Belgravia · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Belgravia
When the search is rehab and Belgravia, the person in trouble might be you, a spouse, or a relative living in one of the squares. Whichever side of the borough line your square sits on, Turning Point is the free service that weighs up drink or drug use and books detox or a residential stay. I offer one-to-one addiction counselling beside it, mostly by secure video.
The practical facts for Belgravia
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Belgravia by car
- About 94 minutes with clear roads (53.4 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- Turning Point Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea (Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service, DAWS), 0330 303 8080
- Fees
- £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90, £120 for 120. The first 15-minute call is free.
- Registration
- BACP registered member, no. 109340 (check the register); UKCP student member in advanced psychotherapy training.
Two boroughs, one service, and many quiet homes
Belgravia straddles a borough line, mostly in the City of Westminster with a small western part in Kensington and Chelsea.
For drink and drug treatment that matters less than you might expect, because one service, Turning Point Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea, covers both sides. The district itself is a place where a problem can stay out of sight. The council-adopted Belgravia Neighbourhood Plan records that 48% of occupied homes held a single person at the 2011 Census, so in a mews off Motcomb Street or a flat on Eaton Square there may be nobody to notice how the evenings go. By day around 17,000 people work here, in offices, hotels and shops, and a long lunch or a client dinner rarely draws comment. Westminster's rate of hospital admissions caused wholly by alcohol was 689.0 per 100,000 in 2023/24, above England's 611.7, yet a borough figure tells you nothing about one stucco house off Belgrave Square.
Counselling for the drinker, the spouse and the colleague
The work is outpatient and one to one, a steady hour each week. If the drinking, drug use or gambling is yours, you can start before deciding anything about treatment. We look at the moments it rescues you from, the ones it spoils, and what you would most want to protect if things got worse. If you work in Belgravia but live in another borough, your GP at home can point you to the free service there, and counselling with me runs alongside it in the same way. A household here on a diplomatic posting can feel especially exposed, far from family and in a small circle where people know one another, and video from home keeps sessions out of view. For spouses and partners the hour can be entirely yours: the explanations that no longer add up, the dread before a reception, the question of what you will and will not keep covering. Having come through recovery myself, with 25 years and more of counselling practice, I can hear about bottles, bets or cocaine without any shock, and you can say it as it is.
Belgravia circumstances this work fits around
Alone in a large SW1 home
With nearly half of occupied Belgravia homes holding one person at the 2011 Census, drinking can go unnoticed for months. A weekly session puts someone on your side who does notice.
A partner in the diplomatic quarter
Embassy postings around Belgrave Square can leave a family far from its usual support. Sessions by video from home keep the work private within a small community.
Families before the working day
Before the office opens each week, the Al-Anon Sloane Square Breakfast group gathers relatives and friends of anyone whose drinking worries them, and a weekly session with me adds an hour that is wholly yours.
Caring for a relative who drinks
If a parent's or partner's drinking has made you their unpaid carer, Carers Network supports carers across the area, and our sessions can hold the strain.
Public health figures for the area
These are local authority figures from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. The figures describe a whole population over a period, not any one person.
Free drug and alcohol support for Belgravia
Residents from Eaton Square to the Kensington and Chelsea edge share one free drug and alcohol service, Turning Point Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea, on 0330 303 8080, which handles assessment, detox and residential referrals. The Al-Anon Sloane Square Breakfast group meets weekly for families and friends of drinkers, Carers Network backs unpaid carers, and Central London Samaritans offer someone to talk to. Counselling with me can run beside each.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceTurning Point Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea (Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service, DAWS)0330 303 8080Free and confidential.
- Local organisationSonghaven dementia-friendly concerts at St Paul's KnightsbridgeFree dementia-friendly concerts for older people.
- Local organisationAl-Anon Sloane Square Breakfast group
FRANK (on 0300 123 6600) and Drinkline on 0300 123 1110 are free and confidential, and Alcoholics Anonymous and SMART Recovery run peer-support meetings you can find online. For gambling, the National Gambling Helpline is free, day or night, on 0808 8020 133 (NHS gambling support).
If raising someone's drinking or drug use with them feels unsafe, or someone at home is hurting, threatening or controlling you, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline is free, day or night, on 0808 2000 247. In immediate danger, call 999.
Detox and residential rehab are arranged through the free local drug and alcohol service named here. It assesses what you need, arranges medically assisted withdrawal where that is safe and needed, and can refer for community or residential treatment. My part is one-to-one counselling before, alongside or after that treatment, to help the changes last.
If you need urgent help now
If you need help right now, please don't wait for a session.
Locally, the CNWL Mental Health Single Point of Access is on 0800 0234 650.
If you, or someone you live with, drink heavily every day, or take drugs such as benzodiazepines or GHB daily, do not stop suddenly without medical advice. Withdrawal can cause seizures and can be dangerous. Your GP or the local drug and alcohol service can arrange medically assisted withdrawal. Call 999 or go to A&E if someone in withdrawal is shaking visibly, unusually restless or agitated, confused, seeing or hearing things that are not there, or has a fit. For milder symptoms, such as a slight tremor or sweating, contact your GP or NHS 111 the same day (NHS guidance). Counselling works alongside medical support, not instead of it.
What people in Belgravia ask before starting
Which service sorts out rehab for a Belgravia resident, given the borough line?
The borough line makes no difference here, because one Turning Point service takes in Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea alike. Ring 0330 303 8080 and its staff will work out with the person concerned whether support at home, a detox or residential rehab is the right next step. While you wait for Turning Point to see you, a first call with me can already be booked, and our sessions can carry on through any treatment and beyond it.
My husband works long hours in Belgravia and hides his drinking. Where do I start?
Start with support for yourself, which does not depend on him agreeing to anything. The Al-Anon Sloane Square Breakfast group meets weekly for families and friends of drinkers, and Turning Point can explain how assessment works if he lives in Westminster or Kensington and Chelsea. Our sessions can help you name what you have seen and decide what you will stop covering.
With a direct train from Victoria, could addiction counselling be in person in Hove?
It could, though weekly travel adds up. Southern runs direct from Victoria to Hove, yet by road it is about 94 minutes, and a weekly round trip eats into the working day, so regular sessions usually happen by secure video. After a brief free call you choose from my open weekly times, and Hove sessions can be booked whenever being in the room matters.
We are in Belgravia on a diplomatic posting. Can counselling stay private?
Video sessions are secure and you join from home, so nobody sees you arrive anywhere. In a diplomatic circle where people talk, it helps to know our conversations are confidential, with a small number of standard exceptions I set out at the start. If drinking is affecting your family during the posting, the hour can be for you alone or focus on how to support your partner.
How much do sessions cost, and is the first call free?
Sessions are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 minutes and £120 for 120 minutes, the same in person in Hove or by video. The first 15-minute call is free, with no obligation to book. There is no NHS referral needed to see me privately.
Begin with one conversation, whoever it is about
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.