Communication and conflict
Breaking the cycle of the same argument.
Online Relationship Counselling · Craigavon
Online Relationship Counselling in Craigavon
Online relationship counselling for Craigavon, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Craigavon, from Lurgan and Portadown to the streets around the lakes, 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 Craigavon
Relationship Counselling for Craigavon, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Craigavon: from Lurgan and Portadown to Brownlow and the linked centre
- Known for
- The lakes, the linen heritage and the Lough Neagh shore
- 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 Craigavon
Why people in Craigavon get in touch
Craigavon was planned rather than grown, and that shows in how couples live here. The place spreads out between Lurgan and Portadown along dual carriageways and roundabouts, so everything is a short drive and very little is a walk. Two people can pass a whole week in the same house without a single unplanned conversation, because the day is made of car journeys taken separately. Add shift work, an insecure contract and the long habit of communities keeping to their own side, and a marriage can get quietly lonely without anything obviously going wrong. Couples in Brownlow or Legahory often say the same thing: we are perfectly civil, and we have not really spoken in months.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Craigavon
LurganPortadownBrownlowBlearyLegahoryMandevilleDrumgaskTullygally
Wherever you are in Craigavon, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Craigavon
Official figures for Craigavon, for context rather than as a description of you.
In Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, 7.3% of adults reported a low happiness score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, in line with 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 Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, 18.3% 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 Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, 4.0% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, compared with a Northern Ireland average of 5.2%, 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)).
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.
What actually happens in the room is the same everywhere, so it is written up once: see the relationship counselling page for the methods, session lengths and fees for fees and session lengths, and how to check my registration if you want to check who you would be working with.
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 everything happens by secure video, which fits a town where nothing is central. There is no drive across to an appointment and nothing to coordinate beyond the hour itself. You can sit together at home, or join from two places when one of you is still on a shift. Charges are £80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min and £120 / 120 min, and the opening 15-minute conversation is free.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What sort of things do people bring?
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 Craigavon
Why people in Craigavon come for relationship counselling
The most common thing couples here bring is drift rather than disaster. Nobody has done anything dramatic; the two of you have simply organised your lives so that you barely meet. Underneath that there is usually resentment nobody has voiced, or an old hurt still sitting where it landed. Substances feature in some of these households: there were 14 drug-related deaths registered in 2023 in the council area covering Craigavon, Lurgan and Portadown, part of 169 across Northern Ireland, and long before anything like that a partner's use is already eroding trust and making conversation impossible. Sessions work on the mechanics of that. What each of you does when the other withdraws, what an apology would need to contain, how to raise a grievance without a week of silence afterwards. You are welcome on your own. ASCERT supports family members as well as users, 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 Craigavon
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Craigavon, 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.
Craigavon questions
Online Relationship Counselling in Craigavon: common questions
Everything here is a drive. Does that make couples counselling harder to keep up?
It usually does, which is one reason this runs by video. There is no journey to schedule between Portadown and anywhere else, no parking, and no evening written off. The appointment starts wherever the two of you happen to be sitting when the hour comes round.
Can I come alone if my partner refuses?
Yes, and it is a proper piece of work rather than a consolation prize. What you change in yourself alters the pattern between you, and it gives you a clear view of what you want, what you will accept and what has to be different for the relationship to continue.
How much do sessions cost?
They are £80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min or £120 / 120 min, with a free 15-minute consultation beforehand. The fee is per session, not per person, so a couple pays the same as an individual. Ninety minutes is a common choice when there is a lot that has never been said.
What is the route through the health service around here?
Your GP can refer you into talking therapies through Health and Social Care, which is how Northern Ireland works. Lifeline is free on 0808 808 8000 at any hour, and Inspire Wellbeing provides wider mental health and wellbeing support that can run while you wait for a referral.
My partner's drug use is the real problem. Is this the right place?
It can be part of the answer. This work looks at what the use has done to trust, honesty and the balance of the relationship, and at what is reasonable for you to expect. ASCERT supports families affected by someone else's use alongside whatever the person using chooses to do.
The town is so spread out; where would we go for sessions?
Nowhere at all. Sessions are online by secure video, so you and your partner can take part from home in Lurgan, Portadown or Brownlow. Bradley is based in Hove and works across Northern Ireland, so the dispersed layout makes no difference.
How soon can we start couples counselling in Craigavon?
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 Lurgan, Portadown or Brownlow without a journey across Craigavon's spread-out roads.
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 given how spread out Craigavon is?
Yes. Sessions are online, so you can each join from wherever you are, whether one partner is in Lurgan and the other in Portadown or working away. Evening appointments are available, so you meet from home rather than driving across the roundabouts to one place.
Online Relationship Counselling in Craigavon, 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, Newry. See all of Northern Ireland.
Also available in Craigavon: counselling and therapy, trauma counselling and addiction counselling.
There is more on this in my writing: the Imago dialogue for couples.
For anyone near the coast, the same relationship counselling runs in person in Hove, where the room is. Every area covered is listed separately.