Harmful behaviours counselling (sometimes called addiction counselling) is about understanding why we do things that hurt us, and exploring what change could look like for you. Behaviours that can be an OK part of our lives - things like drinking, gambling, shopping, drugs, smoking, sex, food, gaming or social media use - sometimes become harmful, often when we’re at our most vulnerable. 

 

We all have needs as human beings. Ideally, we’d meet those needs in ways that help us to live well, but life is often far from ideal. We can find ourselves meeting our needs in ways that cause harm. There is no judgement in harmful behaviours counselling, just a curiosity to understand our needs. 

 

By exploring what needs we’re trying to meet, we can get a better understanding of what’s making us do the harmful thing. We can then work together to find ways of meeting our needs that help rather than harm.