Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Chester
Online Substance Use Counselling in Chester
Online substance use counselling for Chester, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Chester, from the Rows and the walls to the streets around the river Dee, 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 Chester
Substance Use Counselling for Chester, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Chester: from the Rows and the walls to Hoole, Boughton and Blacon
- Known for
- The city walls, the Rows and the river Dee
- Region
- North West (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- Cheshire West and Chester Council's drug and alcohol services
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Chester
What brings people in Chester to counselling?
Drug use in Chester is not the story the city tells about itself, which is precisely why it stays quiet. Cocaine moves easily through a hospitality trade that never really closes, students at the University of Chester bring their own habits and terms, and ketamine and pills turn up at house parties in Hoole and Newton like they do anywhere else. What is different is the expectation of respectability. In a city where appearances matter, a person who uses is far more likely to manage it alone than to be seen walking into a service. Fewer people here come forward than the national picture would predict, and that gap is not evidence that less is happening.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Chester
the city centre within the wallsHooleBoughtonBlaconHandbridgeNewtonUptonVicars Cross
Wherever you are in Chester, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Chester
Official figures for Chester, for context rather than as a description of you.
4.3 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 5 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 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.
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 everything on substance use counselling, alongside the practical side and how to check my 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 room in Chester. Bradley is in Hove and the sessions are online, which for drug use is the difference between considering help and actually getting some. Nobody in Hoole or Boughton sees you go anywhere. There is no building associated with it. You need a private hour, a device and a signal, and if the house is not private, a car works and so does a walk with headphones in.
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 Chester
Why people in Chester come for substance use counselling
This is drug-focused counselling, and it takes no position on whether you should have stopped by now. Chester's figures make an interesting case for that approach: 4.3 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, and the rate of deaths from drug misuse was 5 per 100,000 in 2022 - 24, below the England average of 5.8 per 100,000. Low engagement in a comfortable-looking city is not the same as low need. Coming here does not require an admission of failure, a target date or a promise. It requires a willingness to describe what you actually do and what it is for. Cheshire West and Chester Council's drug and alcohol services and New Beginnings handle the medical and structured side whenever you want it.
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 Chester
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Chester, free local drug and alcohol support is available through Cheshire West and Chester Council's drug and alcohol services.
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.
Chester questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Chester: common questions
Do I have to be clean to start?
No. You can be using the day of the session and it will not end the conversation. Requiring abstinence up front tends to select for people who are already nearly there, which leaves everyone else with nowhere to go. Honesty is the only real requirement.
Would going to New Beginnings show up anywhere?
It is confidential health care, reached through Cheshire West and Chester Council's drug and alcohol services. It is not a police referral and it does not appear on any public list. If you would rather begin with private counselling and consider that later, nothing is lost by taking it in that order.
How much are sessions and is there a discount for booking several?
Fees come to £80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min and £120 / 120 min, with a free 15-minute consultation first. There are no block discounts, because block booking tends to keep people coming out of obligation. You pay for the sessions you actually want.
I work in a bar in the city centre where using is normal. How do I talk about that?
Plainly, and without having to defend the trade you work in. Late finishes, cash in hand and a culture where something to keep you going is unremarkable make it very hard to see your own pattern. The work separates what is the job from what has become yours.
Can I use counselling instead of a formal treatment programme?
Sometimes, and sometimes not. If there is physical dependence involved, medical assessment comes first and counselling supports it rather than replacing it. Where use is heavy but not dependent, talking work on its own can be enough. Bradley will be honest with you about which of those seems to apply.
I move in small social circles here. Will this stay private?
Yes. Because we meet online, there's no waiting room and no chance of being seen locally. Everything you share is confidential. In a compact, sociable city like Chester, that discretion is often exactly why people choose online counselling in the first place.
How quickly can substance use counselling begin online in Chester?
Usually within a week of a free 15-minute consultation, once we have checked we are a good fit. Everything runs online from my Hove base, so whether you are in Boughton, Blacon, Upton or Vicars Cross, there is nothing to travel to first.
Is substance use counselling free on the NHS in Chester, or do you charge?
Chester has free NHS drug and alcohol services, which can carry a wait. I am independent, with clear fees: a free 15-minute consultation, then £80 for an hour, £100 for 90 minutes and £120 for two hours.
Do you also see people just over the Welsh border, online in the evening?
Yes. Chester sits right on the border, and online it makes no difference whether you are in the city, in Saltney or over into Flintshire. My room is in Hove; sessions are by video or phone, with evening slots usually available.
Online Substance Use Counselling in Chester, 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 North West: Warrington, Liverpool, Crewe. See all of North West.
Close to this in Chester, there is addiction counselling, counselling for drinking problems and anxiety counselling.
If you would like to read more first, I have written about 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.