Communication and conflict
Breaking the cycle of the same argument.
Online Relationship Counselling · Portsmouth
Online Relationship Counselling in Portsmouth
Online relationship counselling for Portsmouth, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Portsmouth, from across Portsea Island, Southsea and Old Portsmouth to the streets around the Spinnaker Tower, 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 Portsmouth
Relationship Counselling for Portsmouth, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Portsmouth: across Portsea Island, from Southsea and Old Portsmouth to Fratton, Cosham and Copnor
- Known for
- The Spinnaker Tower, the harbour and the seafront
- Region
- London & South East (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire (italk)
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Portsmouth
What brings people in Portsmouth to counselling?
A great many partnerships here are organised around leaving and coming back. HM Naval Base Portsmouth sets the rhythm: months apart, messages across time differences, then a homecoming that everybody has looked forward to and nobody quite knows how to manage. The person who held the house together on their own has to hand some of it back, and the person returning has to find a place in a routine that learned to work without them. Add one of the most densely populated cities in England, where a flat in Fratton or Buckland offers little room to cool off separately, and small things escalate quickly. Couples here rarely arrive after one catastrophic argument.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Portsmouth
SouthseaOld PortsmouthFrattonCoshamCopnorNorth EndPortseaMiltonBuckland
Wherever you are in Portsmouth, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Portsmouth
Official figures for Portsmouth, for context rather than as a description of you.
the rate of emergency hospital admissions for self-harm was 177.1 per 100,000 in 2023/24, above 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 14% of patients aged 18+ in 2024/25, below the England average of 14.3%. Source: OHID Fingertips – Depression: QOF prevalence (2024/25).
23.2% 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: the full relationship counselling page sets out the methods, how I work covers the practicalities, and professional standards and registration covers accountability.
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.
All of it is online by secure video, which is the practical answer to a naval city. Bradley works from Hove and there is nowhere on Portsea Island to attend, so sessions can carry on when one of you is away, when a posting moves the family, or when the two of you are simply in different places that week. Nobody is seen walking into anything. If a connection drops mid-session we finish the hour by phone.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What can relationship counselling in Portsmouth 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 Portsmouth
Why people in Portsmouth come for relationship counselling
Separation and reunion are the obvious pressures, but the thing couples usually want help with is what happens in between: the conversations that got shorter, the resentment nobody says out loud, the sense of being efficient housemates rather than partners. Drink often sits somewhere in it. Hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions ran at 557.7 per 100,000 in 2023/24, above the England average of 504.1 per 100,000, and heavy drinking in one person reshapes a household far more than either partner tends to admit. Sessions look at the pattern between you - who pursues, who withdraws, what each of you protects by doing it - rather than establishing a culprit. One person on their own can change a good deal of that. NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire, known as italk, takes free self-referrals, and Solent Mind runs wellbeing support in the city.
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 Portsmouth
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Portsmouth, you can refer yourself directly to NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire (italk) 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.
Portsmouth questions
Online Relationship Counselling in Portsmouth: common questions
My partner deploys in a few weeks. Is it worth starting now?
It often is. Doing some work before a separation gives you both something to hold on to during it, and sessions can continue with whichever of you is at home. Plenty of couples pick the thread back up together in the weeks after a return.
What do sessions cost, and do we both pay?
There is one fee per session regardless of how many of you attend. Sixty minutes is £80, ninety is £100, and a two-hour session is £120. Before any of that there is a free 15-minute consultation, which is the point at which to ask anything practical.
Is there free couples or relationship help in Portsmouth?
NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire, italk, is the free service here and you can refer yourself without a GP appointment. It is worth setting in motion whatever else you do. Solent Mind also runs local wellbeing groups if the immediate need is support rather than formal therapy.
We are in a small flat with family close by. How do we keep this private?
Headphones do most of the work, because only your half of the conversation can be heard. Some couples book while children are at school; others use a parked car near the seafront. On a crowded island, not having a building to be seen entering is itself a form of privacy.
Can we do this if one of us is at sea and the other is at home?
Connections at sea are unreliable, so most couples in that position do individual sessions during a deployment and joint ones either side of it. Working alone for a stretch is not second best; a great deal shifts when one person changes how they respond.
My partner is often away on deployment. Can we still do couples counselling?
Yes. Online sessions are well suited to service couples, because you can both join wherever you are, including from different locations when one of you is away. We keep a regular time so the work continues through deployments rather than stopping and starting.
How soon can we begin couples counselling online in Portsmouth?
Usually within a week. There is no waiting list, so after a free 15-minute consultation we arrange a first session around postings and shifts. It is held securely online, joined from home in Southsea, Fratton or Cosham, with nothing to travel across Portsea Island to reach.
What are the fees, and how does that compare with the NHS in Portsmouth?
Sessions are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 minutes and £120 for 120 minutes, after a free 15-minute consultation. NHS Talking Therapies in Portsmouth is free but can involve a waiting list, whereas private work with Bradley lets you choose a time that fits naval and shift-work hours.
My partner is often away on deployment. Can we still do couples counselling from different places?
Yes. Online sessions suit service couples well, because you can both join wherever you are, including different locations when one of you is at sea. Evening slots are available, and we keep a regular time so the work continues through deployments rather than stopping and starting.
Online Relationship Counselling in Portsmouth, 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 London & South East: Southampton, Chichester. See all of London & South East.
If relationship counselling is not quite what you are looking for, counselling and therapy, trauma counselling and addiction counselling may fit better in Portsmouth.
There is more on this in my writing: the Imago dialogue for couples.
If you can reach the south coast, this work is also done face to face in Brighton — all in-person areas are listed here.