Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Hastings
Online substance use counselling for Hastings, by secure video, wherever you are. Reaching out can feel like a leap, so online substance use counselling keeps it gentle: a free first call, then sessions from your own space in Hastings, with no waiting room and nobody to see you arrive.
Known for the Old Town, the fishing beach and the cliffs, Hastings is a place of real character, with clients coming to me from from the Old Town and the Stade to St Leonards, Ore and Silverhill. Wherever you are across it, online counselling means experienced support without the travel, fitted around work, family and everything else.
I'm based in Hove on the Sussex coast and work with clients right across the UK by secure video. For Hastings, that means a BACP-registered counsellor specialising in addiction, anxiety, depression, relationships and trauma, available from the privacy of your own space.
I also work online with people elsewhere in London & South East, including Eastbourne, London, Reading.
If you would still prefer to meet in person and can travel to the Sussex coast, you are welcome to, but for most clients in Hastings online substance use counselling is the natural and effective choice.
Life in Hastings
Hastings is a town of real character and real contrasts, a creative, independent place that also carries some of the sharpest deprivation on the south coast. Seasonal and insecure work, the distance from larger centres, and the long winters once the visitors have gone can all weigh on people, and good local support is not always easy to find.
Life by the sea has a slower, gentler rhythm, but it can also leave you feeling a long way from things, including good specialist support. A secure video link closes that distance completely.
What I help with
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Letting go of the protective self that no longer serves you.
One-to-one sessions shaped entirely around you.
Rediscovering the authentic self beneath the coping.
Treating what the substance has been masking.
Growing into recovery rather than forcing it.
Why online works in Hastings
Living on the coast often means the nearest specialist is a long way off. Online sessions close that distance entirely.
Working online means people in Hastings aren't limited to whoever practises locally. You can choose the counsellor who genuinely fits the issue you're facing, not just the nearest one.
A weekly session you can take from home is far simpler to protect than one that needs travel. That consistency is exactly where lasting change comes from.
Sessions run on a secure, encrypted video link, and everything is held to the same strict BACP confidentiality as work done in person.
Beyond the practicalities, this is the heart of how the work goes. My approach is integrative and humanistic, starting from a simple premise: you are the expert on yourself. With support you can find yourself again, without the anaesthetic, working at a pace that always protects your sense of safety.
Sessions run over a secure video link. All you need is a private space where you won't be interrupted, a laptop, tablet or phone, and a reasonable connection. We begin with a free fifteen-minute call, then I send a simple link you click at the agreed time.
Read more about online counselling, about substance use counselling, or about my methods, sessions and fees.
Start the conversationMy online counselling sits alongside the help available locally, and it can be worth knowing what else is there. In Hastings, you can refer yourself directly to Health in Mind, the East Sussex NHS Talking Therapies service for free NHS talking therapy, with no GP referral needed. You can also find your nearest service through the NHS Talking Therapies finder.
Private sessions with me usually mean you can start sooner, stay with the same counsellor throughout, and work at greater depth and pace; the two can run side by side, and I'm glad to work alongside any NHS or GP support you already have.
This practice is not a crisis service. If you or someone else 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.
Hastings questions
Absolutely. Hastings is well within reach, because we meet by secure video rather than in person. You'll get exactly the same specialist support as someone sitting in my Hove room.
Very little: a private space where you won't be interrupted, a laptop, tablet or phone, and a reasonable internet connection. After a free fifteen-minute call, I send a secure link you click at our agreed time.
For most people, yes. Online therapy can be just as effective as meeting face to face, and many find it easier to open up from home. Everything is held with the same strict confidentiality as in-person work.
Yes. Sessions run on a secure, encrypted video link, and everything we discuss is held to the same strict BACP confidentiality as work done in person. All you need at your end is a private space.
When you're ready, book a free fifteen-minute call. It costs nothing, commits you to nothing, and is the simplest way to find out if I'm the right counsellor for you in Hastings.
Prefer to meet face to face? See counselling across Brighton, Hove & Sussex, or read more about how online counselling works and about substance use counselling in depth.