Communication and conflict
Breaking the cycle of the same argument.
Online Relationship Counselling · Newtownabbey
Online Relationship Counselling in Newtownabbey
Online relationship counselling for Newtownabbey, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Newtownabbey, from Glengormley and the centre to the streets around the Antrim hills, 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 Newtownabbey
Relationship Counselling for Newtownabbey, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Newtownabbey: from Glengormley and the centre to Rathcoole, Monkstown and Mossley
- Known for
- The Antrim hills, Belfast Lough and the shore road
- 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 Newtownabbey
Why people in Newtownabbey get in touch
Newtownabbey sits on the city's northern edge and lives at its pace without quite being part of it. Most couples here are commuting in one direction or another, and the estates are close-knit in a way that is warm and completely unprivate. Everybody in Rathcoole or Carnmoney knows whose car was outside whose house. That makes it very hard to admit a marriage is in trouble, so people carry it silently through the school run, the shift and the Saturday trip to the Abbey Centre. Work has been uncertain for a lot of households, and the old habit of keeping to your own side of a divided place has not entirely gone. Trouble at home stays behind the front door for years.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Newtownabbey
GlengormleyRathcooleMonkstownMossleyCarnmoneyWhiteabbeyJordanstownBawnmoreHazelbank
Wherever you are in Newtownabbey, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Newtownabbey
Official figures for Newtownabbey, for context rather than as a description of you.
In Antrim and Newtownabbey, 5.4% 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 Antrim and Newtownabbey, 18.9% 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 Antrim and Newtownabbey, 2.0% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, well below 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 approach does not change with the postcode, so rather than repeat it on every page you can read it in full, the methods and what each session covers, on the full relationship counselling page, alongside how sessions run and what they cost and qualifications, registration and ethics.
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.
There is no consulting space here; Bradley works from Hove and everything happens by secure video. In a town where neighbours notice, that matters more than the convenience. No car is parked outside anywhere identifiable and nobody sees you arrive. You can join together from home, or separately when one of you is still in the city at work. Charges run £80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min and £120 / 120 min, with a free 15-minute consultation first.
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 Newtownabbey
Why people in Newtownabbey come for relationship counselling
Most couples who get in touch have been managing a low-grade problem for a long time. Communication that has narrowed to arrangements. Trust damaged and never properly repaired. One partner increasingly distant and the other increasingly anxious about it. Drugs and drink sit behind a proportion of these situations: there were 12 drug-related deaths registered in the Antrim and Newtownabbey council area in 2023, part of 169 across Northern Ireland, and well before that point a partner's use has already turned a relationship into surveillance and denial. The sessions look at the loop the two of you are in, what each is trying to protect by staying in it, and what repair would actually involve. Attending alone is entirely acceptable. ASCERT supports family members affected by someone else's use, 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 Newtownabbey
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Newtownabbey, 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.
Newtownabbey questions
Online Relationship Counselling in Newtownabbey: common questions
The estate we live on notices everything. Will anyone know?
No. There is no local building to be seen at, nothing posted to your address and no appointment card. Sessions run by secure video from wherever you are, and confidentiality is held under the BACP Ethical Framework, with its few legal exceptions explained in advance.
My wife will not come. Is there any point in going on my own?
There is. Individual work on a relationship changes the part of the pattern you control, which is more than it sounds. It also gives you a clearer picture of what you want and what you are prepared to live with, whatever your wife eventually decides.
What do sessions cost for two people?
The same as for one. Appointments are £80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min or £120 / 120 min, and the first 15-minute consultation is free. Ninety minutes is worth considering for a couple, because an hour can disappear before the second person has properly started.
What is on offer through the health service locally?
Your GP can refer you to talking therapies through Health and Social Care, which is the arrangement in Northern Ireland. Lifeline is free on 0808 808 8000 at any time, and Inspire Wellbeing runs mental health and wellbeing support that can help while a referral is being processed.
My partner is using and lies about it. Can counselling fix that?
Counselling cannot make somebody stop, and it does not try to. What it can do is help you see the relationship clearly, decide what you will and will not accept, and stop the whole household organising itself around the use. ASCERT works directly with affected families.
Can we have couples sessions without going into Belfast?
Yes. Sessions are online by secure video, so you and your partner can take part from home in Newtownabbey rather than travelling into the city. Bradley is based in Hove and works across Northern Ireland by video, which keeps things private and easy to fit around work.
How soon can we begin couples counselling in Newtownabbey?
Usually within a week. After a free 15-minute consultation, Bradley Riddell holds relationship sessions online by secure video, so you can start from home in Glengormley or along the loughshore without heading into Belfast for an appointment.
How do relationship counselling fees compare with local NHS services?
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 can be waited-for, so private online work mainly offers a sooner, more flexible start.
Can my partner and I join from different places if one commutes into Belfast?
Yes. Sessions are online, so one partner can join from home in Newtownabbey and the other from the city or wherever work takes them. Evening slots are available too, which suits couples timing sessions around the M2 commute and family evenings.
Online Relationship Counselling in Newtownabbey, 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: Belfast, Ballymena. See all of Northern Ireland.
Close to this in Newtownabbey, there is counselling and therapy, trauma counselling and addiction counselling.
There is more on this in my writing: the Imago dialogue for couples.
Closer to the Sussex coast? The same relationship counselling is available in person, in Hove, where the room is, or see every area I cover.