Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Newtownabbey
Online Substance Use Counselling in Newtownabbey
Online substance use counselling for Newtownabbey, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Newtownabbey, from Glengormley and the centre to the streets around the Antrim hills, 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 Newtownabbey
Substance Use Counselling for Newtownabbey, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Newtownabbey: from Glengormley and the centre to Rathcoole, Monkstown and Mossley
- Known for
- The Antrim hills, Belfast Lough and the shore road
- 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 Newtownabbey
Why do people in Newtownabbey reach out?
Drug use on this side of the lough covers a wide range of lives. There is cocaine at the weekend among people with steady jobs and mortgages, tablets bought or passed on where money is short, and use in the estates that has been part of the landscape for years, with deprivation and the legacy of division sitting behind a good deal of it. Students around the Jordanstown site have a pattern of their own again. What stays consistent is the silence. In a town built from tightly knit estates, being seen going into a service feels like the bigger risk, so people carry on quietly instead.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Newtownabbey
GlengormleyRathcooleMonkstownMossleyCarnmoneyWhiteabbeyJordanstownBawnmoreHazelbank
Wherever you are in Newtownabbey, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Newtownabbey
Official figures for Newtownabbey, for context rather than as a description of you.
There were 12 drug-related deaths registered in the Antrim and Newtownabbey 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 Antrim and Newtownabbey, 2.0% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, well below the Northern Ireland average of 5.2%. 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.
The method travels; only the geography changes. the full substance use counselling page explains it properly, how sessions run and what they cost answers the practical questions, and how to check my registration shows how the practice is held to account.
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.
Since everything is by secure video with Bradley in Hove, none of this involves being seen at a door in Glengormley or anywhere else. There is nothing to sign, no reception desk and no local record of you. For anyone whose use is bound up with the people around them, an hour belonging to nobody in that circle is valuable in itself. Appointments can be early or late in the day, and the telephone covers the weeks when video will not work.
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 Newtownabbey
Why people in Newtownabbey come for substance use counselling
Nothing here starts with an ultimatum. You can still be using, still be undecided, and still take a great deal from the hour, because this is about understanding rather than compliance. So we look at what the drug does for you now, what it did when it first appeared, and what has been lost along the way that nobody has properly acknowledged. That last part carries real weight, since grief and shame keep more people using than craving ever does. There were 12 drug-related deaths registered in the Antrim and Newtownabbey council area in 2023, part of 169 across Northern Ireland. Medical treatment, prescribing and withdrawal are matters for your GP through Health and Social Care, ASCERT provides drug and alcohol support across Northern Ireland, and Lifeline is free through the night 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 Newtownabbey
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Newtownabbey, 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.
Newtownabbey questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Newtownabbey: common questions
Will I be asked to stop as a condition of being seen?
No such condition exists. People come at every stage, including those with no intention of stopping this month, and the hour is useful to all of them. What would make it useless is being told what you are supposed to want before anybody has heard what is actually going on.
What does it cost, and can I stop whenever I want?
Sessions are £80 for an hour, £100 for ninety minutes and £120 for two hours, following a free 15-minute consultation. You can end the work at any point without notice or penalty. Nothing is booked in blocks, so you are never paying ahead for sessions you may not want.
What is the drug route through the health service here?
Your GP refers into Health and Social Care, which covers assessment, medical treatment and prescribing. ASCERT works right across Northern Ireland and takes people directly for drug and alcohol support. Neither excludes counselling, and using both together generally gets more done than either alone.
The people I use with are my whole social life. What then?
Then that is a real loss to plan for rather than a detail to skip past. Changing use often means changing who your evenings belong to, which is why so many attempts collapse in week three. We work out in advance what replaces the company, not just the substance.
Can I bring a prescription problem here as well?
You can talk about it, and it is a common thread. What cannot happen here is any change to the prescription itself, which belongs entirely with the doctor who wrote it. What the sessions can do is examine what the tablets have been holding together and what else might do that job.
Do I need to have stopped using before I start?
No. Counselling begins wherever you are, whether you have cut down or not. There is no test to pass first. Held online by secure video across Northern Ireland, sessions let you talk honestly from home in Newtownabbey, working gently towards change at your pace.
How quickly can substance use counselling begin in Newtownabbey?
Often within days. A free 15-minute call helps us see whether it feels right, then we set a first session soon after. It is all online by secure video, so from Glengormley to Monkstown you can start from home without a queue or a trip into the city.
Is substance use counselling free on the NHS in Newtownabbey?
NHS drug and alcohol services here sit within the Northern 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 Newtownabbey?
Yes. An evening hour from home beats heading anywhere after a day tied to Belfast. Sessions run by secure video, so along the shore road or up Carnmoney Hill way you can take part in private with just a quiet room and a steady connection.
Online Substance Use Counselling in Newtownabbey, 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: Belfast, Ballymena. See all of Northern Ireland.
Close to this in Newtownabbey, there is addiction counselling, counselling for drinking problems and anxiety counselling.
If you would like to read more first, I have written about three ways to handle a craving and calming a craving as it rises.
If you can reach the south coast, this work is also done face to face in Brighton — all in-person areas are listed here.