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
- Local NHS / support route
- ASCERT, which supports people across Northern Ireland with drug and alcohol use
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Belfast
What is going on for people in Belfast?
Drug use in Belfast does not look like one thing. It is a line at a house party in Stranmillis, tablets that began with a prescription and did not stop, a student in Botanic getting through exams on something that used to be occasional, and longer-standing use in parts of the city where deprivation and the inherited weight of the conflict sit in the same few streets. What most of it shares is privacy. In a place this size, being seen walking into a service can feel like the larger risk, larger than the use itself, so people manage it alone and say nothing until circumstances force the issue.
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
Official figures for Belfast, for context rather than as a description of you.
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).
In the Belfast council area, 8.6% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, well above 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 actually happens in substance use counselling?
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.
Because the work itself is the same wherever you live, the detail sits in one place rather than all of them: the substance use counselling page sets out the methods, the practical side covers the practicalities, and my BACP 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.
Since Bradley is in Hove, work with anyone in Belfast happens online by secure video. Nothing about it requires you to have stopped first, and nothing about it involves being tested, counted or reported on. You keep your own room and your own door. If some hours of the day are clearer for you than others, the appointment goes where your head is at its steadiest, whether that means nine in the morning or eight at night.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What can substance use counselling in Belfast 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 Belfast
Why people in Belfast come for substance use counselling
You do not have to be finished with drugs to begin, and you do not have to arrive holding a plan. Being asked to promise abstinence before a first conversation is precisely why many people never have one. What gets looked at instead is specific: what the drug does for you, what it takes, what happens in the gaps between, and what would need to be in place before change felt survivable rather than merely correct. Some of that turns out to be grief. Some of it is a nervous system that learned early that the world was not a safe place. The context is stark here, with 63 of the 169 drug-related deaths registered across Northern Ireland in 2023 falling in the Belfast council area, in a year when the age-standardised rate stood at 9.1 per 100,000. Anything medical belongs with your GP through Health and Social Care, while ASCERT and the NHS find a service directory hold the drug and alcohol side.
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 drug and alcohol services, and you can find support through ASCERT, which supports people across Northern Ireland with drug and alcohol 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 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.
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.
Belfast questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Belfast: common questions
Do I need to have stopped using before we start?
No. You would be turned away from very little here, and certainly not for still using. Turning up as you actually are gives us something real to work with rather than a version you have tidied. The only request is that you can follow and remember the hour while it is happening.
What are the fees, and is the first contact chargeable?
Sixty minutes costs £80, ninety minutes £100, and a two-hour session £120 where more room is useful. The initial 15-minute consultation is free, so you can hear how the work runs before any money is involved. Nothing is charged for booking, moving or asking a question by email.
What if I want a drug service in the city as well?
That combination works well. ASCERT offers drug and alcohol support across Northern Ireland, the NHS find a service directory lists services by area, and a GP referral through Health and Social Care opens the statutory door. Counselling then does the part those services rarely have hours for.
Will anything be passed to my GP or my employer?
Not routinely. The work is confidential within the BACP Ethical Framework, and the limits to that are explained plainly at the start rather than buried. No report goes anywhere because you attended. Nothing is written to an employer, a college or a family member without you knowing about it.
Everyone I use with I have known since school. Where does that leave me?
It leaves you with the hardest part of the whole thing, which is why it gets real time here rather than a slogan. Losing your use can mean losing a street, a routine and the only people who know you properly. We look honestly at what fills that space before it empties.
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.
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.
If substance use counselling is not quite what you are looking for, addiction counselling, counselling for drinking problems and anxiety counselling may fit better in Belfast.
Some further reading, if that helps before getting in touch: calming a craving as it rises and once an addict, always an addict?.
If you can reach the south coast, this work is also done face to face in Hove, where the room is — all in-person areas are listed here.