you entering, and nobody local is involved in arranging it. The session is by secure video from your own house, and confidentiality follows the BACP Ethical Framework, with its few legal limits explained before you commit to anything.
Money is tight and things are tense at home; can counselling help?
Financial strain often shows up as tension between partners. Relationship counselling gives you both space to talk it through calmly, online by secure video from home in Ballymena or the villages nearby. Bradley is based in Hove and works across Northern Ireland.
How soon can we start couples counselling in Ballymena?
Usually within a week. After a free 15-minute consultation, Bradley Riddell holds relationship sessions online by secure video, so you can begin from home in the town or the villages around it without the drive down to Belfast.
How do relationship counselling fees compare with local NHS support?
Couples sessions are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for two hours, after a free 15-minute call. Health and Social Care couples support is free but often waited-for, so private online work mainly offers a sooner, more flexible start.
Can we join from different places if one of us works away from Ballymena?
Yes. Sessions are online, so one partner can join from home in Ballymena and the other from wherever work takes them. Evening appointments are available too, which suits couples timing sessions around shifts and family life in the town and surrounding villages.
Online Relationship Counselling in Ballymena, 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: Newtownabbey, Belfast. See all of Northern Ireland.
People who come for relationship counselling in Ballymena often also look at counselling and therapy, trauma counselling and addiction counselling.
There is more on this in my writing: the Imago dialogue for couples.
If you can reach the south coast, this work is also done face to face in Brighton — all in-person areas are listed here.