Online Substance Use Counselling · Crawley

Online Substance Use Counselling in Crawley

Online substance use counselling for Crawley, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Crawley, from across the neighbourhoods, Three Bridges and Pound Hill to the streets around Tilgate Park, with the same BACP-registered, confidential support as an in-person session, and no journey.

Online across the UKSecure videoFree 15-min consultation
BACP registered member25+ years of experienceLived experience
Bradley Riddell, BACP-registered counsellor offering online substance use counselling for Crawley, introducing his approach
ConfidentialA safe, private space
Person-centredThe therapy fits you

In and around Crawley

Substance Use Counselling for Crawley, at a glance

Areas covered online
All of Crawley: across the neighbourhoods, from Three Bridges and Pound Hill to Bewbush, Ifield and Tilgate
Known for
Tilgate Park, the High Street and nearby Gatwick
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 Crawley

Why do people in Crawley reach out?

A shift economy and drugs have an old relationship, and Crawley has more shift work than most towns its size. Something to stay sharp through a night at Gatwick Airport, something to come down afterwards, something on the days off that are not really days off because your body is still on the wrong clock. It rarely begins as a problem. It begins as a solution to a rota. Around Three Bridges, Ifield and Gossops Green there are plenty of households where one person sleeps while another works, which means use can carry on a long time without a witness, and where being wrecked files easily under being tired.

Gatwick Airportthe Manor Royal business districtthe aviation and logistics sector

Areas covered

Neighbourhoods in and around Crawley

Three BridgesPound HillBewbushIfieldTilgateSouthgateBroadfieldMaidenbowerGossops GreenFurnace Green

Wherever you are in Crawley, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.

The local picture

The local picture in Crawley

Official figures for Crawley, for context rather than as a description of you.

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.

Rather than say the same thing on every page, the substance lives on the substance use counselling page, with how I work, sessions and fees for the practical questions and my credentials and registration for registration and ethics.

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.

Everything for Crawley happens by secure video from Hove. Where drugs are concerned, that avoids the part most people never get past: walking into a named service in a town where the airport employs half the people you know. Nobody sees you arrive because there is nowhere to arrive at. The session goes wherever you are, which for shift workers often means a car in a quiet corner before the rota starts rather than a bedroom at home.

Book a free 15-minute call

What I help with

What sort of things do people bring?

Drugs and substances

Confidential support for any kind of substance use.

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 Crawley

Why people in Crawley come for substance use counselling

There is no expectation that you have stopped and none that you intend to. Insisting on it first is the fastest way to hear a polished account of the week. The useful questions are plainer. What does the drug do for you, which part of the week would fall over without it, what has it already taken, and what would have to be in place before you needed less of it. Cocaine, cannabis, ketamine, stimulants used to survive a night shift and tablets that outstayed their prescription all get the same even hearing. None of this is medical work. For prescribing, testing and harm reduction the route is West Sussex County Council's drug and alcohol support, which Change Grow Live delivers locally. The rate of deaths from drug misuse locally was 3.9 per 100,000 across 2022 - 24, below the England average of 5.8.

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 call

Drug, alcohol & addiction support in Crawley

My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Crawley, 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.

Crawley questions

Online Substance Use Counselling in Crawley: common questions

Do I have to stop before anyone will see me?

No. Coming while you are still using is normal and entirely expected. The free 15-minute conversation asks nothing of you beyond turning up to it. If you want to carry on afterwards, a weekly slot is usually there within a week or two, rota permitting.

Is this affordable on shift pay?

The rate is £80 an hour, £100 for 90 minutes and £120 for two, paid as you go. Some people come weekly at first and drop to fortnightly, which halves the monthly outlay without stopping altogether. Raise money in the free 15-minute call rather than ruling it out silently.

What can Change Grow Live do that counselling cannot?

It delivers West Sussex County Council's drug and alcohol support, so prescribing, supervised treatment, testing and harm-reduction supplies all sit there, free of charge. Bradley is a counsellor and not a doctor, and does none of that. Using the statutory service and counselling together is completely ordinary.

Can I take a session from a car park before a shift?

People do it regularly. Headphones, a parked car and an hour is enough, and the camera can stay off throughout. The session does not care where you are as long as you can talk freely. It is often easier than finding a quiet hour in a full house.

I only use to get through nights. Does that make it different?

It makes it understandable rather than harmless. Using to survive a rota tends to grow along with the rota, and the days off end up organised around recovering from both. Whether it is still under control is the question, and it is far easier to answer with somebody else present.

I use something just to cope with switching between day and night shifts. Is that a problem?

It might be worth exploring. Substances used to manage a broken sleep pattern can quietly become something you depend on. There is no judgement here; we simply look at what it does for you and, if you want, find steadier ways to handle the shift life.

Can I get online substance use counselling in Crawley without a long wait?

Generally yes. A free 15-minute consultation comes first, then a regular time, often within a week. There is no clinic to reach and no referral queue, so you can join securely from home in Bewbush, Tilgate or Pound Hill, fitted around unsociable aviation hours.

Is substance use counselling free on the NHS in Crawley?

There are free routes: your GP can refer you, West Sussex's drug and alcohol service takes self-referrals, and FRANK gives 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 first.

With job insecurity around aviation, is online steadier for Crawley?

It can be, since a regular online session holds a dependable thread through the low hum of worry that comes with an uncertain industry, reaching you at home around any shift pattern. Evenings and nights off both work. In-person meetings are possible in Hove, a quick run down to the coast.

Online Substance Use Counselling in Crawley, 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: Horsham, Chichester. See all of London & South East.

Close to this in Crawley, there is addiction counselling, counselling for drinking problems and anxiety counselling.

Some further reading, if that helps before getting in touch: once an addict, always an addict? and three ways to handle a craving.

Within reach of Sussex? substance use counselling is offered in the room in Hove, where the room is as well as online; see the full list of areas.