Online Relationship Counselling · Durham

Online Relationship Counselling in Durham

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

In and around Durham

Relationship Counselling for Durham, at a glance

Areas covered online
All of Durham: from the peninsula and the centre to Gilesgate, Neville's Cross and Framwellgate
Known for
The cathedral, the castle and the river Wear
Region
Yorkshire & North East (England)
Local NHS / support route
Durham and Darlington Talking Therapies
Format
Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.

Life in Durham

Why people in Durham reach out

Durham's great cathedral and ancient university give the city a calm, storied face, but behind it sit intense academic pressure and a county still living with the loss of its coal industry. The gap between the gleaming university and the hard-pressed former pit villages around it shapes much of what people carry.

Durham is one of the great sights of northern England, its Norman cathedral and castle standing together on a wooded peninsula almost encircled by a loop of the river Wear, together a World Heritage Site. The cathedral, a masterpiece of Romanesque building, has drawn pilgrims for nearly a thousand years and, more recently, film crews. Around it winds a compact medieval city of narrow vennels, the market place and the colleges of Durham University, one of England's oldest. The city is also the spiritual home of the Durham coalfield: each July the Miners' Gala still fills the streets with banners and brass bands, honouring the pit communities of the surrounding county. Beyond, the former mining villages of County Durham spread across the hills.

Durham Universitythe cathedral and its World Heritage settingthe county's coal-mining heritage and the Miners' Gala

Beneath a calm, historic surface, struggle can be hard to voice; a confidential online hour asks nothing of appearances.

Durham is home to Durham University and to University Hospital of North Durham (County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust); its Norman cathedral and castle form a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the surrounding county still bears the legacy of its coal-mining past.

Areas covered

Neighbourhoods in and around Durham

GilesgateNeville's CrossFramwellgate MoorBelmontCrossgateElvetSherburnBearparkUshaw MoorNewton Hall

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

The relationship counselling itself

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 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 relationship counselling 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.

I'm based in Hove, far to the south, and work with people in and around Durham online, by secure video, rather than in person. You meet from home in the city or out in the county villages, with no journey to fit in. We'd keep a regular weekly time that works around study, work or family, the distance simply doesn't come into it by video.

Book a free 15-minute call

What I help with

How online relationship counselling in Durham can help

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 Durham

Why people in Durham come for relationship counselling

Around Durham, life can pull a couple in different directions, the demands of academic or professional work, money pressure, and the loss of easy time together as terms, shifts and family life fill the week. You can end up running the household as a team but rarely meeting as a pair. Relationship counselling makes a protected hour to turn back towards one another and say what the week never leaves room for. I work with couples and individuals across Durham by video from Hove, so there is no journey into the city or out to the county villages, only a private conversation from wherever suits you both.

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 Durham

My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Durham, you can refer yourself directly to Durham and Darlington Talking Therapies for free NHS talking therapy, with no GP referral needed.

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 111 and choose the mental health option. The Samaritans are free, day or night, on 116 123, or text SHOUT to 85258.

Durham questions

Online Relationship Counselling in Durham: common questions

Can I get online relationship counselling if I live in Durham?

Yes. I work with people right across Durham, from the peninsula and the centre outwards, and anywhere else in Yorkshire & North East, by secure video, no need to travel to Hove, and just as confidential as meeting in the room.

Can I come on my own, without my partner?

Yes. A great deal can change when one person shifts the pattern; you do not need to attend as a couple to do useful work.

Can we join the session from different locations?

Yes. Online makes it easy for couples in different places, or juggling childcare, to attend together.

Will you take sides?

No. We look at the pattern the two of you create together and where it gets stuck, not at who is to blame.

Can we do relationship counselling if we live apart during term?

Yes. Because sessions are online, we can meet even when you're in different places, you at home, a partner elsewhere for study or work. From Hove I hold a steady weekly time that carries on across terms and vacations, wherever each of you is.

How soon can my partner and I start relationship counselling in Durham?

Usually within a week or two of a free 15-minute consultation. I work from Hove and see Durham couples securely online, from Gilesgate to Newton Hall, so there is no waiting list and no room or parking to arrange together near the cathedral.

What are your couple fees in Durham, and is there an NHS option?

Couples usually choose 90 minutes at GBP 100, or 60 minutes at GBP 80. Relate and NHS services in Durham can cost less but often carry a wait, whereas private online work lets us begin sooner and hold a steady weekly time for you both.

One of us is at the university and often busy, can sessions flex around that?

Yes. Because we meet by video you can join from college, from home in Elvet, or from two places when one of you is away. I keep some evening slots, so sessions fit around teaching, term or shift patterns rather than clashing.

I'm a student at Durham University, can you help?

Yes. Online sessions carry on through term, vacations and placements wherever you are, so moving between Durham and home doesn't interrupt things. I work privately, separate from the university and college welfare teams, which you can also draw on alongside this.

Are you based in Durham?

No. I work from Hove on the south coast and see Durham clients by secure video call. For people out in the former pit villages especially, meeting online removes a journey into the city and makes a weekly session much easier to keep up.

Online Relationship Counselling in Durham, 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 Yorkshire & North East: Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland, Darlington. See all of Yorkshire & North East.

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

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