Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Swansea
Online Substance Use Counselling in Swansea
Online substance use counselling for Swansea, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Swansea, from the centre and the marina to the streets around the bay, 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 Swansea
Substance Use Counselling for Swansea, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Swansea: from the centre and the marina to Uplands, Sketty and Morriston
- Known for
- The bay, the marina and the Gower beyond
- Region
- Wales
- Local NHS / support route
- DAN 24/7, the Wales Drug and Alcohol Helpline
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Swansea
What brings people in Swansea to counselling?
There is no Swansea address for this work, and that suits a subject people here rarely raise. The city's drug-misuse death rate for 2022 to 2024 was well above the Wales average, which is a stark thing to sit alongside a view of the bay. Use runs across very different lives: students in Brynmill and the Uplands treating it as part of a term, men who came out of heavy work with damaged bodies and stayed on something for the pain, people in St Thomas or Townhill for whom it has been part of the household for a long time. What unites them is how seldom any of it is described honestly to another person.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Swansea
UplandsSkettyMorristonMumblesBrynmillTownhillSt ThomasLandoreGorseinonClydachKillayBonymaen
Wherever you are in Swansea, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Swansea
Official figures for Swansea, for context rather than as a description of you.
In Swansea the age-standardised drug-misuse death rate was 14.3 per 100,000 in 2022 to 2024, well above the Wales average of 8.5 per 100,000. Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Deaths related to drug poisoning by local authority, England and Wales (drug misuse, Table 6) (2022 to 2024).
In Swansea, 5.5% of adults reported a low life satisfaction score (4 or below out of 10) in the year ending March 2023, compared with a Wales average of 6.9%, 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 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 substance use counselling in detail for the methods, how I work for fees and session lengths, and how to check my registration if you want to check who you would be working with.
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.
Because Bradley is in Hove, this reaches you as a video call rather than an appointment somewhere in the city. That takes out the parts people most dislike about drug services: the desk, the form, the corridor, the chance of seeing somebody who knows your mother. It also means an appointment survives a bad morning. Weekly at a fixed time, telephone available when the connection is not up to video.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What does substance use counselling 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 Swansea
Why people in Swansea come for substance use counselling
Nothing here requires you to have stopped, and nothing requires you to promise you will. A service that demands readiness at the door mostly collects people who are already fine; the rest wait, and the waiting is where the damage happens. So bring it as it stands. We look closely at what the substance does for you in the moment you take it, what it has replaced, and what it now takes in return. Much of the time there is pain underneath, physical or otherwise, that has never been given proper attention. All medical questions belong elsewhere by design: your GP, or Barod and the Newid partnership for substance use services in Swansea, with the NHS find a service directory listing more. DAN 24/7 is on 0808 808 2234 through the night.
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 Swansea
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Swansea, your GP can refer you to local drug and alcohol services, and you can find support through DAN 24/7, the Wales Drug and Alcohol Helpline.
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 press 2 for urgent mental health support. The CALL Helpline for Wales is free on 0800 132 737, 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.
Swansea questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Swansea: common questions
Is it alright to start while I am still using?
Yes, and most people do at the start. There is no test at the beginning of the session and nothing to prove. All I ask is that you can take part in the hour, and that anything physical or medical is being looked after by a doctor as well.
How much are appointments?
You pay £80 for the hour, £100 if you take ninety minutes and £120 for two. Before committing to any of it you can have a free 15-minute conversation. If money is the obstacle, raise it in that call and we will be straightforward about what is workable.
Which organisation runs drug services in Swansea?
Barod delivers substance use services across Swansea and Neath Port Talbot through the Newid partnership. The NHS find a service directory will show you what is nearest. Those services handle treatment and prescribing; the counselling here works on everything around it.
I started using after an injury at work. Does that fit this service?
It fits it well. Pain that began legitimately and use that grew around it is a common route, particularly where work has been physical. The medical side stays with your doctor while we look at the rest, including the frustration of a body that no longer does what it did.
Would my family have to know I am doing this?
Only if you choose to tell them. Nothing is posted, nothing is copied to your GP without your permission, and the session is on your own device. If part of what you want is to work out how to tell somebody, that can be part of what we do.
Will this be confidential? Swansea can feel like a small place.
Completely. Sessions are private and held by secure video, so there is no local waiting room to be seen going into. What we discuss stays between us, within the usual professional and safety limits, wherever in the bay you are based.
Can I begin substance use counselling quickly out on Gower or in Swansea?
Yes. Once you have had your free 15-minute consultation, a first session can often be arranged the same week. Because everything is by secure video, whether you are in the city or out along the Gower coast makes no difference and nothing delays the start.
Is substance use counselling cheaper on the NHS in Swansea?
NHS drug services through Swansea Bay health board are free, and Dan 24/7 gives free all-Wales advice, though demand is high. Privately I charge £80 for an hour, £100 for 90 minutes and £120 for two hours, after a free 15-minute consultation.
How does online substance use counselling work for someone in Swansea?
You join by secure video from anywhere, from Townhill to Mumbles, needing only a private space and a steady connection. I keep some evening appointments as well, so work at the docks, the university or across the city need not get in the way.
Online Substance Use Counselling in Swansea, 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 Wales: Neath, Llanelli, Cardiff. See all of Wales.
If substance use counselling is not quite what you are looking for, addiction counselling, counselling for drinking problems and anxiety counselling may fit better in Swansea.
You may also find it useful to read about calming a craving as it rises and once an addict, always an addict?.
Within reach of Sussex? substance use counselling is offered in the room in Hove, where the room is as well as online; see the full list of areas.