Communication and conflict
Breaking the cycle of the same argument.
Online Relationship Counselling · Belfast
Online Relationship Counselling in Belfast
Online relationship counselling 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.
BACP registered member25+ years of experienceLived experience
ConfidentialA safe, private space
Person-centredThe therapy fits you
In and around Belfast
Relationship Counselling 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
- 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
What brings people in Belfast to counselling?
Belfast is a small capital where lives overlap. A couple in Ballyhackamore or Ormeau will often share circles, clubs and family within a few miles of each other, and that closeness is a comfort on good days and a weight when a marriage is quietly failing. The worry about being talked about keeps people silent for years. Around that sit the ordinary strains of a working city: long shifts around Belfast Harbour and the former Harland and Wolff shipyard, irregular hours in the Cathedral Quarter arts scene, and money that runs thin in some parts of the city and not in others. Two people can share a house in east Belfast and barely speak for months without either of them ever having decided on it.
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 local picture
The local picture in Belfast
Official figures for Belfast, for context rather than as a description of you.
In the Belfast council area, 12.2% of adults reported a low happiness score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, well above the Northern Ireland average of 8.2%. Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Personal well-being estimates by local authority (Year ending March 2023 (2022-23)).
In the Belfast council area, 21.3% of adults reported a high anxiety score (6 or above out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, in line with the Northern Ireland average of 19.0%. Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Personal well-being estimates by local authority (Year ending March 2023 (2022-23)).
In the Belfast council area, 8.6% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, well above 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 is relationship counselling, in practice?
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 full 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 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.
Bradley works from Hove and meets people here by secure video, so there is nowhere in the city to walk into and nobody to pass on the stairs. You can attend together from one sofa, or separately when one of you is away with the job. Appointments are £80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min and £120 / 120 min, with a free 15-minute consultation first. For couples in Andersonstown or Malone alike, crossing town stops being the reason to put it off.
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 Belfast
Why people in Belfast come for relationship counselling
People asking about relationship counselling in Belfast usually arrive with one of three things: an argument that always ends the same way, a distance that crept in without either partner choosing it, or a broken trust neither of them can raise without the evening being ruined. Drink is often somewhere in the picture. There were 77 alcohol-specific deaths registered in the Belfast council area in 2023, the highest of any Northern Ireland council area and 22.6% of the 341 recorded across Northern Ireland that year, and drinking reshapes how two people speak to each other long before it reaches anything like that. The work itself is practical: slowing the row down, hearing what each of you is actually asking for underneath it, and finding a way to raise hard things that does not end in silence. Coming alone is fine. Where alcohol is the pressure, ASCERT supports families as well as drinkers, and your GP can refer you to talking therapies through Health and Social Care.
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 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, the Samaritans are on 116 123, and you can text SHOUT to 85258.
Belfast questions
Online Relationship Counselling in Belfast: common questions
Can I start on my own if my partner will not come?
Yes. A good deal of relationship work is done by one person. You can look at your own part in the pattern, what you are willing to change and what you are not, and how to raise things differently at home. Some partners join later once they see it is not a tribunal.
How private is this in a city where everyone knows everyone?
That is a fair worry in Belfast. Nothing happens in a shared waiting area and there is no building to be seen leaving. Sessions are held by secure video from wherever you are, and what you say is confidential within the BACP Ethical Framework, with the limits explained to you before you begin.
What does relationship counselling cost?
Sessions cost £80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min and £120 / 120 min, with the opening 15-minute consultation free. Couples often choose the 90-minute appointment so both people get real airtime. The price is the same whether one of you attends or both, and nothing is booked in blocks you cannot leave.
Should we try the health service route first?
You can do both. In Northern Ireland the route is your GP, who can refer you to talking therapies through Health and Social Care; Lifeline is free on 0808 808 8000 at any hour if things feel unsafe. Private sessions tend to start sooner and can run alongside anything the Belfast Trust arranges.
My partner works shifts near the harbour. Can appointments fit that?
They can. Evening and early slots are workable, and a couple does not have to be in the same building to be in the same session. One of you can join from home in Sydenham while the other joins from wherever the shift has ended, which is often easier than lining up two days off.
Can my partner and I attend from different places?
Yes. Because sessions are online by secure video, you can be together on one sofa in Belfast or join separately if shift work or travel keeps you apart. Bradley is based in Hove and works across Northern Ireland by video, so either arrangement is fine.
How soon can my partner and I start relationship counselling in Belfast?
Usually within a week or so. After a free 15-minute consultation to check we are a good fit, Bradley Riddell offers online sessions by secure video across Belfast, so you can begin from home in the east, north or south of the city without waiting for a clinic space.
How do your couples fees compare with NHS or local services in Belfast?
Relationship counselling is £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for two hours, after a free 15-minute call. Health and Social Care couples support in Belfast is free but often has waiting lists, so paying privately mainly buys a sooner, evening-friendly start.
Can my partner and I attend from different places, since one of us works away from Belfast?
Yes. Because sessions are online by secure video, you can each join from wherever you are, whether one partner is in Belfast and the other travelling or working across the water. Bradley also holds evening slots, which suits couples juggling shifts, the Glider commute and family life.
Online Relationship Counselling 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.
People who come for relationship counselling in Belfast often also look at counselling and therapy, trauma counselling and addiction counselling.
If you would like to read more first, I have written about the Imago dialogue for couples.
Within reach of Sussex? relationship counselling is offered in the room in Brighton as well as online; see the full list of areas.