Online sessions across the UK
Specialist help with drugs, alcohol and the things underneath them.
I'm Paul Burrows, an addiction counsellor with lived experience of trauma and recovery. We work at a pace that suits you, and nothing has to be settled in the first session.
MSc Psychology · FDAC specialist · Online sessions available UK-wide
How I can help
Support for you, or for someone you're worried about
Most people come to counselling when something has already got heavier than they can carry alone. You don't need a diagnosis or a clear plan to start.
Addiction
Support around drink, drugs, cannabis and other patterns that have stopped feeling like choices.
Find out more →Trauma and anxiety
Working with the experiences and fears that keep the body on alert, at a pace you can manage.
Find out more →Internal Family Systems
A way of understanding the different "parts" of you that want different things, and getting them to work together.
Find out more →Motivation and ambivalence
For when part of you wants to change and part of you doesn't. Motivational Interviewing takes both seriously.
Find out more →Relationships and abuse
Help with relationship difficulties, communication and the impact of domestic abuse.
Find out more →All approaches
Narrative, CBT, DBT, behavioural and more. We'll choose together what fits.
See all →My approach
Less telling you what to do. More working out what's going on.
- 01We start with what's happening now, not with a list of your failures.
- 02Change is treated as something you decide, at a pace you choose.
- 03I bring tools from several evidence-based approaches and use what helps you.
- 04Sessions are online, so recovery can happen from your own home.
"Part of you wants to change, and part of you doesn't. Both are telling you something useful." Working with ambivalence, one of my core ideas
From the blog
Writing about what therapy is actually like
Plain-English articles on the brain, recovery, families and the parts of us that keep us safe.
Brain & body
Finding the Eye of the Storm
What your brain's alarm system is trying to tell you, and why fight, flight, freeze and fawn aren't choices.
Read article →Motivational Interviewing
Two Voices in One Room
Working with ambivalence, when part of you wants to change and part of you doesn't.
Read article →Client story
Finding the Courage to Change
A journey through alcohol dependency using Motivational Interviewing.
Read article →Parenting
Love That's Scared
Why some parents who have lost a child find it hard to feel close to the next one, and how therapy helps.
Read article →Free tools
Start small, no account needed
Practical things you can use today, whether or not we ever work together.
You don't have to work this out on your own.
Online sessions are available across the UK. Reaching out is the first step, and it's a good one.
Finding the Eye of the Storm: What Your Brain's Alarm System Is Trying to Tell You
Deep inside your brain sits a small structure called the amygdala. It has one job: spotting danger. When something feels threatening, it flips on like a switch, and your body floods with adrenaline before your thinking brain has any idea what's happening.
That is where fight, flight, freeze and fawn come from. None of them are choices. They are automatic ways of staying alive.
When the Fear of Losing a Child Gets in the Way of Loving Them
Why some parents who have lost a child before find it hard to feel close to the next one, and how therapy can help them bring the wall down.
Two Voices in One Room: Working with Ambivalence
How Motivational Interviewing helps when part of you wants to change — and part of you doesn't
Finding the Courage to Change: Sarah's Story
A journey through alcohol dependency using Motivational Interviewing