Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Chichester
Online Substance Use Counselling in Chichester
Online substance use counselling for Chichester, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Chichester, from the cathedral quarter and the city centre to the streets around the Market Cross, 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 Chichester
Substance Use Counselling for Chichester, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Chichester: from the cathedral quarter and the city centre to Summersdale, Whyke and nearby Bognor
- Known for
- The cathedral, the Market Cross and the harbour
- Region
- London & South East (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- West Sussex County Council's drug and alcohol support
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Chichester
What is going on for people in Chichester?
Drug use around Chichester does not look the way the word suggests. It looks like somebody self-employed who has used cocaine at the end of the working week for a decade, or somebody in their fifties in Fishbourne with tablets that were prescribed for a real problem and then outlasted it. There is student use through the University of Chichester, and there is the seasonal, late-finishing world around Chichester Festival Theatre and the harbour. What ties those together is discretion. In a city where appearances are currency, what keeps use hidden is not the supply but the fear of becoming the person it gets discovered about.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Chichester
SummersdaleWhykeFishbourneParklandsPortfieldGraylingwellDonningtonFishbourne Road
Wherever you are in Chichester, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Chichester
Official figures for Chichester, for context rather than as a description of you.
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 3.9 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 would we do together 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 method travels; only the geography changes. the main substance use counselling page explains it properly, how I work answers the practical questions, and my BACP registration shows how the practice is held to account.
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.
All Chichester work is delivered online from Hove, and where drugs are concerned that removes the step people stall on. Nobody watches you park, nobody watches you go in, and there is no risk of sitting opposite somebody you know. A phone or laptop and a door that shuts is the whole requirement. Because there is no journey at either end, the hour can go into a lunch break, a gap between jobs, or the end of the day.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
Which difficulties does substance use counselling address?
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 Chichester
Why people in Chichester come for substance use counselling
You are not asked to have stopped, and you are not asked to promise that you will. That is not a soft option; it is the only way an accurate conversation happens at all. Told that quitting is the condition of entry, most people present a cleaner version of the week and nothing changes. So the work goes elsewhere. What does the substance actually do for you, which part of the day does it hold together, what has it begun to take, and what would need to exist before less of it felt possible. There is no medical element here. West Sussex County Council's drug and alcohol support, delivered by Change Grow Live, is the route for prescribing, testing and harm reduction. Around here 3 adults per 1,000 were in specialist drug-misuse treatment in 2020/21, against 4.5 per 1,000 across England, which describes how many reach a service rather than how many use.
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 Chichester
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Chichester, free local drug and alcohol support is available through West Sussex County Council's drug and alcohol support.
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.
Chichester questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Chichester: common questions
Can I get in touch if I am not ready to change anything?
Yes, and that is a common place to begin from. Curiosity is enough on its own. The free 15-minute call involves no assessment and no obligation, and if you want to book afterwards a weekly time is usually free within a week or two of it.
Is there a discount for booking several sessions at once?
No, and deliberately so, because nothing is sold in blocks here. Each hour is £80, 90 minutes is £100, two hours is £120, and you pay for what you actually use. You can stop after two sessions with nothing owed and nothing forfeited.
What does Change Grow Live provide in West Sussex?
It delivers West Sussex County Council's drug and alcohol support, the free statutory service covering the county. Prescribing, supervised treatment, testing and harm reduction all sit there. Counselling does none of that. Running the two side by side is common and they do not get in each other's way.
Where do people actually take these sessions?
Bedrooms, kitchens, parked cars, a workshop with the door shut, occasionally a bench with headphones in. Nobody needs to see where you are and the camera is optional throughout. The only real requirement is an hour in which you will not be interrupted or overheard.
I have used at weekends for years and nothing has gone wrong. Why now?
That deserves an honest answer rather than a dismissal. Long, stable use is genuinely different from chaotic use, and it is also the kind that changes slowly enough to miss entirely. If something prompted you to look this up, that prompt is usually the part worth examining.
I value my independence and don't like asking for help. Will counselling feel like handing over control?
No. You stay in charge throughout; nothing is decided for you. We explore what the substance does for you and what, if anything, you want to change, at your own pace. For many independent-minded people in Chichester, that sense of control is what makes it workable.
Can I get online substance use counselling quickly in Chichester?
Generally yes. A free 15-minute consultation comes first, then a regular time, often within a week. There is no journey across the county to a clinic and no referral queue, so you can join securely from home in the city centre, Fishbourne or out towards Bognor.
Is substance use counselling free on the NHS in Chichester?
There are free routes: your GP can refer you, West Sussex's drug and alcohol service takes self-referrals, and FRANK offers confidential national advice online or by phone. This counselling is private, at £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, with a free consultation.
I am self-employed near Chichester. Can sessions flex around my own hours?
Yes. Being online, sessions fit around a self-employed diary and the times that suit you, with no travel across the county to arrange. That flexibility helps in a calm, comfortable place where difficulty is hard to voice. In-person meetings are possible in Hove, further along the coast, if you prefer.
Online Substance Use Counselling in Chichester, 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 London & South East: Portsmouth, Crawley, Horsham. See all of London & South East.
Close to this in Chichester, there is 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?.
If you can reach the south coast, this work is also done face to face in Brighton — all in-person areas are listed here.