Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Norwich
Online Substance Use Counselling in Norwich
Online substance use counselling for Norwich, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Norwich, from the cathedral and the centre to the streets around the castle, 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 Norwich
Substance Use Counselling for Norwich, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Norwich: from the cathedral and the centre to the Golden Triangle, Mile Cross and Thorpe Hamlet
- Known for
- The cathedral, the castle and the medieval lanes
- Region
- East of England (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- Norfolk County Council's drug and alcohol use support
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Norwich
What brings people in Norwich to counselling?
Norwich has a busy student drug culture and a much quieter adult one, and the two rarely acknowledge each other. Ketamine and MDMA circulate around the university houses; cocaine and cannabis run steadily through working life in Catton, Costessey and Sprowston. Only 3.8 adults per 1,000 were in treatment at specialist drug-misuse services in 2020/21, below the England average of 4.5 per 1,000, and in a county this large and this thinly served that figure says as much about reach as about need. Most people who make contact are not in trouble with anyone. They are just tired of the arrangement they have made with themselves.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Norwich
the Golden TriangleMile CrossThorpe HamletEatonHeighamLakenhamCattonSprowstonThorpe St AndrewCostessey
Wherever you are in Norwich, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Norwich
Official figures for Norwich, for context rather than as a description of you.
3.8 adults per 1,000 were in treatment at specialist drug-misuse services in 2020/21, below 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 5.7 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 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 full substance use counselling page, alongside how I work and my credentials and registration.
What happens in 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.
This is secure video work from Hove, with no room in Norfolk to walk into. For drug use that anonymity does most of the heavy lifting, particularly in a city small enough that people recognise each other on the street. Sessions can be moved around shifts and seminars, taken from anywhere with a closed door, and having used during the week is not a reason to cancel or to apologise.
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 Norwich
Why people in Norwich come for substance use counselling
Nothing depends on you having decided to stop, or on you being sure that you want to. Some people come using every day, some only when the weekend arrives, some already reducing and startled by what has surfaced. The work goes to function: the drug that makes a social evening survivable, the one that fills a flat that is too quiet, the one that keeps a memory at arm's length. Judgement would close that down, so it plays no part. Anything clinical, including substitute prescribing, testing and harm reduction, is free through the Change Grow Live behaviour change service for the county, reached via Norfolk County Council's drug and alcohol use support. Norfolk and Waveney Mind holds the anxiety and depression that so often travel with regular use. Using a free statutory service and paying for a private hour each week are not competing choices, and there is no need to pick one.
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 Norwich
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Norwich, free local drug and alcohol support is available through Norfolk County Council's drug and alcohol use 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.
Norwich questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Norwich: common questions
Will you push me to give up?
No. The goal is yours to set and it is allowed to change. People who feel pushed stop being honest almost immediately, and an hour of careful half-truths helps nobody. What you want from your use is a proper question, not a formality.
Is anything recorded or passed on?
Nothing goes to your GP, your university, an employer or the police, and no NHS record is created. The only limit is a serious and immediate risk to life, and you would be involved in that discussion wherever it is possible to include you.
What do sessions cost?
£80 for an hour, £100 for 90 minutes, £120 for two hours, and a free 15-minute call beforehand. Norwich wages are not high and a habit is expensive, so it is worth being honest early about what you can keep up. Fortnightly is a perfectly reasonable pattern.
Should I go to the Change Grow Live service in Norfolk instead?
Go there as well if you need prescribing, testing or group support, all of which are free. The difference is time and continuity: one person, the same hour each week, working on why the use is there rather than only on how to manage it.
My use started at university and never stopped. Is that unusual?
It is very common in this city. A pattern learned in a student house often carries straight into a job and a tenancy, and nobody marks the point where it changed character. Looking at what it is doing now, rather than how it began, tends to be the useful part.
I worry people here would recognise me. Is it private?
That is a common worry in a close city. Working online means no waiting room and no one to pass in the street. Our conversations are confidential, and you take part from wherever you feel safe, at a time of your own choosing.
Is online substance use counselling available across Norwich and rural Norfolk?
Yes. I see people from the Golden Triangle to villages out towards the Broads online, so where you live in Norfolk makes no difference. There is no local waiting list, so most begin within days, starting with a free 15-minute consultation before we arrange a first session.
How do your substance use counselling fees compare with NHS options in Norwich?
My fees are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, and the first 15-minute consultation is free. NHS substance services in Norwich cost nothing but access can take time, whereas private online sessions with me can begin promptly, without the long drive for support.
Would substance use counselling be online, and do evening slots suit Norwich?
It is online only, from Hove by video or phone, which removes the distance Norwich can feel from other centres. Evening appointments are available, so sessions fit around work at places like Aviva or the University of East Anglia, and you take part privately from home with no travel.
Online Substance Use Counselling in Norwich, 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 East of England: Cambridge, Ipswich, King's Lynn. See all of East of England.
Close to this in Norwich, there is addiction counselling, counselling for drinking problems and anxiety counselling.
Some further reading, if that helps before getting in touch: three ways to handle a craving and calming a craving as it rises.
Closer to the Sussex coast? The same substance use counselling is available in person, in Brighton, or see every area I cover.