Request a Callback

Addiction Counselling

Counselling is a vital part of any recovery programme. Learn how counselling can help you overcome an addiction or mental health issue. Enquire Now
Addiction Counselling
Alexander Lapa
Updated on 15/12/2022
Medically reviewed by
Dr Alexander Lapa (Psychiatrist)

As part of your inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation programme, you may be offered addiction counselling. Working with trained and registered counsellors, you’ll identify key patterns in your addictive behaviour, any triggers, compulsions and consequences. This can help you to understand the reason for your drug or alcohol addiction, the impact it’s having, any mental health issues and ways you can move forward and prevent it from happening again.

While the counsellor is there to support you, they will not provide you with any answers but instead, be there to help you to find your own and challenge any negative thoughts.

Get Treatment Advice Now

Speak to an expert

To get in touch with an expert, call or message us using the contact details provided below. Alternatively, you can complete our online enquiry form and we will get straight back to you.

Types of addiction counselling

Your drug and alcohol rehab process is a personal journey that needs to be right for you. At Addiction Advocates, we’ll help you to find a clinic that best suits your needs and, once there, you may find that certain addiction therapy and treatments work better for you than others. This includes:

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

This type of therapy encourages individuals to open up about bad experiences, feelings and memories. A trained counsellor will then support you to deal with the emotions without leaning on a substance.

Art Therapy

Creative art group therapy is also used in rehab centres alongside drama and experiential therapy. This is because it’s believed that being creative can help a person to release certain emotions and recreate experiences that might be affecting them. By analysing what was created, it sparks discussion and can be used as a way to communicate certain feelings.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

This type of talking therapy is designed to help patients to challenge and change their negative thoughts and behaviours. Instead of telling you exact coping strategies, you’ll be guided by a counsellor to come up with your own. This is sometimes called Dialectical Behavioural Therapy or DBT which is when a therapist accepts and understands your behaviours and feelings but highlights why they might be wrong. The goal is to change the behaviour, not the feelings and thoughts.

Family therapy

Involving families and friends in the recovery process has been shown to be very successful. These group counselling sessions give everyone involved a chance to discuss how they’re feeling, any concerns, problems and overall wishes.

Motivational Enhancement Therapy

This type of therapy can be great in the early stages of recovery as it focuses on reducing doubts or fears of going through treatment.

You may also be advised to attend support groups in the local area including Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. These can both assist with long-term addiction recovery.

How beneficial is addiction counselling?

A detox programme may free someone from physical dependency on drugs or alcohol, but the psychological aspects that lead to addiction and using drugs or alcohol still need to be treated. For this reason, a combination of therapy and treatment that includes addiction counselling is thought to be the most effective.

Addiction counselling is specialist care that provides individuals with the opportunity to discuss their concerns and challenges in a safe place and gives them the support to understand these feelings. It can also:

  • Help individuals to discover problems and challenges in life that lead to substance use
  • Support with stress, anxiety and any other feelings that lead to substance abuse
  • Teach healthy coping mechanisms and specific skills to deal with cravings
  • Encourage ongoing recovery
  • Allow for self-reflection and family involvement

How to access addiction counselling

If you’re ready to start your recovery journey or want to know more about addiction counselling, get in touch with our friendly team today. At Addiction Advocates, we provide a specialist service in London and the wider UK, supporting people just like you to embark on a new path towards a life free from addiction.

All you need to do is pick up the phone and start the conversation. From here, we’ll get to know you and your addiction better. We’ll listen to your concerns, your dreams and requirements and find a leading drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre to suit. Once here, you’ll have access to various treatment options including addiction counselling as well as the support from a team who are always by your side, from diagnosis to aftercare. What’s more, they can guide you through a medically-assisted detox plan and help you to deal with any withdrawal symptoms too.

Why choose Addiction Advocates?

Choosing the right rehab for you is a crucial part of the recovery process. For this reason, we’ll help you to find a rehab centre and programme that suits your needs and one that offers a tailored care plan. That’s not all either as when you choose Addiction Advocates, you’ll also get access to:

  • Support and guidance from the UK’s leading rehabilitation teams
  • Personalised alcohol and drug addiction treatment plans – from diagnosis to aftercare
  • Medically safe detoxes and therapy
  • A wide variety of treatment and addiction counselling
  • Involvement for family members and friends
  • Individual and group sessions
  • Relapse prevention

Ready to start planning for a life away from addiction? Want to treat the physical dependencies and behavioural triggers associated with substance misuse? Call our team today and we can help you to get clean the right way, and long-term.

Seth Bolton

Seth is an author, addiction recovery expert and fully accredited member of the national counselling society. He has experience working with a wide range of addictions and mental illnesses using a number of evidence-based therapies and programmes such as the SMART models of addiction recovery.

What do our previous clients think?

Really enjoyed my time at Asana lodge. Staff are great and most have previous experience of the afflictions that affect all the clients, so they can relate to the situation you are in. I feel ready now to tackle the outside world with all the skills I have learnt.
Ben
Thank you to all the staff at asana lodge from management to the cleaners, everyone made me feel so welcome and really went above and beyond to help me in my recovery. highly recommend anyone seeking help with addiction depression and anxiety to go to asana lodge and heal your mind body and soul.
Thomas
Everyone at Cassiobury court have been very supportive with my recovery and I have learnt a lot over the past 14 days. I am taking away some good tools to help me with my addiction. I look forward to seeing the piers at the aftercare service.
Mr Hussain
I came to you desperate, feeling so depressed and anxious. I left feeling hopeful and grateful and excited about life. I can't believe the change in just 28 days.
S Molloy

Latest News

Why Do People Do Dry January? Thumbnail

Why Do People Do Dry January?

Why do people do dry January? The simple answer is that many people look to make changes with the new

Holiday Stress Triggers: How To Remain Sober During The Festive Period Thumbnail

Holiday Stress Triggers: How To Remain Sober During The Festive Period

For many, the festive season is a time of joy, connection, and celebration. Families and friends gather together, whether it’s

Can You Become Addicted to Codeine? Thumbnail

Can You Become Addicted to Codeine?

Yes, you can become addicted to Codine if you overuse this prescription drug. Codeine is one of the most commonly

How Do You Know if You Have Seasonal Affective Disorder? Thumbnail

How Do You Know if You Have Seasonal Affective Disorder?

As the days get shorter and the sun seems to disappear behind a constant thick layer of clouds, it’s actually

How We Help

Finding the right treatment for your addiction can be difficult this is why we have created a service which takes the stress away which can be a massive relief when dealing with an addiction.
Self Referrals

Self Referrals

Suffering with an addiction and being alone can be a horrific scenario for many. Whether you have a drug or alcohol addiction, we're here to help.
Family Referrals

Family Referrals

Do you have concerns that a loved one may be affected by substance misuse? Have you spotted any signs and symptoms of a drug and alcohol…
Friend Referrals illustration

Friend Referrals

Are you worried that a friend’s alcohol or drug consumption has become out of control? For many individuals, substance abuse starts unintentionally…

What We Offer

#

Free Assessment

This is done to assess what sort of help is needed so we can recommend an addiction treatment service that can provide the best help possible. All calls are strictly confidential and are carried out by a trained healthcare professional.…

This is done to assess what sort of help is needed so we can recommend an addiction treatment service that can provide the best help possible.

All calls are strictly confidential and are carried out by a trained healthcare professional.

No obligation recommendations are made after a full assessment of yourself or loved ones situation is fully made.

Recommendations include specialist addiction treatment programmes in CQC regulated facilities based throughout the UK.

If you are unable to afford private treatment then public healthcare and charities would also be recommended to you.

Read More
#

How We Support You

We have a large number of helpful services available to help give you the best possible support when it comes to dealing with addiction. Just some of the services we can offer includes: Free confidential telephone assessment Recommending CQC regulated…

We have a large number of helpful services available to help give you the best possible support when it comes to dealing with addiction.

Just some of the services we can offer includes:

  • Free confidential telephone assessment
  • Recommending CQC regulated residential addiction treatment providers
  • Arranging for an intervention, if needed
  • Insights into how different therapies and evidence based treatments work
  • How detoxification works and what is the most safest option
  • What type of rehab and detox programmes would be best suited for yourself or loved one
  • Recommendations of the best providers in your area
Read More
#

Why Choose Us?

We can help take the stress out of finding an addiction treatment provider by recommending only the best options available that fully suits your criteria. The help and advice we can provide includes making sure that your journey towards recovery…

We can help take the stress out of finding an addiction treatment provider by recommending only the best options available that fully suits your criteria.

The help and advice we can provide includes making sure that your journey towards recovery is one that can definitely be achieved.

Taking the step towards recovery can be incredibly tough but we are here to put your concerns at ease by giving you insights into the safety of undertaking residential addiction treatment and how it can put you on the path towards long lasting recovery from addiction.

Our team of advisors have extensive experience and knowledge about the subject of addiction and the treatment provided so if you have any questions then they will be more than happy to help.

Get started today by calling our friendly team today on 0800 012 6088.

Read More