Online Trauma Counselling · Portsmouth

Online Trauma Counselling in Portsmouth

Online trauma counselling for Portsmouth, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Portsmouth, from across Portsea Island, Southsea and Old Portsmouth to the streets around the Spinnaker Tower, with the same BACP-registered, confidential support as an in-person session, and no journey.

Online across the UKSecure videoFree 15-min consultation
BACP registered member25+ years of experienceLived experience
Bradley Riddell, BACP-registered counsellor offering online trauma counselling for Portsmouth, introducing his approach
ConfidentialA safe, private space
Person-centredThe therapy fits you

In and around Portsmouth

Trauma Counselling for Portsmouth, at a glance

Areas covered online
All of Portsmouth: across Portsea Island, from Southsea and Old Portsmouth to Fratton, Cosham and Copnor
Known for
The Spinnaker Tower, the harbour and the seafront
Region
London & South East (England)
Local NHS / support route
NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire (italk)
Format
Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.

Life in Portsmouth

Why do people in Portsmouth reach out?

Trauma in Portsmouth often has service in it somewhere. Things survived on deployment, an incident at work, a childhood spent moving between postings: any of it can sit quietly for years and then start showing up as broken sleep, a startle response out of all proportion, or a sudden need to sit facing the door. There is also the everyday kind, unconnected to any of that, carried by people who have never been near the naval base. Either way, a tightly packed island city offers few places to be unobserved, and the habit of getting on with it runs deep here, so a great deal is carried privately for a very long time.

HM Naval Base Portsmouththe University of PortsmouthQueen Alexandra Hospitalthe Historic Dockyard

Areas covered

Neighbourhoods in and around Portsmouth

SouthseaOld PortsmouthFrattonCoshamCopnorNorth EndPortseaMiltonBuckland

Wherever you are in Portsmouth, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.

The local picture

The local picture in Portsmouth

Official figures for Portsmouth, for context rather than as a description of you.

Reviewed June 2026.

What does trauma counselling involve?

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.

Rather than say the same thing on every page, the substance lives on the full trauma counselling page, with the practical side for the practical questions and qualifications, registration and ethics for registration and ethics.

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.

This work is done online by secure video from Hove, so there is nothing to travel to and nobody sees you arrive. For trauma that is not a small detail. You stay where you already feel safest, you control who is in the building, and the hour ends in your own space rather than out on a pavement. If a posting takes you elsewhere, the sessions go with you unchanged, which matters when continuity is part of what makes this work.

Book a free 15-minute call

What I help with

What can trauma counselling in Portsmouth help with?

Intrusive memories

Support for flashbacks, nightmares and re-experiencing.

Hypervigilance

Help when your nervous system is stuck on high alert.

Numbness and avoidance

For when you cope by shutting down.

Trauma behind addiction

Healing the wound that drives the habit.

Sub-threshold trauma

Reaching the quieter, accumulated hurts.

Feeling safe again

Working always at a pace that is led by you.

Trauma Counselling in Portsmouth

Why people in Portsmouth come for trauma counselling

People usually make contact when something from the past has begun shaping the present without permission: avoiding a route, freezing at a noise, sleeping badly for months. You will not be asked to describe what happened. Bradley uses the Human Givens Rewind Technique, which allows a memory to be processed without a spoken account of the event, and the pace belongs entirely to you. We settle the nervous system first, so the work does not leave you exposed on the days in between. Emergency admissions for self-harm in the city ran at 177.1 per 100,000 in 2023/24, well above the England average of 117 per 100,000, which says something about how much goes unspoken here. NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire offers trauma-focused therapy on self- referral, and Solent Mind is there alongside.

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 call

Finding support in Portsmouth

My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Portsmouth, you can refer yourself directly to NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire (italk) 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:

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.

Portsmouth questions

Online Trauma Counselling in Portsmouth: common questions

Will I be expected to talk about what happened?

No. The Rewind Technique was developed so that a memory can be worked with without you describing it aloud, which is why it suits people who have never put any of it into words. You decide what gets said. Saying almost nothing about the event itself is entirely workable.

What are the fees for trauma work?

£80 covers an hour, £100 covers ninety minutes and £120 covers two hours. Some people choose the longer session so the ending is never rushed. Everything starts with a free 15-minute call, which is a chance to ask questions with nothing booked and nothing owed.

Does the Hampshire NHS service cover trauma as well?

Yes. NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire, italk, provides trauma- focused treatment and takes self-referrals without a GP appointment first. Waiting times vary through the year. Holding a place there while beginning private sessions is common, and there is no conflict at all between using the two routes together.

I am serving and worried this could affect my career. Is it confidential?

It is. Private counselling sits outside your workplace and outside NHS records; nothing is passed to an employer and nobody is told that you attend. Bradley works to the BACP Ethical Framework, and the only limits concern immediate risk to life, which are explained clearly beforehand.

What if this brings things up while my partner is away?

Then we slow down. Pacing is set against what your life can actually hold that week, and if support at home is thin we build the work around that rather than ignoring it. A whole session can go on steadying things, and that still counts as progress.

As a veteran, how private is trauma counselling in a city this close-knit?

Very private. There is no local waiting room to be seen in and nobody on your street need know. You join securely from home, everything stays confidential, and we work through difficult experiences only as fast as feels safe for you.

How soon can I start trauma counselling online in Portsmouth?

Often within a week of a free consultation. Bradley works online with Portsmouth clients, so there is no clinic to reach across the island. Trauma work from your own private space, in Southsea or Fratton, can feel steadier and safer.

What do trauma sessions cost, and can the NHS help in Portsmouth?

Trauma counselling is £80 for sixty minutes, £100 for ninety and £120 for two hours, with the longer sessions often suiting it. NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire is free but frequently oversubscribed, so many in Portsmouth begin privately to be seen sooner.

Is online trauma counselling as good as in person in Portsmouth, and are evenings available?

Many Portsmouth clients, including service personnel, find online trauma work just as containing, with familiar surroundings between sessions. Bradley offers some evening slots for naval routines, and the Hove room is reachable by train if meeting in person would help you feel safer.

Online Trauma Counselling in Portsmouth, 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: Southampton, Chichester. See all of London & South East.

Related work in Portsmouth: anxiety counselling, addiction counselling and psychotherapy.

If you can reach the south coast, this work is also done face to face in Hove, where the room isall in-person areas are listed here.