Communication and conflict
Breaking the cycle of the same argument.
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.
BACP registered member25+ years of experienceLived experience
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
What is going on for people in Durham?
Durham is two places at once, and couples here live in the gap between them. Durham University sets the calendar for the centre, filling and emptying it on a schedule nobody else agreed to, while out at Ushaw Moor, Sherburn and Bearpark the old pit villages keep a slower and much longer memory. A partnership can straddle that: one of you working to an academic year, the other to a rota that never changes. Term-time crowds, then a strange quiet. Around Elvet and Crossgate there are households that look entirely settled from outside and are privately negotiating whether to stay in the city at all.
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 local picture
The local picture in Durham
Official figures for Durham, for context rather than as a description of you.
the rate of emergency hospital admissions for self-harm was 85.3 per 100,000 in 2023/24, below the England average of 117 per 100,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Emergency Hospital Admissions for Intentional Self-Harm (2023/24).
recorded depression on GP registers stood at 16.7% of patients aged 18+ in 2024/25, above the England average of 14.3%. Source: OHID Fingertips – Depression: QOF prevalence (2024/25).
22% of adults reported a high anxiety score in 2022/23, below the England average of 23.8%. Source: OHID Fingertips – Self-reported wellbeing: high anxiety score (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.
Because the work itself is the same wherever you live, the detail sits in one place rather than all of them: everything on relationship counselling sets out the methods, the practical side covers the practicalities, and professional standards and registration covers accountability.
How does meeting by video work in practice?
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.
Durham is covered online. Bradley works from Hove and there is no room in the city, so sessions run by secure video, which suits two people with mismatched weeks. Nobody has to cross town at five o'clock or find somewhere to park. You can share a screen at home or join separately, and if only one of you wants to come, that is a perfectly ordinary way to use the work.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What does relationship counselling help with?
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
Relationship counselling here takes couples and individuals both, and attending as a pair is not required. Some people come because the same argument keeps restarting from a different corner of the kitchen; others come alone to work out whether what they are living with is workable. Depression recorded on GP registers across the county reached 16.7% of patients aged 18+ in 2024/25, against an England average of 14.3%, and a long low mood in one person quietly reorganises the whole household around itself. So does drinking. We start with what actually happens in the difficult ten minutes, since that is where the pattern becomes visible, then look at what each of you brought to the relationship from much earlier. Repair after broken trust is possible and slow. Durham and Darlington Talking Therapies is the NHS route, and the County Durham Drug and Alcohol Recovery Service covers the substance side.
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 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
How quickly could we be seen?
Quickly. A free 15-minute call comes first, and weekly appointments usually start within a week or two. There is no referral and nothing to join. If the pair of you can only manage a late evening once the children are down, that is a normal request rather than an awkward one.
What is the cost for two people?
The same as for one, because the fee is per session: £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 minutes and £120 for 120 minutes. A lot of couples choose 90 minutes so that both of you get real airtime. The initial 15-minute consultation carries no charge.
Does the NHS do couples work in Durham?
Not as such. Durham and Darlington Talking Therapies works with anxiety and depression in individuals and is free, with waits that vary. If alcohol or drugs are tangled up in the difficulty, the County Durham Drug and Alcohol Recovery Service is the local route for that side.
One of us works away during the week. Is that a problem?
It is one of the reasons online suits couples. You can join from two places, so a week away does not mean a missed session and the thread is not broken every time the rota changes. Both of you being in the same house is not a requirement of this work.
We moved here for one of us to study and it has strained everything. Can that be worked on?
It can, and it is a familiar shape. When a move serves one person's plan, the other often absorbs the cost quietly and resents it later. We look at what was actually agreed, what was only assumed, and how to renegotiate it now rather than at the end of the course.
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 £100, or 60 minutes at £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.
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.
Related work in Durham: 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.
For anyone near the coast, the same relationship counselling runs in person in Brighton. Every area covered is listed separately.