Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Birmingham
Online Substance Use Counselling in Birmingham
Online substance use counselling for Birmingham, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Birmingham, from the city centre and the Jewellery Quarter to the streets around the Bullring, 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 Birmingham
Substance Use Counselling for Birmingham, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Birmingham: from the city centre and the Jewellery Quarter to Edgbaston, Moseley, Erdington and Handsworth
- Known for
- The Bullring, the canals and the Library of Birmingham
- Region
- Midlands (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- NHS drug & alcohol service finder (see below)
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Birmingham
Why people in Birmingham get in touch
Drug use in a city this size rarely resembles the picture people carry around in their heads. It is a functioning week in Edgbaston, a wrap that gets a Friday night in Digbeth through, ketamine at a house party in Kings Heath, cocaine that started as a monthly thing and quietly became a Wednesday thing. Birmingham is young, and much of that use sits alongside work, study near the University of Birmingham, and family life carrying on regardless. Deaths from drug misuse ran at 10 per 100,000 across 2022 to 2024, above the England average of 5.8 per 100,000. Most people never come near that edge and still want somewhere to think out loud.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Birmingham
Jewellery QuarterEdgbastonMoseleyErdingtonHandsworthDigbethBournvilleKings HeathSelly OakHarborneSutton Coldfield
Wherever you are in Birmingham, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Birmingham
Official figures for Birmingham, for context rather than as a description of you.
7.5 adults per 1,000 were in treatment at specialist drug-misuse services in 2020/21, above 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 10 per 100,000 in 2022 - 24, above the England average of 5.8 per 100,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Deaths from drug misuse (2022 - 24).
Reviewed June 2026.
What is substance use counselling, in practice?
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 does not change with the postcode, so rather than repeat it on every page you can read it in full, the methods and what each session covers, on substance use counselling in detail, alongside how I work and my BACP registration.
What do I need for 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.
There is no counselling room in this city, so the work happens by secure video from Hove. If you are still using, that matters in a practical way. You are not crossing town to be somewhere at a fixed hour, and you are not sitting in a waiting area feeling looked at. Sessions can be timed around a shift, a comedown or a rough week. Moving an appointment takes a message, not an explanation.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What can substance use counselling in Birmingham 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 Birmingham
Why people in Birmingham come for substance use counselling
This is drug-focused work, and it does not open with a demand that you stop. You can come while you are using, while you are unsure, while you are cutting down, or long after you have stopped, and the conversation still has somewhere useful to go. What gets looked at first is what the substance actually does for you: the sleep it buys, the ease in a room full of people, the flattening of something you would rather not feel. Then what it takes back. Birmingham holds more people in structured treatment than most places, with 7.5 adults per 1,000 in treatment at specialist drug-misuse services in 2020/21, above the England average of 4.5 per 1,000. The NHS 'find a service' directory lists the routes in, and Change Grow Live Birmingham is the local drug and alcohol service. Counselling is the slower thread running alongside those.
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 Birmingham
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. You can find your nearest free NHS-funded drug and alcohol service via the NHS “find a service” directory (search “Birmingham”).
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.
Birmingham questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Birmingham: common questions
Must I have stopped using before you would see me?
No. Nothing here is conditional on abstinence, and you will not be signed up to a goal you do not actually hold. Some people want to stop, some want to use less, some want to understand why it has ended up at the centre of things. All three are workable.
How much are sessions, and can I pay one at a time?
You can. Sessions are £80 / 60 min, paid singly, with no block booking and no contract to sign. Ninety minutes costs £100 / 90 min and two hours £120 / 120 min if a longer stretch suits you. That opening 15-minute consultation is free of charge.
Where does Change Grow Live Birmingham fit alongside counselling?
It is the local drug and alcohol service, and it does what counselling cannot: prescribing, structured treatment, needle exchange and physical health checks. The NHS 'find a service' directory is another way in. Using both together is ordinary, and nothing said here reaches them unless you take it there.
Is video honest enough for a conversation about drugs?
It tends to be more honest rather than less. People reach the difficult sentence sooner from their own room than from an unfamiliar building across town. You are also not managing a journey home afterwards, which matters on the weeks when an hour has stirred things up.
I am a student near the University of Birmingham. Could this reach my university record?
Nothing goes to your university, your GP or your family. Sessions are private and held under the BACP Ethical Framework, with the narrow legal exceptions around serious risk that bind every counsellor. Because there is no referral, there is no file for anybody to ask for later.
Will what I say about drug use stay private?
Yes. Sessions are confidential, and because they happen online you can join from wherever feels most private to you. There is no waiting room and no risk of being seen locally. Counselling is about understanding what is going on, not judging or reporting you.
How quickly can I begin substance use counselling in Birmingham?
Usually within a week or so. Substance use counselling for Birmingham is delivered online from the Hove room, so you are not waiting for a local slot. We start with a free 15-minute consultation to talk things over, then book your first session when it works for you.
How much is substance use counselling, and is it different from NHS drug services in Birmingham?
Fees are £80 for an hour, £100 for 90 minutes and £120 for two hours, after a free 15-minute consultation. NHS drug services across Birmingham are free but often stretched, whereas private sessions offer sooner appointments and continuity with the same counsellor throughout.
Would substance use counselling be online, and can it fit around work in Birmingham?
Yes, it is online, since the consulting room is in Hove and Birmingham is served by video. That means no journey from Handsworth, Selly Oak or the centre, and evening or early appointments can often be arranged around shift patterns and commutes.
Online Substance Use Counselling in Birmingham, 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 Midlands: Solihull, Coventry, Wolverhampton. See all of Midlands.
Also available in Birmingham: 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?.
Closer to the Sussex coast? The same substance use counselling is available in person, in Hove, where the room is, or see every area I cover.