Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Perth
Online Substance Use Counselling in Perth
Online substance use counselling for Perth, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Perth, from the centre and the Inches to the streets around the Tay, 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 Perth
Substance Use Counselling for Perth, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Perth: from the centre and the Inches to Craigie, Letham and Scone
- Known for
- The Tay, the two Inches and the Fair City heritage
- Region
- Scotland
- Local NHS / support route
- NHS inform's drugs and drug use pages
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Perth
Why do people in Perth reach out?
Drug use around Perth is spread thin and kept very quiet. In town it looks like weekend cocaine among people with respectable jobs, or students at Perth College UHI doing what students do. Out in the country it is more isolated still: someone using alone on a farm, a seasonal worker in accommodation with nothing to do after seven, a young person in a village with one bus a day. Distance from any service reinforces the sense that nothing can be done about it, and the quiet respectability of Bridgend or Letham makes saying anything feel disproportionate. Very little of this is ever discussed with anyone who could actually be of use.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Perth
CraigieLethamSconeBridgendMuirtonTullochKinnoullFriarton
Wherever you are in Perth, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Perth
Official figures for Perth, for context rather than as a description of you.
the age-standardised drug-misuse death rate in Perth and Kinross averaged 18.0 per 100,000 over 2020-2024, below the Scotland average of 22.5 Source: National Records of Scotland, Drug-related deaths in Scotland 2024 (Table C4) (2020-2024).
In Perth and Kinross, 7.1% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, compared with a Scotland average of 6.1%, 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 does substance use counselling involve?
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 substance use counselling page for the methods, how I work, sessions and fees for fees and session lengths, and my credentials and registration if you want to check who you would be working with.
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.
Everything is by secure video, because Bradley works from Hove and there is no space here to attend. Starting does not require abstinence, a plan or a decision of any kind. Sessions can be fitted around seasonal work, term dates or shifts, and taken from anywhere with a door that shuts. The free 15-minute consultation is the right moment to ask what is recorded and who can ever see it.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What sort of things do people bring?
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 Perth
Why people in Perth come for substance use counselling
This work runs on description rather than judgement. What you use, how often, what it does for you at the time, and what the gaps between are like, all set out plainly enough to be useful. Drug-misuse deaths in Perth and Kinross averaged 18.0 per 100,000 across 2020-2024, under the Scotland average of 22.5, and rural areas report low numbers partly because people are further from anyone who would notice. Isolation is a risk in itself and worth naming as one. Nothing clinical happens in session, nothing is prescribed and no reduction plan is given here. Tayside Council on Alcohol provides local counselling and support, the NHS 'find a service' directory lists drug treatment, and your GP covers anything physical. If a local service is already involved, counselling can sit alongside it rather than duplicating what they do.
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 Perth
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Perth, your GP can refer you to local drug and alcohol services, and you can find support through NHS inform's drugs and drug use pages.
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 24 on 111 for urgent mental health support. Breathing Space is free on 0800 83 85 87, 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.
Perth questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Perth: common questions
I use alone and nobody knows. Where does a conversation like this start?
With the plain facts, at whatever speed you can manage them. Using alone is common and isolating, and describing it to one person is usually the hardest part of the whole process. After that it becomes a subject rather than a secret.
What does a session cost, and can I pay as I go?
You pay each time: £80 for an hour, £100 for ninety minutes, £120 for two hours. Nothing is prepaid and there is no minimum number of appointments. The 15-minute consultation beforehand is free, so you can decide whether the cost is worth it before committing a penny.
How would I access drug treatment in Perth and Kinross?
Your GP is the main referral route. The Perth and Kinross Alcohol and Drug Partnership explains how local services are organised, Tayside Council on Alcohol offers counselling and support, and the NHS 'find a service' directory lists treatment options near you.
Is a video session workable where the signal is poor?
Usually, and it is worth testing during the free consultation. Dropping to audio uses far less bandwidth, and a phone hotspot covers most rural gaps around here. Occasional freezing is an irritation rather than a reason not to have the session at all.
Seasonal work means my hours change constantly. Can appointments follow that?
They can. The time can move week to week around lambing, harvest, a hotel season or a run of long days, and because there is no travel involved a session can slot into a break that would otherwise be far too short to use.
There is little specialist help near Perth, what are my options?
Online work opens things up. Because sessions run by secure video, you are not limited to what is available locally or to a long drive elsewhere. We can meet from your own home, wherever you are in Perth or the surrounding countryside, entirely privately.
I live in rural Perthshire, how soon can substance use counselling start online?
Usually within days of a free 15-minute consultation. As long as you have a steady connection and a private space, secure video reaches you wherever you are in Perthshire, far more practically than driving into Perth or beyond for each appointment.
How much does substance use counselling cost compared with Perth NHS services?
Fees are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, after a free 15-minute consultation. NHS Tayside support is free but often carries a wait, with travel on top for rural clients; private sessions carry a fee and can start promptly.
How are online substance use sessions delivered for people near Perth?
By secure, confidential video from home, in the city or in the villages of Perthshire. Evening slots are available around work, and there is no drive to a service, which spares the distances that make specialist help hard to reach across this wide rural county.
Online Substance Use Counselling in Perth, 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 Scotland: Dundee, Stirling, Kirkcaldy. See all of Scotland.
Also available in Perth: 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.
Within reach of Sussex? substance use counselling is offered in the room in Brighton as well as online; see the full list of areas.