Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Basildon
Online Substance Use Counselling in Basildon
Online substance use counselling for Basildon, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Basildon, from the town centre and Pitsea to the streets around the country park, 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 Basildon
Substance Use Counselling for Basildon, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Basildon: from the town centre and Pitsea to Laindon, Vange and Wickford
- Known for
- The town centre, the country park and the Essex marshes
- Region
- East of England (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- Essex County Council's help with alcohol or drug use
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Basildon
Why do people in Basildon reach out?
Drug use in a spread-out new town is quiet and private. There is no strip where it happens in public; it happens in flats around Laindon and Lee Chapel, in cars parked at the edge of Langdon Hills, in the gap between a late shift and sleep. Basildon Hospital and its cardiothoracic centre sit at the centre of the town's working life, and plenty of people using stimulants or benzodiazepines are also holding down jobs, childcare and a long journey into the city. That double life is exhausting to maintain. It is usually the exhaustion, not the drug itself, that brings someone to look for help.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Basildon
PitseaLaindonVangeWickfordFryernsLee ChapelNoak BridgeLangdon HillsCraylands
Wherever you are in Basildon, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Basildon
Official figures for Basildon, for context rather than as a description of you.
2.4 adults per 1,000 were in treatment at specialist drug-misuse services in 2020/21, below the England average of 4.5 per 1,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Adults in treatment at specialist drug misuse services (2020/21).
the rate of deaths from drug misuse was 3.2 per 100,000 in 2022 - 24, below the England average of 5.8 per 100,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Deaths from drug misuse (2022 - 24).
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.
The method travels; only the geography changes. everything on substance use counselling explains it properly, session lengths and fees answers the practical questions, and my credentials and registration shows how the practice is held to account.
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.
Everything happens by secure video, because Bradley is in Hove and has no premises anywhere in Essex. That matters more than usual when the subject is drugs. Nobody sees you walk into a building with a recognisable name on it, and nothing has to be explained to anyone at home or at work. Sessions can be fixed around rotating shifts and school runs, and you can be using on the day of a session and still be welcome. Being honest is the only requirement.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What sort of things do people bring?
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 Basildon
Why people in Basildon come for substance use counselling
This work makes no assumption that you have decided to stop. Some people who come are using every day, some at weekends only, some are cutting down already and frightened of what surfaces when they do. In this area the rate of deaths from drug misuse was 3.2 per 100,000 in 2022 - 24, below the England average of 5.8 per 100,000, though a lower rate does not make an individual habit safer or easier to talk about. What we look at is the job the drug is doing: flattening anxiety, filling a very long day, holding grief at a distance. Anything medical, including prescribing and needle exchange, sits with Essex County Council's help with alcohol or drug use, which is free and does not need a GP letter. Basildon Mind is there for the anxiety and low mood that so often travel alongside.
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 Basildon
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Basildon, free local drug and alcohol support is available through Essex County Council's help with alcohol or drug use.
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 111 and choose the mental health option. The Samaritans are free, day or night, on 116 123, or 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.
Basildon questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Basildon: common questions
Must I have stopped using before you would take me on?
No. You can be using on the morning of a session and it changes nothing about your welcome. Being under the influence during the hour itself is the only limit, simply because the conversation will not stick. Deciding what you want to change is part of the work, not a condition of starting it.
Will anything I say get passed to Essex County Council or my GP?
No. Sessions are confidential and no record goes to the council service, your GP or your employer. The only exceptions are the standard ones about immediate risk to life, and I would talk to you first wherever that was possible. Nothing about a Basildon address changes that.
What are the fees for substance use counselling?
A 60-minute session comes to £80, 90 minutes to £100 and 120 minutes to £120, and the introductory call of 15 minutes carries no charge. If cocaine or a similar habit is already draining your money, it is worth saying so early, because pacing sessions fortnightly is a reasonable option rather than a failure.
I work shifts near the town's engineering firms. Can sessions move around?
They can. Slots get set week by week where a rota demands it, including early mornings before a shift and evenings after one. That flexibility is one real advantage of video work over a fixed appointment somewhere you would have to drive to and park at.
Is drug use in Basildon really different from anywhere else?
The substances are ordinary enough; the setting is not. A town where neighbourhoods like Pitsea and Fryerns sit far apart, and where the London commute eats the day, gives use a lot of unwatched space. People often describe months passing before anyone close to them noticed.
Getting anywhere in Basildon means a drive. Does online remove that?
Yes. Because I work by video and phone from Hove, there is nothing to travel to in a spread-out, car-shaped town. You take part from your own home, at a time that fits around work and family, with no journey and no waiting room.
Is online substance use counselling available in Basildon, and when could I begin?
Yes. I see people across Basildon and the surrounding district online, with no local waiting list, so most start within days. After a free 15-minute consultation we arrange a first session, working around the long London commute and family life.
How do substance use counselling fees compare with the NHS in Basildon?
My fees are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, and the first 15-minute consultation is free. NHS substance services in Basildon cost nothing but may take time to access, while private online sessions with me can begin promptly and around your schedule.
Would substance use counselling be online, and are evenings possible in Basildon?
It is online only, from Hove by video or phone, not a room in the town. In a place built for the car and a long commute, that removes the drive to an appointment. Evening slots are available, and from Vange to Wickford you join privately from home.
Online Substance Use Counselling in Basildon, 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 East of England: Southend-on-Sea, Chelmsford. See all of East of England.
Also available in Basildon: addiction counselling, counselling for drinking problems and anxiety counselling.
There is more on this in my writing: calming a craving as it rises and once an addict, always an addict?.
Within reach of Sussex? substance use counselling is offered in the room in Hove, where the room is as well as online; see the full list of areas.