Jessica Bowie

I have daytime and evening availability. Please contact me for details. 

I work exclusively online with people who are struggling with alcohol and or drug use.

If your drinking or drug use feels like it is getting in the way of the life you want, we can work together to create a practical, personalised plan for real, long-term change. You are welcome to get in touch for an initial chat.

You do not need to label yourself an “addict”, commit to being “in recovery” forever, or follow a 12-step model if that does not fit for you. No one chooses addictive behaviour. It usually develops as a way of coping with stress, trauma, or overwhelm, past or present. When that coping strategy stops helping, change is possible, and I can support you with that.

I also bring lived experience of unhelpful drinking, so I understand the limitations it can place on your life and that sustainable, positive change really can happen.

Abstinence is not assumed. We set goals that feel right for you, whether that is drinking less, using only in certain situations, or working towards stopping altogether. Goals are reviewed and adjusted as we go.

I encourage clients to book blocks of eight weekly sessions, as this is where meaningful progress tends to happen.

Many of my clients are neurodivergent, particularly ADHD, where alcohol or drugs can become a form of self-medication in a neurotypical world. As a neurodivergent therapist myself, I work in a neuro-affirmative way. This means supporting you to understand yourself better, rather than trying to “fix” you.

If you would like to find out more about working with me, please send me a message. I aim to reply within 24 hours.

Academic Qualifications

• Masters (MA) in Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy 

(Level 7)

• Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology (Level 7)

• Bsc Hons Applied Psychology (Level 6)

• Cert HE Counselling Skills (Level 4)

Memberships and Affiliations

• Registered Member of the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP)

• Accredited Registrant of the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society.

Attending therapy sessions with me can help you by:

• Getting to the heart of what is driving your addictive behaviour.

• Providing a supportive, confidential relationship with someone who is outside of your friends and family group, who has lived experience of unhelpful drinking behaviour, and therefore you can be yourself entirely without fear of recrimination.

• Giving you space and time to express yourself fully without fear of judgement from others.

• Allowing yourself the opportunity to explore your feelings about areas of your life, your feelings that are troubling you, or if you feel troubled but don’t know why then together we can shine a light onto these feelings in order to help you change them.

• Working with a mental health diagnosis, such as depression, anxiety or stress, and working out what that means to you as an individual person, your experience which led you to feel this way and understanding what you need in order to feel differently in the future

• Allowing your capacity for your personal growth and change time and space to breathe and guide you forward.

• Processing past events that you have found difficult, and which may be making you feel ‘stuck’.

• Exploring how you experience other people, your relationships and learning about how repeating family and behaviour patterns can shape our lives.

I work in a neuro-affirmative way, which means that I accept neurodiverse people as they are and do not treat them if they need to be ‘fixed’.

My practice is anti-oppressive, as a white middle class heterosexual woman I recognise my privilege and consider myself as working as an ally to people in minority groups.

Together, we’ll work through your emotions so you can make positive changes and it can begin feel like your life is less of a struggle.

If you are interested to see what working with me might be like, please get in touch to arrange your free 20 minute video consultation. I aim to reply to you within 24 hours.

Before our first session I will ask you to complete and return a basic details and therapy agreement form as well as make your session payment. I will then send you the Zoom link for our session. If you haven't used Zoom before I can send you info on how to do this. 

I see clients online from my therapy office where privacy and confidentiality are maintained at all times.

To start the session you click on the link I send you, making sure your camera and microphone are both on. When you arrive online at your appointment time I will appear next to you on screen. 

I will talk about what you can expect from me, in terms of communication between sessions and importantly how the sessions work and about confidentiality. I will invite you to talk in general about what has brought you to therapy and about your alcohol or drug use. We will also have a conversation about any previous therapy you have had and this is a chance for me to tell you about the ways in which I work, where you are welcome to ask me questions.

This session is really for us to get used to being in a therapeutic relationship together and seeing how that feels for you. The most important aim of this session is for you to feel comfortable and let me know what your hopes and expectations are for therapy, it is OK if you don't fully know how to express these as we can work them out together. 

Towards the the end of the session I will ask you how you are feeling, and how it has felt to be here today, it is really important that you are honest with me, there's no need to spare my feelings, as my job is to help you and I can only do that if I truly know what you think about the progress of your therapy. At the end of the session we can arrange booking regular future sessions if you would like to.

Please get in touch to book your free 20 minute consultation if this sounds like the kind of therapy you would like to try.