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

In and around Newtownabbey
Life in Newtownabbey
Newtownabbey is a large town on Belfast's northern edge, closely tied to the city and shaped by the same history. Insecure work, the legacy of division and the pressures of commuter life all shape what people here carry.
Newtownabbey stretches along the northern shore of Belfast Lough, a cluster of communities from Glengormley up the Antrim hills to Rathcoole, Monkstown and Whiteabbey by the water. The Abbey Centre draws shoppers from across the area, the Theatre at the Mill keeps a stage close to home, and the loughshore path and Carnmoney Hill give room to breathe within sight of the city. Ulster University's Jordanstown side has long had a presence here, and the M2 and the shore road carry a steady flow of commuters into Belfast and back. It is a place woven tightly into the capital's life, close enough to share its pace yet spread across green edges where the hills meet the water.
When the week runs on the early train and the late return, an hour you take from home removes the very journey that stops many people starting.
Newtownabbey sits on Belfast's northern edge within the Antrim and Newtownabbey borough and is served by the Northern HSC Trust.
Areas covered
Wherever you are in Newtownabbey, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
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.
Reaching support from Newtownabbey does not mean heading into Belfast for an appointment. Sessions are held online, by secure video, right across Northern Ireland, so you can take part from home along the loughshore or up in Glengormley. The counsellor is based in Hove and works UK-wide by video rather than seeing people in person, which keeps things private and saves the trip into the city.
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 Newtownabbey
Tied closely to Belfast, Newtownabbey is shaped by the same history, and the legacy of division can be carried quietly through families and communities here. Trauma often shows itself indirectly, as a guardedness, a jumpiness or a low that has no obvious cause. Trauma counselling offers a slow, safe space to understand those responses and to loosen their hold, always at a pace you set. Bradley Riddell works online by secure video from Hove, right across Northern Ireland, so this work can begin from somewhere private along the shore, with no need to travel or be seen.
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 Newtownabbey, your GP can refer you to talking therapies and counselling through Health and Social Care. You can find support through Lifeline, Northern Ireland's crisis helpline, free on 0808 808 8000.
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 Lifeline free on 0808 808 8000. Lifeline is free on 0808 808 8000, and the Samaritans are on 116 123.
Newtownabbey questions
Yes. I work with people right across Newtownabbey, from Glengormley and the centre outwards, and anywhere else in Northern Ireland, 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.
Most people find the opposite: the privacy of home makes difficult conversations feel safer, not harder. The pace is always yours, and Bradley Riddell works with people across Newtownabbey and Northern Ireland by secure video from his base in Hove.
After a free 15-minute consultation, usually within a week or two. Trauma work is paced carefully, so early online sessions by secure video focus on safety first. You can take part from home anywhere in Newtownabbey, with no clinic visit to arrange.
NHS trauma services in Newtownabbey are free but often carry waiting lists. Bradley charges 80 pounds for 60 minutes, 100 for 90 and 120 for 120, following a free 15-minute consultation, so support need not wait for a list to move.
For many, yes. Working online by secure video lets you stay in your own private space, which can feel steadier for trauma than an unfamiliar room. Bradley is Hove-based and UK-wide, with some evening slots for Newtownabbey clients who prefer to talk after work.
Yes. Sessions are online by secure video, so you can talk from home in Newtownabbey rather than travelling into the city. The counsellor is based in Hove and works across Northern Ireland by video, which many people find more private and far easier to fit around work.
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 Northern Ireland: Belfast, Ballymena. See all of Northern Ireland.
All counselling & therapy in Newtownabbey: 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.