Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Bridgend
Online Substance Use Counselling in Bridgend
Online substance use counselling for Bridgend, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Bridgend, from the town centre and the Old Town to the streets around the old bridge, 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 Bridgend
Substance Use Counselling for Bridgend, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Bridgend: from the town centre and the Old Town to Brackla, Pencoed and Sarn
- Known for
- The old bridge, the river Ogmore and the coast nearby
- Region
- Wales
- Local NHS / support route
- DAN 24/7, the Wales Drug and Alcohol Helpline
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Bridgend
What is going on for people in Bridgend?
The three valleys behind Bridgend, Ogmore, Garw and Llynfi, run a long way north, and life in them can be quite separate from the town below. Drugs move through both. What starts on a Friday in Sarn or Cefn Glas has a way of creeping into a Tuesday, and then into the mornings, without any single moment where it obviously changed. Cocaine, cannabis, pills bought from somebody's cousin, tablets that were prescribed to someone else. Work that comes in bursts encourages it: something to keep you going through the shifts you took, something to bring you down when they finish. In the drug-misuse figures for 2022 to 2024 this area sat above the Wales average, and behind that number are ordinary households saying nothing.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Bridgend
BracklaPencoedSarnCefn GlasNewcastleOldcastleLitchardWildmillBroadlandsCoity
Wherever you are in Bridgend, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Bridgend
Official figures for Bridgend, for context rather than as a description of you.
In Bridgend the age-standardised drug-misuse death rate was 11.5 per 100,000 in 2022 to 2024, above the Wales average of 8.5 per 100,000. Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Deaths related to drug poisoning by local authority, England and Wales (drug misuse, Table 6) (2022 to 2024).
In Bridgend, 4.1% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, well below the Wales average of 6.9%. 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.
Because the work itself is the same wherever you live, the detail sits in one place rather than all of them: substance use counselling in detail sets out the methods, session lengths and fees covers the practicalities, and how to check my registration covers accountability.
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.
Bridgend sessions happen on video, since Hove is where Bradley actually sits. For substance use that removes two real obstacles. You are not travelling to a building on a day when you feel rough, and you are not walking past anyone you know on the way in. A laptop or a phone is enough. If the first appointment is easier with the camera facing the ceiling, we can begin like that and see how it goes.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What does substance use counselling 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 Bridgend
Why people in Bridgend come for substance use counselling
Nothing here depends on you being clean, or on you promising to be. Come using, come cutting down, come having no idea what you want. The starting point is your account of it, not a target somebody else has set. We spend time on the function of the drug in your life, because there is almost always a job it does: sleep, pain, boredom, the noise of a mind that will not sit still, a memory you would rather not meet unarmed. Once that is clear, choices about use become genuinely yours rather than a fight you keep losing. Practical and medical matters go elsewhere by design. Bridgend Substance Use Services is delivered by Barod, DASPA takes calls on 0300 333 0000, and the NHS find a service directory covers everything else. DAN 24/7 is available overnight on 0808 808 2234.
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 Bridgend
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Bridgend, your GP can refer you to local drug and alcohol services, and you can find support through DAN 24/7, the Wales Drug and Alcohol Helpline.
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 press 2 for urgent mental health support. The CALL Helpline for Wales is free on 0800 132 737, 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.
Bridgend questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Bridgend: common questions
I am still using every day. Will you see me anyway?
Yes. Daily use is a reason to talk to somebody, not a bar to it. What I would ask is that you are able to be present for the hour we have. If your use is heavy and physical, keep a doctor or the local service involved as well, because that side is theirs.
How much does a session cost?
The standard hour is £80. There is a 90-minute option at £100 and a two-hour one at £120 for people who prefer fewer, longer meetings. You can test all of it with the free 15-minute consultation first, which involves no commitment of any kind.
Who provides drug services in Bridgend on the NHS side?
Bridgend Substance Use Services is provided by Barod, and DASPA is the single point of access on 0300 333 0000. The NHS find a service directory will also list what is reachable from your postcode. None of them require you to stop seeing me.
I live up the Garw valley. Does the distance rule me out?
Not at all, and that is much of the point of working this way. There is no journey down to the town and no last bus to catch afterwards. As long as the connection holds, an appointment from a valley house runs exactly like any other.
Do you have to tell my employer or my GP about drug use?
No. I hold what you say in confidence, within the BACP Ethical Framework, and the exceptions are serious ones to do with safety rather than what is in your system. Contact with your GP happens only if you ask for it and give me your permission.
Do I need to have stopped before I contact you?
No. You are welcome exactly as you are, whether you want to stop, cut down or simply understand what is going on. The goals are yours to set, and we start from where you actually are, by secure video wherever you are near Bridgend.
How quickly can I begin substance use counselling in Bridgend?
Often the same week. After a free 15-minute consultation to check we fit, we arrange your first session. I work across Bridgend and its valleys by secure video, so how far you are from the town centre makes no difference and nothing holds up the start.
How do your substance use fees compare with local NHS help in Bridgend?
NHS drug support through Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board is free, and Dan 24/7 offers free all-Wales advice, though demand is high. Privately I charge £80 an hour, £100 for 90 minutes and £120 for two hours, with a free 15-minute consultation first.
What is online substance use counselling like for someone in Bridgend?
You join by secure video from a private room at home, whether in Cefn Glas, Coity or up the Garw valley, needing only a steady connection. Some evening appointments are available, so the drive down to Bridgend and any waiting room are taken out of it.
Online Substance Use Counselling in Bridgend, 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 Wales: Cardiff, Neath, Swansea. See all of Wales.
Also available in Bridgend: addiction counselling, counselling for drinking problems and anxiety counselling.
You may also find it useful to read 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.