Alcohol and drug counselling that starts where you actually are

The work

Nobody drinks like that for no reason

Substance use almost always starts out working. It takes the edge off, it makes the evening bearable, it turns off a thought you cannot otherwise turn off. The problem is not that it fails. The problem is that it works, reliably and immediately, and eventually it is the only thing that does.

So the question is not really why you drink or use. The question is what it is holding at bay, and what would need to be different for you not to need it. That is slower work than a rule about weekends, and it is the part that actually lasts.

What we work on

• What the substance is doing for you, in specific terms rather than general ones
• The chain leading up to a session of use, and where in that chain there is any room to move
• Triggers, including the ones that are people and places rather than feelings
• Relapse, when it happens, treated as information about a thin plan rather than a moral failure
• What life fills up with once the substance is not filling it, because an empty evening is dangerous
• The relationships around the use, which are usually strained and often exhausted
• Sleep, routine and the boring structural things that quietly decide whether any of this holds

Abstinence or moderation

I will not decide that for you in the first session. For some people, and with some substances, abstinence is genuinely the only thing that works and pretending otherwise wastes years. For others, a serious look at moderation is a reasonable place to start. What matters is testing it honestly against what actually happens rather than against what you hope will happen.

Where this fits with other support

Counselling works well alongside a GP, a detox or rehab programme, AA or NA, SMART Recovery, or a community alcohol and drug service. It is not in competition with any of them. If what you need is a residential programme rather than an hour a week, I will say so and help you find the right door.