Intrusive memories
Support for flashbacks, nightmares and re-experiencing.
Online Trauma Counselling · Leeds
Online trauma counselling for Leeds, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Leeds, from the centre and the waterfront to the streets around the arcades, with the same BACP-registered, confidential support as an in-person session, and no journey.

In and around Leeds
Life in Leeds
Leeds is the financial and cultural capital of West Yorkshire, a fast-growing city of finance, law and two big universities. The pace of professional life, rising costs and the gap between its prosperous and its struggling neighbourhoods all take a toll, and the busy centre can hide a great deal of private strain.
Leeds is the commercial and cultural heart of West Yorkshire, a city of Victorian arcades like the County Arcade and Victoria Quarter, a revived waterfront around Granary Wharf and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and a compact centre ringed by red-brick terraces. The financial and legal district around Park Row and Wellington Place sits a short walk from the two universities and the student streets of Hyde Park and Headingley. Channel 4 has made its national home here, and the railway station is among the busiest outside London, feeding the M1 and M62 that thread out towards Bradford and the wider county. Beyond the centre, leafy Roundhay and its lake give way to Otley, Wetherby and the edge of the Dales.
With the academic year setting a relentless pace, online sessions flex around terms, deadlines and shift work rather than fighting them.
Leeds is home to the University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett University and to Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs St James's University Hospital and Leeds General Infirmary; it is also one of the UK's largest financial and legal centres outside London.
Areas covered
Wherever you are in Leeds, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
These figures are local context from official sources, not a description of you, but they show the scale of what people in and around Leeds are living with, and why local support matters.
the rate of emergency hospital admissions for self-harm was 88 per 100,000 in 2023/24, below the England average of 117 per 100,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Emergency Hospital Admissions for Intentional Self-Harm (2023/24).
Local data last reviewed June 2026. Each figure shows the year and links to the official source it was read on.
Trauma counselling here is gentle and led by you, drawing on methods designed for trauma including the Human Givens Rewind Technique, so a difficult memory is returned to ordinary recall.
The approach is the same wherever you live, so rather than repeat it on every page you can read it in full, the methods, what each session covers and fees, on the main trauma counselling page and on how I work.
Sessions run over a secure, encrypted video link held to the same strict BACP confidentiality as meeting in person. After a free fifteen-minute call to check we are a good fit, you join each session from any private space using a phone, tablet or laptop, no software to install, no waiting room and no journey at either end.
I work from a base in Hove, on the south coast, and see people across Leeds by secure video call rather than from a room in the city. For a busy Leeds working week that often suits well: there's no cross-city trip or parking to arrange around the appointment, and we'd agree a regular slot you can join from home, from the office at Wellington Place, or wherever you can speak privately.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
Support for flashbacks, nightmares and re-experiencing.
Help when your nervous system is stuck on high alert.
For when you cope by shutting down.
Healing the wound that drives the habit.
Reaching the quieter, accumulated hurts.
Working always at a pace that is led by you.
Trauma Counselling in Leeds
Trauma doesn't respect a busy diary. You might be holding down a demanding role in the Leeds legal or financial world while a past event still intrudes, flashbacks, broken sleep, a nervous system that stays on alert. I'm Bradley Riddell, a counsellor based in Hove, working with people across Leeds by secure video. Trauma work is careful and paced, never rushed; we build a sense of safety first and only turn towards the difficult material when you're ready. Meeting from your own familiar space, rather than an unfamiliar room in the city, can itself help that sense of steadiness.
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 callMy online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Leeds, you can refer yourself directly to Leeds Mental Wellbeing Service for free NHS talking therapy, with no GP referral needed.
Private sessions with me usually mean you can start sooner and stay with the same counsellor throughout; I am glad to work alongside any NHS or GP support you already have.
Other local and national support verified for this area includes:
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.
Leeds questions
Yes. I work with people right across Leeds, from the centre and the waterfront outwards, and anywhere else in Yorkshire & North East, by secure video, no need to travel to Hove, and just as confidential as meeting in the room.
No. Methods like the Human Givens Rewind let us process a memory without you reliving it or even speaking the detail aloud.
Yes, when it is paced carefully. We go slowly, keep you grounded, and you stay in control of what we approach and when.
We build in ways to settle and pause, and never move faster than feels safe. Being in your own space online can make that easier.
It can be. We move at your pace and keep grounding techniques to hand, and being in your own space often helps you feel more in control. If additional in-person support were ever needed, I'd help you find suitable local options alongside our work.
We'd begin with a free 15-minute consultation, usually within a week, then book a first session by secure video. With trauma, pace matters, so there's no pressure to rush. I work from Hove across Leeds, meaning no waiting list and no journey into the centre when you feel vulnerable.
You can, and NHS trauma services at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals and talking therapies are free, though often with a wait. My fees are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for two hours; longer sessions can suit trauma work, and you'd start sooner privately.
For many people, yes. Being in your own space in Leeds, rather than an unfamiliar room, can feel steadier for trauma work. I'm based in Hove and work by secure video, and we can use 90-minute or evening sessions so there's time to settle and close down gently.
No. I'm based in Hove and work with people across Leeds by secure video call rather than from a room in the city. For many that suits a busy Leeds working week well, since there's no cross-city trip or parking to arrange around the appointment.
Sessions happen online, so you can join from home, from a quiet room, or from wherever you can speak privately, without travelling into the centre or losing time to the commute. We'd agree a regular weekly slot that works around your week in Leeds.
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 Yorkshire & North East: Bradford, Wakefield, Sheffield. See all of Yorkshire & North East.
All counselling & therapy in Leeds: Addiction · Substance Use · Drinking Problems · Anxiety · Depression · Relationship · Counselling & Therapy · Psychotherapy.
Closer to the Sussex coast? The same trauma counselling is available in person in Brighton & Hove, or see all in-person areas.