Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Preston
Online Substance Use Counselling in Preston
Online substance use counselling for Preston, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Preston, from the city centre and the markets to the streets around the Harris Museum, 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 Preston
Substance Use Counselling for Preston, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Preston: from the city centre and the markets to Fulwood, Ashton and Ribbleton
- Known for
- The Harris Museum, the docks and the river Ribble
- Region
- North West (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- Lancashire County Council's alcohol and drugs support
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Preston
Why do people in Preston reach out?
Drug use in Preston covers a wider range than the city's professional surface suggests. There are students at the University of Central Lancashire whose habits arrive with them and leave with them, and there are people in Deepdale, Broadgate or Penwortham for whom use has been part of daily life for years. Between the two sits the largest group of all: people working ordinary jobs who use at weekends, or after nights, or to sleep, and who would not recognise themselves in the word addiction. Very little of that ever reaches a service, and the stoic front the city wears makes it less likely still.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Preston
the city centreFulwoodAshton-on-RibbleRibbletonDeepdalePenworthamBroadgateIngol
Wherever you are in Preston, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Preston
Official figures for Preston, for context rather than as a description of you.
4.7 adults per 1,000 were in treatment at specialist drug-misuse services in 2020/21, above 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 4.9 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.
Rather than say the same thing on every page, the substance lives on substance use counselling in detail, with the practical side for the practical questions and my credentials and registration for registration and ethics.
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.
Bradley is in Hove, so there is no room in Preston and nothing to walk into. Video sessions mean the whole thing is invisible locally: no reception, no car outside a service, nobody from work or the university on the way in. It also means you can be honest about the specifics without weighing who might overhear. An hour, a signal and a shut door is genuinely all it takes.
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 Preston
Why people in Preston come for substance use counselling
Nothing about this work requires you to stop, or even to plan to. Lancashire's figures are relatively favourable, with deaths from drug misuse at 4.9 per 100,000 in 2022 - 24 compared with 5.8 per 100,000 across England, and 4.7 adults per 1,000 in treatment at specialist drug-misuse services in 2020/21 compared with 4.5 per 1,000 nationally. Better than average is still a long way from safe, and it is no comfort at all in a single household. The sessions look at what you use, what it settles, and what the days around it look like. Nobody will instruct you on cutting down, which is medical work. Lancashire County Council's alcohol and drugs support and Inspire Lancashire are the routes when that is what is needed. Counselling can carry on either way, and often works best when it does.
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 Preston
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Preston, free local drug and alcohol support is available through Lancashire County Council's alcohol and drugs 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.
Preston questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Preston: common questions
Would I be turned away for still using?
No. That is the situation most people are in when they first make contact, and it would be a strange service that refused them. You will be asked what you use and how often, not to justify it. The point of the hour is accuracy, not confession.
What does Inspire Lancashire actually provide?
It is the county's drug and alcohol service, run by Change Grow Live, with a central Lancashire arm covering Preston. Assessment, prescribing and structured treatment are all part of it, and Lancashire County Council's alcohol and drugs support explains how to get there. Counselling neither replaces nor blocks that.
What is the charge for each session, and when is it due?
£80 for sixty minutes, £100 for ninety and £120 for two hours, with a free 15-minute consultation beforehand. Payment is per session and nothing is booked in blocks. If money is a constraint, a weekly hour is generally more useful than an occasional longer session.
I use to get through night shifts at a distribution centre. Is that even worth bringing?
It is exactly worth bringing. Night work destroys sleep and appetite and social life, and something that makes the shift bearable is a rational response to an unreasonable schedule. The work looks at the shift pattern as much as the substance, because one is usually holding the other in place.
Is any of this reported to the police?
No. Counselling is confidential, and telling a counsellor what you use is not a matter for the police. The limits concern serious risk to life or safety, and they are explained at the very start so nothing about them is a surprise later on.
Will this go on any medical record?
My private counselling notes are confidential and separate from your NHS record; I don't report to your GP unless there's a serious safety concern we'd discuss first. That independence is one reason people in Preston choose private online support when privacy matters to them.
How quickly can I begin substance use counselling in Preston?
Quickly. After a free 15-minute consultation to check we suit each other, we would usually hold your first session within a week. It all runs online from my Hove base, so whether you are in Ashton-on-Ribble, Ribbleton or Ingol, there is nothing to travel to.
Is substance use counselling cheaper on the NHS in Preston than privately?
NHS drug and alcohol services in Lancashire are free, though they can carry a wait. My fees are fixed and clear: a free 15-minute consultation, then £80 for an hour, £100 for 90 minutes and £120 for two hours.
Can we do evening online sessions rather than travelling in Preston?
Yes. I only work online, so there is no Preston office to reach; my room is in Hove. That makes evening or lunchtime sessions straightforward, which many people around UCLan and the county offices find fits their week far better.
Online Substance Use Counselling in Preston, 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 North West: Blackburn, Blackpool, Lancaster. See all of North West.
Also available in Preston: addiction counselling, counselling for drinking problems and anxiety counselling.
There is more on this in my writing: once an addict, always an addict? and three ways to handle a craving.
Within reach of Sussex? substance use counselling is offered in the room in Brighton as well as online; see the full list of areas.