Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Newry
Online Substance Use Counselling in Newry
Online substance use counselling for Newry, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Newry, from the city centre and the canal to the streets around the cathedral, 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 Newry
Substance Use Counselling for Newry, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Newry: from the city centre and the canal to Bessbrook, Meadow and the Fathom
- Known for
- The cathedral, the Newry canal and the Mourne mountains nearby
- 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 Newry
What brings people in Newry to counselling?
Drug use in and around Newry is spread thin and kept quiet. There is weekend use in the city, tablets moving between people in the villages, and longer-standing use in households where money has been tight for a generation. Distance does its own work here, because when the nearest anything involves a drive, the easiest option is to do nothing. The cathedral, the Newry Canal and the shopping centres carry the daylight version of the place while a fair amount goes on privately after it. Around Bessbrook, Carnagat or Ballybot the usual account is not drama at all, but a life quietly organised around one arrangement.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Newry
BessbrookBallybotDerrybegMeadowFathomDrumalaneCarnagatBarcroft
Wherever you are in Newry, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Newry
Official figures for Newry, for context rather than as a description of you.
There were 9 drug-related deaths registered in the Newry, Mourne and Down 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 Newry, Mourne and Down, 6.3% 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 is substance use counselling, in practice?
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 main substance use counselling page explains it properly, how I work answers the practical questions, and professional standards and 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.
All sessions run online by secure video from Hove. In a border city with countryside behind it, that answers both the travel and the exposure: no waiting area, no recognised car outside a building, no half-day given up to reach somebody. The telephone works as well as video where the connection is unreliable out in the townlands. Times are arranged around shift work, commuting or the school run, and can be shifted when a week comes apart.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What can substance use counselling in Newry 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 Newry
Why people in Newry come for substance use counselling
There is no requirement to have stopped and no expectation that you will announce a plan in the first hour. Being met without judgement is not a courtesy in this work; it is the only condition under which accurate information ever gets said out loud. So we begin with the plain facts, then move to the harder question of what the drug does that nothing else currently does for you. Sleep, nerves, pain, the memory of something never discussed at home: those tend to be the real subject. Of the 169 drug-related deaths registered across Northern Ireland during 2023, 9 were in the council area that covers Newry. Prescribing, medical treatment and anything involving withdrawal belong with your GP and Health and Social Care, while ASCERT provides drug and alcohol support wherever you are in Northern Ireland.
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 Newry
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Newry, 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.
Newry questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Newry: common questions
Do you report drug use to anybody?
No. What you tell me stays inside the BACP Ethical Framework, and the few limits to confidentiality are explained at the start so you know exactly where they sit. Nothing is passed to a GP, an employer or a family member because you attended a session.
What are the fees for this?
An hour costs £80, ninety minutes £100 and two hours £120, and the opening 15-minute consultation costs nothing. There is no charge based on what you use or how severe things have become. You are told the fee before the first appointment is agreed.
Which service should I contact for drugs in Northern Ireland?
ASCERT works across Northern Ireland on drugs and alcohol and can be contacted directly, while your GP refers into Health and Social Care for medical treatment. The NHS find a service directory shows what runs near you. Counselling covers the ground those services rarely have hours for.
Nothing much operates near me out in the country. Does that leave me stuck?
Not for this. Video and telephone counselling reach a farmhouse as easily as a city street, which is a genuine advantage where rural provision is thin. Distance affects statutory services more, so it is worth asking your GP what can be arranged closer to home as well.
I take something to get through the day rather than to enjoy it. Is that different?
It is very common, and it changes the emphasis rather than the work. Use that functions as maintenance usually points to something being managed underneath, whether that is anxiety, pain or exhaustion. That is the part the hour goes after, not the substance in isolation.
Is everything I share kept confidential?
Yes. 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 around Newry value in a close-knit border city.
How quickly can substance use counselling begin in Newry?
Often within days. A free 15-minute call lets us see whether this feels right, then we arrange a first session soon after. Everything is online by secure video, so wherever you are on either side of the border in feeling, you can start from home in Newry.
Is substance use counselling free on the NHS in Newry?
NHS drug and alcohol services here sit within the Southern Trust and cost nothing, though access can take time. My sessions are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for two hours, with a free 15-minute consultation first and no waiting to begin.
Are evening online substance use sessions available for Newry?
Yes. An evening session from home avoids any journey through the frontier city after work. Held by secure video, from Ballybot to Meadow or the rural stretches near Slieve Gullion, you can take part in private with only a quiet room and a reliable connection.
Online Substance Use Counselling in Newry, 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: Craigavon, Lisburn. See all of Northern Ireland.
Also available in Newry: addiction counselling, counselling for drinking problems and anxiety counselling.
There is more on this in my writing: three ways to handle a craving and calming a craving as it rises.
Within reach of Sussex? substance use counselling is offered in the room in Brighton as well as online; see the full list of areas.