Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Newcastle upon Tyne
Online Substance Use Counselling in Newcastle upon Tyne
Online substance use counselling for Newcastle upon Tyne, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Newcastle upon Tyne, from the Quayside and the centre to the streets around the bridges, 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 Newcastle upon Tyne
Substance Use Counselling for Newcastle upon Tyne, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Newcastle upon Tyne: from the Quayside and the centre to Jesmond, Heaton, Byker and Gosforth
- Known for
- The bridges, the Quayside and the two universities
- Region
- Yorkshire & North East (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- Newcastle Treatment and Recovery (NTaR), the city's NHS drug and alcohol service
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Newcastle upon Tyne
What brings people in Newcastle upon Tyne to counselling?
Drug use in Newcastle spans the whole city and looks nothing like the stereotype. The rate of deaths from drug misuse was 11.2 per 100,000 in 2022 - 24 against an England average of 5.8, and 6.6 adults per 1,000 were in treatment at specialist drug-misuse services in 2020/21 compared with 4.5 across England. Between those numbers sit ordinary weeks: cocaine folded into a Friday in the city centre, ketamine in a student house in Sandyford, cannabis every night in Byker to get any sleep at all, and prescribed medication in Fenham that stopped doing what it was prescribed for some time ago.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Newcastle upon Tyne
JesmondHeatonBykerGosforthOuseburnFenhamSandyfordBenwellWalkerKenton
Wherever you are in Newcastle upon Tyne, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Newcastle upon Tyne
Official figures for Newcastle upon Tyne, for context rather than as a description of you.
6.6 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 11.2 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 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.
The approach does not change with the postcode, so rather than repeat it on every page you can read it in full, the methods and what each session covers, on the substance use counselling page, alongside the practical side and professional standards and registration.
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 done by video, and Bradley holds no room anywhere on Tyneside. That removes the part people dread, which is being recognised walking into a building. You can talk from a bedroom in Heaton, a parked car, or a flat in Ouseburn between shifts. You do not have to be abstinent, sober on the day beyond being able to think, or ready to change. There is no testing and no attendance record kept. The first 15 minutes are free.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What can substance use counselling in Newcastle upon Tyne 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 Newcastle upon Tyne
Why people in Newcastle upon Tyne come for substance use counselling
Very few people arrive here having already decided. Most are somewhere in the middle: aware it has grown, unconvinced it is serious, tired of thinking about it. That middle is where counselling is genuinely useful. We look at what the drug does for you in the hour you take it, because until that is understood, stopping is just subtraction. For some it manufactures confidence in a city that expects you to be good company. For others it ends a day that will not end by itself, or holds down something older that has never had words. From there we can talk about risk, money and what a different pattern might realistically involve. Newcastle City Council's drugs and alcohol support and Newcastle Treatment and Recovery both provide free structured treatment. Withdrawal and prescribing are matters for a prescriber or your GP, and I stay out of them entirely.
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 Newcastle upon Tyne
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Newcastle upon Tyne, free local drug and alcohol support is available through Newcastle Treatment and Recovery (NTaR), the city's NHS drug and alcohol service.
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.
Newcastle upon Tyne questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Newcastle upon Tyne: common questions
Do I need to want to stop before I book?
Not at all. Wanting to understand it is enough to be going on with, and a good deal more honest than a resolution made to satisfy somebody else. Plenty of useful work happens with people who are undecided, and decisions reached that way tend to last.
Is anything shared with Newcastle City Council or my university?
Nothing. There is no shared record with the council, a treatment service, a university welfare team or your GP. The only limits on confidentiality involve serious risk to life or to a child, and I would discuss any such concern with you before acting on it.
Cocaine is just part of a weekend here - when does it stop being that?
Watch the edges rather than the night itself. Longer recovery days, a Tuesday mood that will not lift, spending you have stopped checking, plans chosen for who will have some. When the weekend starts shaping the week, it has become something worth examining.
What is the cost, and could I use the free service instead?
Counselling is £80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min or £120 / 120 min, paid as you go, and the initial 15-minute consultation is free. If a free option suits you better, Newcastle Treatment and Recovery takes self-referrals and costs nothing at all.
Can this run alongside treatment I am already having?
Yes, and combining them is common. The treatment service manages medication, testing and structure; the counselling deals with meaning, history and the returns of the urge. Neither needs to know the details of the other unless you choose to pass them on.
I'm a student at one of the universities here - can you help?
Yes. Online sessions carry on through term, placements and trips home, so a move between Newcastle and elsewhere doesn't interrupt things. I work privately, separate from the universities' own counselling services, which you're also free to use alongside this.
Is there substance use counselling available in Newcastle upon Tyne, and how quickly?
There is no consulting room in Newcastle upon Tyne, but I work right across the area by secure video from Hove. Whether you are near Jesmond or Heaton, we can arrange a free 15-minute call first and then a weekly time for substance use counselling, often within days of you getting in touch.
Is substance use counselling for Newcastle upon Tyne done online or face to face?
I do not offer face-to-face sessions in Newcastle upon Tyne; everything is by confidential video call. For substance use, that often helps, as you can speak openly from a private space rather than a waiting room. I keep a few evening slots alongside daytime ones, so working around the Newcastle Helix science and digital quarter is manageable.
Online Substance Use Counselling in Newcastle upon Tyne, 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 Yorkshire & North East: Sunderland, Gateshead, Durham. See all of Yorkshire & North East.
Close to this in Newcastle upon Tyne, there is 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.
For anyone near the coast, the same substance use counselling runs in person in Brighton. Every area covered is listed separately.