Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Inverness
Online Substance Use Counselling in Inverness
Online substance use counselling for Inverness, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Inverness, from the centre and the castle to the streets around the river Ness, 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 Inverness
Substance Use Counselling for Inverness, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Inverness: from the centre and the castle to Crown, Hilton and Inshes
- Known for
- The castle, the river Ness and the Highlands beyond
- Region
- Scotland
- Local NHS / support route
- NHS inform's drugs and drug use pages
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Inverness
Why people in Inverness get in touch
Drug use in the Highlands is quieter than in the cities and considerably harder to talk about. There is no anonymity in a village, and a car parked outside a service in Inverness can be recognised by somebody from home. So people manage it alone, often for years, and the distance from any specialist makes that seem like the only realistic option. Students at the University of the Highlands and Islands use in the way students do everywhere; men working seasonal contracts use to get through a run of long days. What both share is that they are further from help than almost anyone in the central belt.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Inverness
CrownHiltonInshesMerkinchDalneighCullodenSmithtonRaigmoreWesthill
Wherever you are in Inverness, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Inverness
Official figures for Inverness, for context rather than as a description of you.
the age-standardised drug-misuse death rate in the Highland council area averaged 14.6 per 100,000 over 2020-2024, well below the Scotland average of 22.5 Source: National Records of Scotland, Drug-related deaths in Scotland 2024 (Table C4) (2020-2024).
In Highland, the council area covering Inverness, 3.0% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, well below the Scotland average of 6.1%. Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Personal well-being estimates by local authority (Year ending March 2023 (2022-23)).
Reviewed June 2026.
What actually happens 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.
Rather than say the same thing on every page, the substance lives on the main substance use counselling page, with session lengths and fees for the practical questions and professional standards and registration for registration and ethics.
How do online sessions actually work?
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 is by secure video, since Bradley is in Hove and there is no room in Inverness for anyone to walk into. That solves both problems at once: the distance and the being seen. You can start while still using, with no plan and no promises. Sessions fit around shifts, term time or a long drive you no longer have to make. That first 15-minute consultation is free of charge.
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 Inverness
Why people in Inverness come for substance use counselling
There is no requirement to be clean before this begins, and no interest here in extracting a confession. We work through the pattern as it actually is: what you use, at what points in a week, what it does for you, and what happens when it is not available. Drug-misuse deaths in the Highland council area averaged 14.6 per 100,000 across 2020-2024, well under the Scotland average of 22.5, which reflects a rural population rather than any individual's safety. Isolation is its own risk factor, and being far from services is a practical danger worth naming. Counselling is talking work, not medical treatment, and nothing is prescribed here. The NHS 'find a service' directory lists drug treatment, your GP is the route to clinical care, and Mikeysline supports people across the Highlands.
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 Inverness
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Inverness, your GP can refer you to local drug and alcohol services, and you can find support through NHS inform's drugs and drug use pages.
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 24 on 111 for urgent mental health support. Breathing Space is free on 0800 83 85 87, 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.
Inverness questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Inverness: common questions
I live an hour from Inverness. Is any of this realistic for me?
More realistic than in-person work would be. The whole appointment happens where you are, so the hour is the hour rather than the middle of half a day. Rural clients are a large part of why this counsellor works online in the first place.
How much is it and can I pay each time?
Yes, each time: £80 for an hour, £100 for ninety minutes, £120 for two hours. Nothing is prepaid and there is no minimum number of sessions. Before any of that you can have a free 15-minute conversation to work out whether it is worth your money.
What is the NHS route for drugs in the Highlands?
Your GP is the usual starting point and can refer you on, and the NHS 'find a service' directory lists drug and alcohol treatment services. Mikeysline offers Highland mental health support, and Breathing Space Scotland answers free on 0800 83 85 87 in the evening and overnight.
Everyone knows everyone in my village. Will anybody find out?
Not through this. There is no local building, no receptionist and no appointment letter arriving at a house where the postie knows you. That level of privacy is difficult to get anywhere rural, and it is one of the genuine advantages of working by video.
Does the isolation make my use worse?
It often does, in two directions. Fewer people notice, so nothing interrupts the pattern, and there is less to do with the hours the drug is filling. Naming that changes the question from willpower to what would realistically occupy an evening instead.
In a small Highland community, will anyone find out?
That worry is very understandable here. Working by secure video means there is no local service to be seen entering and no waiting room to sit in. Sessions happen privately from your own home, wherever you are in the Highlands, entirely confidentially.
I live outside Inverness in the Highlands, how soon can substance use counselling start online?
Usually within days of a free 15-minute consultation. As long as you have a phone or internet connection and somewhere private, secure video reaches you wherever you are in the Highlands, far more easily than a long drive into Inverness for an appointment.
How much does substance use counselling cost compared with Highland NHS services?
Fees are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free 15-minute consultation. NHS Highland support is free but thinly spread across a huge region with real waits; private sessions carry a fee and can begin promptly.
How are online substance use sessions delivered for people around Inverness?
Through secure, confidential video from home, whether in the city or miles out in Wester Ross or the far north. Evening slots are available, and there is no long journey to a specialist, which removes the distance that makes in-person help so hard to reach here.
Online Substance Use Counselling in Inverness, 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 Scotland: Aberdeen, Perth. See all of Scotland.
People who come for substance use counselling in Inverness often also look at addiction counselling, counselling for drinking problems and anxiety counselling.
If you would like to read more first, I have written about 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 Brighton as well as online; see the full list of areas.