Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Aberdeen
Online Substance Use Counselling in Aberdeen
Online substance use counselling for Aberdeen, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Aberdeen, from the granite centre and the harbour to the streets around the granite architecture, 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 Aberdeen
Substance Use Counselling for Aberdeen, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Aberdeen: from the granite centre and the harbour to Old Aberdeen, Torry and Bridge of Don
- Known for
- The granite architecture, the harbour and the North Sea
- Region
- Scotland
- Local NHS / support route
- NHS inform's drugs and drug use pages
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Aberdeen
What brings people in Aberdeen to counselling?
A lot of drug use in Aberdeen stays invisible because it has to. Random testing is part of working offshore, and a positive result does not only cost a shift, it can cost the medical and the career behind it. So use gets tucked into the days furthest from a call-out, and the secrecy becomes a weight of its own. Elsewhere the picture is younger: shared flats near Old Aberdeen and Rosemount, pills and ketamine at the weekend, a Tuesday that never quite clears. Add a granite winter, dark from mid-afternoon, and wind off Aberdeen harbour, and the reasons to stay in and use stack up without anyone deciding anything.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Aberdeen
Old AberdeenTorryBridge of DonRosemountFerryhillMannofieldFootdeeDyceCultsKincorth
Wherever you are in Aberdeen, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Aberdeen
Official figures for Aberdeen, for context rather than as a description of you.
the age-standardised drug-misuse death rate in Aberdeen City averaged 23.3 per 100,000 over 2020-2024, slightly above the Scotland average of 22.5 Source: National Records of Scotland, Drug-related deaths in Scotland 2024 (Table C4) (2020-2024).
In Aberdeen City, 5.0% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, compared with a Scotland average of 6.1%, 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 substance use counselling involve?
Substance use counselling here is non-judgemental and one-to-one, working with the pain, fear or loneliness the substance has been managing, at a pace that protects your sense of safety.
Rather than say the same thing on every page, the substance lives on the full substance use counselling page, with the practical side for the practical questions and my credentials and registration for registration and ethics.
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.
Bradley is in Hove, so there is no Aberdeen address to attend; this is secure video from wherever you are, whether that is a flat in Mannofield, a hotel between shifts or a van. You do not need to have stopped, or to be planning to stop, before you book. Sessions can run weekly or fortnightly. The free 15-minute consultation is a good place to ask what happens to anything you say.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What can substance use counselling in Aberdeen help with?
The false self
Letting go of the protective self that no longer serves you.
Specialised attention
One-to-one sessions shaped entirely around you.
Self-discovery
Rediscovering the authentic self beneath the coping.
Anxiety and low mood
Treating what the substance has been masking.
Sustainable change
Growing into recovery rather than forcing it.
Substance Use Counselling in Aberdeen
Why people in Aberdeen come for substance use counselling
This is not work that begins with a lecture, and it does not require abstinence first. People often come while still using, wanting to understand a pattern before deciding anything about it: what the drug settles, what it costs, at what point it turns on them. Drug-misuse deaths across Aberdeen City ran at 23.3 per 100,000 in the years 2020-2024, a little above the Scotland average of 22.5, which is one reason honesty about current use matters more here than a date in the diary. Sessions look at tolerance, at the situations that reliably set it off, at sleep, and at what you are managing with it that nothing else manages. Where medical input is needed I will say so and point you on. Alcohol and Drugs Action covers the city, the NHS 'find a service' directory lists local drug treatment, and your GP handles anything physical. Counselling never replaces medical 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 callDrug, alcohol & addiction support in Aberdeen
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Aberdeen, your GP can refer you to local drug and alcohol services, and you can find support through NHS inform's drugs and drug use pages.
For confidential information and advice, FRANK (on 0300 123 6600) and Drinkline on 0300 123 1110 are free, and Alcoholics Anonymous and SMART Recovery run peer-support meetings you can find online.
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 24 on 111 for urgent mental health support. Breathing Space is free on 0800 83 85 87, the Samaritans are on 116 123, and you can text SHOUT to 85258.
If you drink heavily or use drugs daily, do not stop suddenly on your own. Withdrawal can cause seizures and can be dangerous. Speak to your GP or a local drug and alcohol service first, and they can arrange a safe, medically supported withdrawal. Counselling works alongside that, not instead of it.
Aberdeen questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Aberdeen: common questions
Do I have to stop using before you will see me?
No. You can begin while you are still using and while you are still undecided. What the sessions need is accuracy, not abstinence, because we cannot work with a picture that has been tidied up. If your use is heavy or daily, speak to your GP as well, since anything physical belongs with a doctor.
How much are sessions and how is payment handled?
£80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min, £120 / 120 min, paid as you go rather than in advance blocks. Offshore pay can be uneven, so people often space sessions out or move to fortnightly for a while. A free 15-minute consultation comes before any of it, with nothing owed afterwards.
What is the NHS route for drug support in Aberdeen?
Scotland runs no self-referral counselling scheme, so the usual door is your GP or the NHS 'find a service' directory, which lists drug and alcohol treatment near you. Alcohol and Drugs Action provides a helpline and drop-in locally, and Breathing Space Scotland answers free on 0800 83 85 87.
I am tested at work. Is anything you write down passed on?
No. Employers, occupational health and testing providers receive nothing from me, and I am not part of any workplace scheme. Records are minimal and held securely. The narrow circumstances in which confidentiality has limits are set out at the start so there are no surprises later.
Can I do this from a shared flat in Old Aberdeen?
Plenty of people do. Headphones help, and a session can be taken from a bedroom, a parked car or an empty office. Online means no reception desk and no one clocking which building you walked into, which for drug use is often the difference between starting and putting it off again.
Does the drug scene around the industry mean this is common?
You are certainly not the only one, and there is no shame in it. Many people in the energy world lean on something to manage the demands of the work. We look at your own situation without judgement, at a pace that fits your rota and your life.
Can I begin substance use counselling online in Aberdeen quickly?
Yes. After a free 15-minute consultation we can usually book your first video session within days. There is no referral to wait on and no long drive across the north east, so wherever you are in Aberdeen you can make an early start from home.
How much does substance use counselling cost compared with Aberdeen services?
My fees are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, following a free 15-minute consultation. NHS Grampian support is free but can mean a wait, and specialist help is scarcer this far north; private sessions carry a fee and start promptly.
How are online substance use sessions delivered for Aberdeen clients?
Through secure, confidential video from wherever you have signal and privacy, a room at home in Rosemount, or a quiet space between offshore weeks. Evening slots are available, and there is no clinic to travel to, which spares the long distances many here would otherwise face.
Online Substance Use Counselling in Aberdeen, 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 Scotland: Dundee, Perth. See all of Scotland.
Related work in Aberdeen: addiction counselling, counselling for drinking problems and anxiety counselling.
If you would like to read more first, I have written about once an addict, always an addict? and three ways to handle a craving.
For anyone near the coast, the same substance use counselling runs in person in Hove, where the room is. Every area covered is listed separately.