Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Derby
Online Substance Use Counselling in Derby
Online substance use counselling for Derby, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Derby, from the Cathedral Quarter and the centre to the streets around the Silk Mill, 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 Derby
Substance Use Counselling for Derby, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Derby: from the Cathedral Quarter and the centre to Littleover, Mickleover and Allenton
- Known for
- The cathedral, the Silk Mill and the river Derwent
- Region
- Midlands (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- Derby City Council's drugs advice and support
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Derby
What is going on for people in Derby?
Drug use in Derby is quieter than the word tends to suggest. It is cocaine that began as a Friday thing among people who work hard all week, cannabis that took over the evenings in Alvaston or Sinfin, tablets bought online to get some sleep between rotating shifts. This city's economy asks a great deal of bodies and clocks, and something that reliably switches you on or off has an obvious appeal. Deaths from drug misuse ran at 7.7 per 100,000 across 2022 to 2024, above the England average of 5.8 per 100,000. That is the sharp end of it. Far more common is somebody functioning, employed, and increasingly aware of how much of the week is arranged around one thing.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Derby
Cathedral QuarterLittleoverMickleoverAllentonChaddesdenAlvastonNormantonSpondonOakwoodSinfin
Wherever you are in Derby, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Derby
Official figures for Derby, for context rather than as a description of you.
7 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 7.7 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 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 substance use counselling page explains it properly, the practical side 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.
There is no room in Derby, so the hour is taken by secure video from Hove instead. That is worth something quite specific where drugs are involved: you are not identified by a building you walk into, and nobody you know is sitting in the same waiting area. Slots can be fitted to a rota, or moved when a week collapses. What you need is somewhere with a shut door, and headphones if the house is busy.
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 Derby
Why people in Derby come for substance use counselling
Nothing here opens with a demand for abstinence. You can be using daily, using occasionally, trying to cut down, or already stopped and finding the aftermath harder than you expected. The conversation begins from what the substance is genuinely good for in your life, because until that is on the table the rest makes no sense. Then the cost side gets exactly the same honesty. Derby already has a high number of people inside the system: 7 adults per 1,000 were in treatment at specialist drug-misuse services in 2020/21, against an England average of 4.5 per 1,000. Derby City Council's drugs advice and support opens the door to the Derby Drug and Alcohol Recovery Service for prescribing and structured treatment. This work is the other half of it, the part about why the substance became necessary and what would have to shift.
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 Derby
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Derby, free local drug and alcohol support is available through Derby City Council's drugs advice and 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.
Derby questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Derby: common questions
Do I need to be clean before I book?
Not at all. Coming while you are still using is normal and not held against you, provided you can hold a conversation at the time. What would not work is an hour you cannot remember afterwards, so the timing is worth thinking about together at the start.
What do sessions cost?
The usual hour is £80 / 60 min. Where a longer stretch helps, ninety minutes is £100 / 90 min and two hours is £120 / 120 min. Nothing at all is charged for the first 15-minute consultation, and there is no package to buy in advance of starting.
What can the Derby Drug and Alcohol Recovery Service do that this cannot?
Prescribing, medical assessment, supervised treatment, testing and group programmes. Derby City Council's drugs advice and support is how you reach it. Counselling handles none of those things and makes no pretence of doing so. It deals with the reasons, the patterns, and what sits behind them.
I work at Toyota at Burnaston and my rota changes. Is a fixed weekly slot essential?
A regular time helps, though it is not a condition of the work. Where a rota moves in a predictable pattern, appointments can move along with it. Nothing needs planning around travel, which is what makes a changing schedule workable rather than exhausting.
My family believe I have stopped. Where does that leave these sessions?
It leaves them as one of the few places where you do not have to keep the story straight. Nothing said in the hour goes back to anybody. Whether and when to tell your family the truth is a separate decision, and it stays yours, at a pace you set.
Do you have a room in Derby for substance use sessions?
No, the consulting room is in Hove, so Derby is served online. For people working long or rotating shifts across the city's engineering firms, meeting by video from home often proves easier than travelling. You need only a private space and a reliable connection.
How quickly can I begin substance use counselling in Derby?
Usually within a week. Substance use counselling for Derby is delivered online from Hove, so you avoid a local queue. A free 15-minute consultation comes first, then your first session is booked around your pattern, whether you work days, nights or rotating shifts.
What does substance use counselling cost against NHS drug services in Derby?
Fees are £80 an hour, £100 for 90 minutes and £120 for two hours, with a free 15-minute consultation first. Derby's NHS drug services are free but often stretched, whereas private sessions offer earlier appointments and continuity with the same counsellor throughout.
Is substance use counselling online, and can it fit shift work in Derby?
Yes. The consulting room is in Hove and Derby is served by video, so there is no travel from Littleover or Spondon. Appointments can often be set outside standard hours, which tends to suit people on rotas at the big plants across the city.
Online Substance Use Counselling in Derby, 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: Nottingham, Leicester, Stoke-on-Trent. See all of Midlands.
People who come for substance use counselling in Derby often also look at addiction counselling, counselling for drinking problems and anxiety counselling.
You may also find it useful to read about calming a craving as it rises and once an addict, always an addict?.
For anyone near the coast, the same substance use counselling runs in person in Brighton. Every area covered is listed separately.