Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Northampton
Online Substance Use Counselling in Northampton
Online substance use counselling for Northampton, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Northampton, from the town centre and the Market Square to the streets around the Guildhall, 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 Northampton
Substance Use Counselling for Northampton, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Northampton: from the town centre and the Market Square to Far Cotton, Kingsthorpe and Weston Favell
- Known for
- The Guildhall, the lift tower and the river Nene
- Region
- Midlands (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- West Northamptonshire Council's alcohol and drug support
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Northampton
Why people in Northampton get in touch
Drug use in Northampton often runs on the same clock as the work does. Something to stay awake through a night in a distribution centre, something to come down afterwards, cocaine at the weekend that has crept into midweek, cannabis that began as a sleep aid. Because so many people here arrived recently, there is frequently nobody around who would notice a change in you. Deaths from drug misuse ran at 5.6 per 100,000 across 2022 to 2024, below the England average of 5.8 per 100,000. Other signs of strain are less gentle. Emergency admissions for self-harm reached 170.7 per 100,000 in 2023/24, well above the England average of 117 per 100,000.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Northampton
Far CottonKingsthorpeWeston FavellAbingtonDustonKingsleySemilongSt JamesWoottonEcton Brook
Wherever you are in Northampton, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Northampton
Official figures for Northampton, for context rather than as a description of you.
the rate of deaths from drug misuse was 5.6 per 100,000 in 2022 - 24, below the England average of 5.8 per 100,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Deaths from drug misuse (2022 - 24).
Reviewed June 2026.
What would we do together 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.
What actually happens in the room is the same everywhere, so it is written up once: see the main substance use counselling page for the methods, the practical side for fees and session lengths, and my credentials and registration if you want to check who you would be working with.
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.
Bradley is in Hove, so Northampton is served by video rather than face to face, and for this work that is a fair trade. You do not have to explain an absence, park somewhere obvious, or sit in a waiting area. A session can be booked around a rota and shifted when the rota shifts. What is genuinely needed is a private hour, a set of headphones, and somewhere the door closes properly.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
Which difficulties does substance use counselling address?
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 Northampton
Why people in Northampton come for substance use counselling
There is no requirement to stop, to want to stop, or to call yourself an addict before any of this is available. You might be using at weekends, using through the week, using less than you did last year, or stopped and finding the evenings difficult to fill. All of it is workable, and none of it gets a lecture. The first job is accuracy about what the drug provides, whether that is energy for a shift, sleep afterwards, or an hour away from thinking. Only then is the cost worth weighing properly. West Northamptonshire Council's alcohol and drug support opens the way to STAR Northamptonshire, run by Change Grow Live as the single front door to treatment, and prescribing and structured programmes come from there. Counselling covers the ground underneath it, which is why the drug became necessary at all.
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 Northampton
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Northampton, free local drug and alcohol support is available through West Northamptonshire Council's alcohol and drug support.
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.
Northampton questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Northampton: common questions
Do you expect me to be abstinent?
No, and such an expectation would rule out most of the people who most need to talk. You can come while you are using, and the honesty matters a great deal more than the abstinence does. What is asked is that you can hold a conversation during the hour.
How much is it, and how do I pay?
Each session is £80 / 60 min, paid afterwards rather than upfront. Longer appointments are available at £100 / 90 min and £120 / 120 min. Before any of that comes a free 15-minute consultation, which exists so you can decide without having spent anything.
Is STAR Northamptonshire the same sort of thing as this?
No. It is the single front door to treatment for the county, run by Change Grow Live and reached through West Northamptonshire Council's alcohol and drug support. It handles prescribing, testing and structured care. This is a private hour to think in, with no programme attached.
I only moved here recently and barely know anyone. Does that make it worse?
It makes it lonelier, which often lets use increase without anybody remarking on it. A great many people in this town are in the same position and say very little about it. Part of the work is what the substance stands in for socially, not only chemically.
Could my employer find out that I am having counselling?
No. Nothing is reported to an employer and no record exists anywhere that a manager could reach. If a workplace scheme were paying, that would be a different arrangement with its own limits, so it is worth checking. Sessions arranged privately stay private.
Can sessions fit around warehouse or shift work?
Yes. Because counselling is online, appointment times can often be arranged outside standard office hours to suit shift patterns and long commutes. Meeting from home by video also removes the extra travel a face-to-face appointment would add to an already long working day.
How quickly can I begin substance use counselling in Northampton?
Usually within a week. Substance use counselling for Northampton is delivered online from Hove, so you avoid a local queue. A free 15-minute consultation comes first, then your first session is booked when it works, whatever your hours on the logistics parks.
What does substance use counselling cost against NHS drug services in Northampton?
Fees are £80 an hour, £100 for 90 minutes and £120 for two hours, with a free 15-minute consultation first. Northampton's NHS drug services are free but often busy, whereas private sessions offer earlier appointments and continuity with the same counsellor throughout.
Is substance use counselling online, and can it fit shift work in Northampton?
Yes. The consulting room is in Hove and Northampton is served by video, so there is no travel from Weston Favell or Duston. Appointments can often be set outside standard hours, suiting long or unsociable shifts across the distribution and logistics sector.
Online Substance Use Counselling in Northampton, 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 Midlands: Milton Keynes, Kettering. See all of Midlands.
Close to this in Northampton, there is addiction counselling, counselling for drinking problems and anxiety counselling.
Some further reading, if that helps before getting in touch: calming a craving as it rises and once an addict, always an addict?.
If you can reach the south coast, this work is also done face to face in Hove, where the room is — all in-person areas are listed here.