Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Belfast
Online Substance Use Counselling in Belfast
Online substance use counselling for Belfast, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Belfast, from the city centre and the Cathedral Quarter to the streets around the City Hall, 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 Belfast
Substance Use Counselling for Belfast, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Belfast: from the city centre and the Cathedral Quarter to the Falls, the Shankill, east Belfast and the south of the city
- Known for
- The City Hall, the Titanic Quarter and the shipyard cranes
- Region
- Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland)
- Local NHS / support route
- Local council drug & alcohol service (see below)
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Belfast
Why people in Belfast reach out
Belfast is a resilient, fast-changing capital still living with the legacy of the Troubles alongside the ordinary pressures of a modern city. Intergenerational trauma, community divisions and real deprivation in parts of the city all shape what people here carry, and privacy can matter all the more.
Belfast wraps around the Lagan and the great yellow cranes of the old Harland and Wolff yard, a city that has remade itself around the Titanic Quarter, Queen's University and a lively Cathedral Quarter. Days move between the Glider buses running east and west, the covered stalls of St George's Market, and the green rise of Cave Hill above the north of the city. Students fill Botanic and the Holylands, workers pour through the new Grand Central Station, and the ferries slip out towards Cairnryan and Liverpool. From Ballyhackamore's cafes to the murals of the Falls and the Shankill, it is a place of strong loyalties and warm humour, where a great deal of ordinary life is lived close to a complicated past.
Where work follows shifts and the rhythm of the docks, online sessions bend around unsociable hours rather than asking you to fit your life around them.
Belfast is home to Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University's city campus, and to the Royal Victoria Hospital and Belfast City Hospital, with health and social care delivered by the Belfast HSC Trust.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Belfast
Cathedral QuarterTitanic QuarterFallsShankilleast BelfastBotanicStranmillisOrmeauBallyhackamoreAndersonstownMaloneSydenham
Wherever you are in Belfast, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Belfast
These figures are local context from official sources, not a description of you, but they show the scale of what people in and around Belfast are living with, and why local support matters.
There were 63 drug-related deaths registered in the Belfast council area in 2023, the highest of any Northern Ireland LGD (37.3%) out of 169 drug-related deaths across Northern Ireland, which had an age-standardised rate of 9.1 per 100,000. Source: NISRA - Drug-related and drug misuse deaths in Northern Ireland, 2023 (2023).
Local data last reviewed June 2026. Each figure shows the year and links to the official source it was read on.
The substance use counselling itself
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 approach is the same wherever you live, so rather than repeat it on every page you can read it in full, the methods, what each session covers and fees, on the main substance use counselling page and on how I work.
How online sessions work
Sessions run over a secure, encrypted video link held to the same strict BACP confidentiality as meeting in person. After a free fifteen-minute call to check we are a good fit, you join each session from any private space using a phone, tablet or laptop, no software to install, no waiting room and no journey at either end.
Reaching support in Belfast can be as simple as finding a quiet hour and a reliable connection. Sessions here are held online, by secure video, right across Northern Ireland, so you never need to cross the city or sit in a waiting room. Please know the counsellor is based in Hove and works UK-wide by video rather than seeing anyone in person here, which means help fits around your day wherever you are in the city.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
How online substance use counselling in Belfast can help
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 Belfast
Why people in Belfast come for substance use counselling
Belfast has remade itself around the Titanic Quarter and its universities, yet substance use touches every part of the city, and shame can run deep where a difficult history sits so near the surface. Whether it began with prescription medication, cannabis or something stronger, cutting down alone is hard. Online substance use counselling gives you room to be honest without anyone locally knowing, held by secure video from home. From student flats around Botanic to the streets of the north and west, help reaches you wherever you are, at a pace that respects how tender this can be.
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 Belfast
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Belfast, your GP can refer you to local NHS-funded drug and alcohol services, and you can find your nearest one via the NHS “find a service” directory.
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 Lifeline free on 0808 808 8000. Lifeline is free on 0808 808 8000, and the Samaritans are on 116 123.
Belfast questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Belfast: common questions
Can I get online substance use counselling if I live in Belfast?
Yes. I work with people right across Belfast, from the city centre and the Cathedral Quarter outwards, and anywhere else in Northern Ireland, by secure video, no need to travel to Hove, and just as confidential as meeting in the room.
Can I get support while I'm still using?
Yes. This is non-judgemental, one-to-one work that meets you where you are, and it can run alongside any medical or detox support you have.
How is this different from a group or 12-step programme?
It is individual and shaped entirely around you. Some people use it instead of groups, others alongside them.
Will you tell my GP or employer?
No. What you share is confidential within the BACP framework; nothing goes to anyone else without your consent.
Can substance use counselling help if I am still using?
Yes. You do not need to have stopped before starting. Sessions begin wherever you are, working gently towards change at your pace. Held online by secure video across Northern Ireland, they let you talk honestly from home in Belfast without judgement.
How quickly can I begin substance use counselling in Belfast?
Often within days. We start with a free 15-minute call to see whether this feels right, then arrange your first session soon after. It all takes place online by secure video, so whether you are in the Titanic Quarter or up towards Cave Hill, there is no queue and no clinic to reach.
Is substance use counselling free on the NHS in Belfast, and what do you charge?
NHS drug and alcohol services in the city sit within the Belfast Trust and cost nothing, though referrals can be slow. My fees are £80 for a 60-minute session, £100 for 90 minutes and £120 for two hours, with a free 15-minute consultation and no waiting to start.
Can substance use sessions be held online in the evening from Belfast?
Yes. Many people prefer a private evening hour once the working day in the city is done. Sessions run by secure video, so from the Falls or the Shankill to Ballyhackamore you can talk from your own home with only a quiet space and a reliable connection.
Can I see the counsellor in person in Belfast?
No. The counsellor is based in Hove and works only online, by secure video, with people across Northern Ireland. You can have sessions from home anywhere in Belfast, which many people find more private than attending somewhere in the city.
Does online counselling work as well from Belfast?
Many people find a video session from their own front room easier than travelling across the city. All you need is a private space and a steady connection, whether you are in the east, the north or the south of Belfast.
Online Substance Use Counselling in Belfast, 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: Lisburn, Newtownabbey, Bangor. See all of Northern Ireland.
All counselling & therapy in Belfast: Addiction · Drinking Problems · Anxiety · Depression · Relationship · Trauma · Counselling & Therapy · Psychotherapy.
Closer to the Sussex coast? The same substance use counselling is available in person in Brighton & Hove, or see all in-person areas.