Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Derry
Online Substance Use Counselling in Derry
Online substance use counselling for Derry, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Derry, from within the walls and the centre to the streets around the Peace 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 Derry
Substance Use Counselling for Derry, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Derry: from within the walls and the centre to the Bogside, the Waterside and Creggan
- Known for
- The city walls, the Peace Bridge and the river Foyle
- Region
- Northern Ireland
- Local NHS / support route
- ASCERT, which supports people across Northern Ireland with drug and alcohol use
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Derry
Why people in Derry get in touch
Drug use in Derry does not confine itself to one part of the city. There are tablets that began with a prescription and never stopped, cocaine at the weekend in the bars around the Diamond, and steadier use in Creggan, Shantallow and Ballymagroarty where hardship has been the constant for decades. Much of it is self-medication in the plainest sense, something to quiet a nervous system that grew up braced for trouble. Students at the Magee campus have their own version of it. Very little gets said out loud in a city where word travels fast and families have known each other for years.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Derry
BogsideWatersideCregganBishop StreetRosemountCulmoreShantallowthe DiamondBallymagroarty
Wherever you are in Derry, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Derry
Official figures for Derry, for context rather than as a description of you.
There were 14 drug-related deaths registered in the Derry City and Strabane council area in 2023, out of 169 across Northern Ireland (NI age-standardised rate 9.1 per 100,000). Source: NISRA - Drug-related and drug misuse deaths in Northern Ireland, 2023 (2023).
In Derry City and Strabane, 7.7% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, compared with a Northern Ireland average of 5.2%, a difference the survey's margin of error does not confirm. Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Personal well-being estimates by local authority (Year ending March 2023 (2022-23)).
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.
What actually happens in the room is the same everywhere, so it is written up once: see everything on substance use counselling for the methods, session lengths and fees for fees and session lengths, and my credentials and registration if you want to check who you would be working with.
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.
Because everything is online by secure video from Hove, no part of this needs you to be seen at a door anywhere in the city. That counts for a great deal here, where genuine privacy is hard to come by. There is no reception and nothing to sign. The hour can be taken at home on either bank of the river, by telephone rather than video if that suits you better, and moved when a week has not gone to plan.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What can substance use counselling in Derry 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 Derry
Why people in Derry come for substance use counselling
Stopping is not the entry requirement. If it were, most of the people who need this hour would never book it, and those who did would arrive with a version of themselves prepared in advance. The starting point is instead whatever is true: what you take, what it does for you, what it has cost, and what has already been tried and failed. Beneath that there is frequently something older. In a city carrying so much inherited weight from its past, a lot of use is an attempt to turn down a system that has been on alert since childhood, sometimes since before that. Of the 169 drug-related deaths registered across Northern Ireland in 2023, 14 fell in the Derry City and Strabane council area. Anything medical goes through your GP and Health and Social Care, ASCERT holds the drug and alcohol side, and Lifeline is free on 0808 808 8000.
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 Derry
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Derry, your GP can refer you to local drug and alcohol services, and you can find support through ASCERT, which supports people across Northern Ireland with drug and alcohol use.
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 Lifeline free on 0808 808 8000. Lifeline is free on 0808 808 8000, 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.
Derry questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Derry: common questions
Am I going to be judged for what I use?
No, and not as a matter of politeness either. Judgement makes people edit what they say, and edited information produces useless work. What you use, how often and what it does for you are treated as facts to understand rather than as evidence of some failing on your part.
What does an appointment cost?
An hour of counselling is £80, with £100 for ninety minutes and £120 for a two-hour session. The consultation that comes first lasts 15 minutes and costs nothing. Fees are unchanged by what you are using or how long it has been going on, and no deposit is asked for in advance.
What is the statutory drug route in Northern Ireland?
Your GP refers into Health and Social Care, which handles medical treatment and prescribing, and ASCERT can be approached directly for drug and alcohol support anywhere in Northern Ireland. Altnagelvin Area Hospital deals with emergencies. Counselling never prescribes and never manages withdrawal; it works alongside those.
Some of what I take is prescribed and some is not. Where does that leave me?
In a very common position, and one worth untangling carefully. The prescribed and unprescribed halves usually serve overlapping purposes. Any change to a prescription has to be discussed with the GP who wrote it, while the reasons underneath both can be worked with here.
I am studying at Magee and it has got out of hand this year. Can I still work?
Very often, yes. Studying alongside heavy use is exhausting rather than impossible, and sessions can be arranged around lectures and deadlines. Nothing is reported to a university, and the work usually gives you back some of the concentration the use has been quietly taking.
I do not want people knowing my business. Is this confidential?
Completely. Sessions are held privately by secure video from your own home, with no local service to be seen entering. Working across Northern Ireland from a Hove base, the counsellor keeps everything confidential, which many in Derry value in a close-knit city.
How quickly can substance use counselling begin in Derry?
Often within a few days. A free 15-minute call helps us see whether this is a good fit, then we arrange your first session soon after. It is all online by secure video, so the distance from Belfast makes no difference to how quickly you can start in Derry.
Is substance use support free on the NHS in Derry, and what do you charge?
NHS drug services in the city sit within the Western Trust and cost nothing, though access can take time. My fees are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 minutes and £120 for two hours, with a free 15-minute consultation first and no wait before you begin.
Are evening online substance use sessions available for Derry?
Yes. An evening slot can be easier than travelling anywhere after work in the north-west. Sessions are held by secure video from home, whether in Creggan, Rosemount or the Waterside, so you need only a quiet room and a reliable connection to take part.
Online Substance Use Counselling in Derry, 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 Northern Ireland: Lisburn, Craigavon. See all of Northern Ireland.
Close to this in Derry, there is addiction counselling, counselling for drinking problems and anxiety counselling.
There is more on this in my writing: once an addict, always an addict? and three ways to handle a craving.
If you can reach the south coast, this work is also done face to face in Brighton — all in-person areas are listed here.