Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Slough
Online Substance Use Counselling in Slough
Online substance use counselling for Slough, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Slough, from the town centre and the Trading Estate to the streets around the Jubilee River, 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 Slough
Substance Use Counselling for Slough, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Slough: from the town centre and the Trading Estate to Langley, Cippenham and Chalvey
- Known for
- The Trading Estate, the Jubilee River and nearby Windsor
- Region
- London & South East (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- NHS drug & alcohol service finder (see below)
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Slough
What is going on for people in Slough?
Drug use in Slough is largely private and largely practical. Something to stay alert through a night on the Slough Trading Estate. Something else to come down again when the shift ends and everyone else is heading out to work. It happens in flats in Chalvey and Britwell, in houses in Langley, in the hours nobody else is awake for. The town has slightly more people in treatment than the country as a whole, with 4.8 adults per 1,000 in specialist drug-misuse services in 2020/21 against an England average of 4.5 per 1,000, and deaths from drug misuse ran at 5.9 per 100,000 across 2022 to 2024. Neither figure gets talked about much locally.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Slough
LangleyCippenhamChalveyBritwellManor ParkColnbrookUptonWexhamSalt Hill
Wherever you are in Slough, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Slough
Official figures for Slough, for context rather than as a description of you.
4.8 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 5.9 per 100,000 in 2022 - 24, above 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.
Because the work itself is the same wherever you live, the detail sits in one place rather than all of them: the full substance use counselling page sets out the methods, the practical side covers the practicalities, and professional standards and registration covers accountability.
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.
Slough is seen entirely online, by secure video, because Bradley works from Hove. For drug use that removes the visible part of asking for help: no building, no reception, nobody who might recognise you in a corridor. The hour happens wherever you can close a door, at the same time each week, and if the only private place is a parked car then a parked car will do. Starting with the camera off is fine.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What can substance use counselling in Slough 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 Slough
Why people in Slough come for substance use counselling
There is no requirement to have stopped, and none to say that you intend to. That matters in a town where much of the use is wrapped around work, because people assume any service will begin by asking them to give up the thing currently holding the week together. We start somewhere more useful: what you use, how often, and what it does for you. The last of those is almost never asked, and it is the one that makes the pattern legible. Then we look at the cost. With 4.8 adults per 1,000 in treatment in 2020/21 against 4.5 nationally, provision here does get used, and the NHS find a service directory will name what covers your postcode. Prescribing, needle exchange and anything to do with withdrawal belongs there or with your GP.
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 Slough
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. You can find your nearest free NHS-funded drug and alcohol service via the NHS “find a service” directory (search “Slough”).
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.
Slough questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Slough: common questions
Do I have to be planning to stop?
No. Arriving undecided is normal, and a decision made under pressure rarely lasts anyway. The early work is about understanding what the substance does for you and what it takes back, in your own words. What you decide afterwards, and when, is entirely yours to determine.
How much are sessions, and is there anything free?
The first 15-minute consultation is free and commits you to nothing at all. After that, £80 for an hour, £100 for ninety minutes and £120 for two hours, settled one at a time. The service Turning Point runs for the town is free at the point of use.
Which drug service covers Slough?
Turning Point runs the treatment, advice and recovery team for the town, and the NHS find a service directory will confirm it by postcode. That is where prescribing, testing and structured treatment happen. Counselling here runs beside that rather than in place of it.
Will this be reported anywhere?
Work here is confidential, held under the BACP Ethical Framework, with a short list of exceptions explained at the outset: serious risk to life, or a legal requirement. Nothing about your use is sent to an employer, and nothing goes to your GP unless you ask for it.
I use to get through twelve-hour shifts. Is that addiction or just how the job works?
It can be both at once, and it is worth examining either way. Long shifts create a need, and whatever meets that need becomes hard to put down even on a day off. The useful question is what your rest days look like, not whether the reason sounds justified.
I use just to keep going through the hours I work. Isn't that just getting by?
Getting by can quietly become dependence when a substance is what keeps you upright. Many people in Slough working long hours reach that point. We can look honestly at what it does for you and, if you choose, find steadier ways to manage the load, without judgement.
Can I get online substance use counselling quickly in Slough?
Generally yes. A free 15-minute consultation comes first, then a regular time, often within a week. There is no clinic to reach and no referral queue, so you can join securely from home in Britwell, Langley or Chalvey, around shifts and a busy week.
Is substance use counselling free on the NHS in Slough?
There are free routes: your GP can refer you, Slough's drug and alcohol service takes self-referrals, and FRANK offers confidential national advice online or by phone. This counselling is private, at £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, with a free consultation.
Online or in person when the week rarely pauses in Slough?
Online usually fits best, since there is rarely much pause between long shifts and family, and a session that comes to you at home spares any travel. A confidential hour to stop and be honest can be genuinely restorative. In-person is possible in Hove, a train down to the coast, if you prefer.
Online Substance Use Counselling in Slough, 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 London & South East: Reading, Watford, London. See all of London & South East.
Also available in Slough: addiction counselling, counselling for drinking problems and anxiety counselling.
You may also find it useful to read about three ways to handle a craving and calming a craving as it rises.
For anyone near the coast, the same substance use counselling runs in person in Brighton. Every area covered is listed separately.