Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Online Substance Use Counselling · Tamworth
Online Substance Use Counselling in Tamworth
Online substance use counselling for Tamworth, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Tamworth, from the castle and the town centre to the streets around the river Anker, 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 Tamworth
Substance Use Counselling for Tamworth, at a glance
- Areas covered online
- All of Tamworth: from the castle and the town centre to Glascote, Amington and Belgrave
- Known for
- The castle, the river Anker and the Snowdome
- Region
- Midlands (England)
- Local NHS / support route
- Staffordshire County Council's drug and alcohol services
- Format
- Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.
Life in Tamworth
What is going on for people in Tamworth?
Drug use in a town like this is largely a private matter. Cocaine at the weekend among people with mortgages and school runs, something taken to survive a run of nights, tablets that began with a prescription and quietly stayed on. There is no visible scene to belong to and no obvious place to ask, which suits people at first and stops suiting them later. Tamworth is small enough that bumping into a familiar face at Ventura Park is a genuine deterrent to walking into anywhere labelled. So it carries on at home, between the commute and bed, and the first honest conversation gets postponed again.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Tamworth
GlascoteAmingtonBelgraveWilnecoteBolehallDosthillKettlebrookStonydelphCoton GreenLeyfields
Wherever you are in Tamworth, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Tamworth
Official figures for Tamworth, for context rather than as a description of you.
2.7 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 4.5 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 is substance use counselling, in practice?
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 the full substance use counselling page, with how sessions run and what they cost for the practical questions and how to check my registration for registration and ethics.
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.
Bradley works out of Hove, so sessions here run online by secure video. That answers the biggest practical problem in a small town, which is that walking into a named service is never anonymous. Nothing has to be arranged with anybody locally. You join from wherever there is a door that shuts, and you keep the same hour if you move house, change employer, or end up working away for a stretch.
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 Tamworth
Why people in Tamworth come for substance use counselling
This is drug-specific work and it asks you to have stopped nothing, cut down nothing and decided nothing in advance. Bring the use exactly as it is. What gets examined is what the drug does for you: the edge it takes off a Friday, the confidence it lends, the gap it fills that was left by a week you did not enjoy. None of it gets moralised at. The local numbers say something worth noticing. Only 2.7 adults per 1,000 were in specialist drug-misuse treatment in 2020/21, well below the England average of 4.5 per 1,000, and deaths from drug misuse were 4.5 per 100,000 across 2022 to 2024, under the England average of 5.8. A low treatment figure need not mean low use; it can also mean people are coping alone. Staffordshire County Council's drug and alcohol services and STaRS are there for structured treatment.
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 Tamworth
My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Tamworth, free local drug and alcohol support is available through Staffordshire County Council's drug and alcohol services.
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.
Tamworth questions
Online Substance Use Counselling in Tamworth: common questions
Do I have to have stopped before the first session?
Not in the slightest. You can arrive mid-week, mid-use, and with no plan whatsoever. That is a common starting point rather than a poor one. What makes the hour work is being able to say what is really happening, which is far easier when nobody is waiting to be disappointed in you.
Is there a charge for that first conversation before I commit to anything?
No, the opening 15-minute call is free. After that an hour is £80, with 90 minutes at £100 and two hours at £120 where more space is useful. You pay for the sessions you actually have, one at a time, and there is no joining fee or administrative charge anywhere in it.
Would STaRS be a better fit for me than private counselling?
It might be, and they are not in competition. STaRS is the county treatment and recovery service, reached through Staffordshire County Council's drug and alcohol services, and it covers assessment, prescribing and structured programmes at no cost. Counselling adds a confidential weekly hour to think in.
In a town this size, how confidential is this really?
Entirely, and the online format helps considerably. Nobody local is involved, there is no local building to be seen at, and there is no shared area where you might run into someone from work. The usual limits about serious risk to life get explained at the start rather than assumed.
It is only ever weekends, never before work. Should I still bring it?
Yes, if it is on your mind at all. Weekend-only use can still be shaping Monday, the sleep on either side of it, and how flat the rest of the week feels by comparison. Bringing it while it is still contained is a great deal easier than bringing it after it has spread.
Can substance use sessions fit around a long commute?
Yes. Because counselling is online, times can often be arranged for early mornings, evenings or other slots that suit a commuting life. Meeting from home by video also removes the extra travel that a face-to-face appointment would add to an already long day.
How quickly can I begin substance use counselling in Tamworth?
Usually within a week. Substance use counselling for Tamworth is delivered online from Hove, so you avoid a local queue. A free 15-minute consultation comes first, then your first session is booked when it suits, fitting around days spent commuting.
What does substance use counselling cost against NHS drug services in Tamworth?
Fees are £80 an hour, £100 for 90 minutes and £120 for two hours, with a free 15-minute consultation first. Tamworth's NHS drug services are free but often busy, whereas private sessions offer earlier appointments and continuity with the same counsellor throughout.
Is substance use counselling online, and can it fit a commute from Tamworth?
Yes. The consulting room is in Hove and Tamworth is served by video, so there is no journey to add from Glascote or Amington. Appointments can often be set for early mornings or evenings around a commute into Birmingham or Lichfield.
Online Substance Use Counselling in Tamworth, 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 Midlands: Birmingham, Walsall, Derby. See all of Midlands.
Close to this in Tamworth, 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.
Within reach of Sussex? substance use counselling is offered in the room in Brighton as well as online; see the full list of areas.