Support for Addiction
Living with addiction can feel overwhelming at times, especially when urges, emotions, and daily life become difficult to manage.
Our compassionate clinicians are here to work alongside you, offering evidence-based support in a way that feels understanding, respectful, and tailored to you.
What is addiction?
Addiction is when use of a substance or a behaviour becomes hard to stop or manage, and has an impact on your wellbeing or daily life. It can take many forms and includes substances such as alcohol, drugs or smoking, and behaviours such as gambling, shopping, gaming and compulsive sexual behaviours.
It is important to understand that addiction is not a sign of weakness. It often develops as a way of coping with difficult feelings, such as stress, anxiety or past experiences. Over time, the brain can begin to rely on a substance or behaviour for relief, making it feel harder to manage or stop.
With the right support, addiction is treatable, and many people make meaningful, lasting change. Recovery is often a gradual process, involving understanding patterns, building healthier ways of coping and making positive changes step by step.
Our outpatient service
MOAI Clinical is a psychiatrist-led outpatient service. Whilst we do not provide an inpatient rehabilitation service, our clinicians can support you if you have used a service like this previously. We can also support you if you are seeking to overcome addiction whilst continuing to navigate day-to-day life.
We understand that addiction is often connected to deeper experiences and challenges. That’s why we take a whole-person approach, looking beyond the behaviour itself to understand what may be driving it, including any underlying mental health difficulties, and supporting you with care and compassion.
The way personality disorders are described and diagnosed in the UK is beginning to change. We welcome this move and have already adopted a more understanding and person-centred approach.
In the past, people were often given specific labels, such as ‘borderline’ or ‘antisocial’ personality disorder. While these terms are still sometimes used, professionals are gradually moving away from fixed categories.
Instead, the newer approach looks at personality difficulties as something that exists on a spectrum. It focuses on how much someone is struggling, rather than trying to fit their experiences into a single label. You might hear professionals talk about mild, moderate, or severe difficulties, and describe the kinds of challenges you’re facing, such as managing emotions, relationships, or sense of self.
This change is happening because many people felt that the old system didn’t fully reflect their experiences. Some found the labels confusing, limiting, or even stigmatising. The newer approach aims to be more flexible, more accurate and more focused on what support someone might need.
It’s important to know that this change is still ongoing. Although our clinicians are using this new language, you may continue to hear both old and new terms used across different services.
Most importantly, whatever words are used, your experiences are valid and support is available. With the right help, many people find ways to better understand themselves, manage difficulties, and build meaningful lives.
Reviews from MOAI clients
Speak to us
Complete this form to find out more about how we can support you.
Alternatively, you can speak to us directly by calling us at 020 4614 3609.
