Specialised attention
One‑to‑one, confidential sessions shaped entirely around you and what you're using to cope.
Substance Use Counselling
Substance Use Counselling in Brighton & Hove
"Self‑medication" can quietly become addiction. If substances have become the way you manage pain, fear or loneliness, there's a gentler way back, to a self you don't need to numb. Available in Hove and online.
How self‑medication takes hold
As human beings, we naturally move away from pain and towards pleasure. Pain makes us feel afraid, sad and alone, and that can pull us into a quiet denial of reality, where we begin to build a false self that doesn't feel the hurt.
The more we lean on that protective false self, the more we believe in it, and the self‑medicating accelerates. We become more and more inauthentic, committed to something we believe is keeping us safe, even as it deepens the very wounds it was meant to soothe.
In time, we can become our own saboteur, a spy in the camp. The work of therapy is to gently reverse that: to stop fighting yourself, turn back towards your true self, and make it safe to be the real you again.
A different starting point
Empathetic, non‑judgemental support
No lectures, no shame. We treat the root causes, not just the behaviour, so change is something you grow into rather than force.
You are the expert on you
My approach is integrative and humanistic, which means I start from a simple premise: you are the one who knows yourself best. With support, you can find yourself again, without the anaesthetic you've grown used to.
Substance use rarely stands alone. It's closely tied to addiction more broadly, and often to drinking, relationship strain and old hurt. We'll work with the whole picture, at a pace that protects your sense of safety.
If you'd like to understand my methods first, see how I work, or simply get in touch and we'll talk it through.
Start the ball rollingBefriend yourself again
If you're facing substance‑use issues, I'm here to help, empathetically and without judgement. Book a free 15‑minute consultation, in Hove or online.
What to expect
What to expect from substance use counselling
If you're reading this, you may already sense that a substance has moved from something you use to something that uses you. That might look like needing more to feel the same relief, using alone or in secret, promising yourself you'll cut down and finding you can't, or feeling anxious, low or ashamed in between. None of that makes you a bad person; it makes you a human being who found something that worked, for a while.
Counselling begins by understanding that logic rather than fighting it. Together we map what the substance does for you, the feeling it reaches for and the need underneath, drawing on Human Givens ideas about the emotional needs we all share. With Internal Family Systems (IFS) we get to know the part that reaches for it and the part that wants to stop, so you are no longer at war with yourself. Where old hurt or trauma is driving the use, the gentle Rewind Technique can settle it, and solution-focused work helps you build on the choices that already go well.
A typical session lasts an hour and is entirely confidential. We work at your pace, and you decide the goals, whether that's abstinence, cutting down, or simply understanding yourself better first. There is no lecturing and no judgement. Where it is useful, I'll happily work alongside your GP, a drug and alcohol service or a mutual-aid group, and I can point you towards them.
Substance use rarely stands alone, so we keep an eye on the wider picture, including anxiety, low mood and drinking. I offer sessions in person from Hove, including Brighton and Hove, and by secure video UK-wide, from London to Manchester. See all the areas I cover.
If you need urgent help right now
This is a private counselling practice, not a crisis or emergency service, and I can't always respond straight away. If you are in danger or thinking about harming yourself, please call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. For free, confidential support at any hour, contact the Samaritans on 116 123, or text SHOUT to 85258.
For confidential drug and alcohol information and advice, contact FRANK or call Drinkline on 0300 123 1110. For gambling, the National Gambling Helpline is 0808 8020 133.
Areas we cover
Substance Use Counselling across Brighton, Hove & Sussex
In-person substance use counselling in towns across the area, and online right across the UK. Choose your area for local detail.