Bexleyheath · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Bexleyheath
If you've typed rehab Bexleyheath into a search bar, for yourself or for a son, daughter or partner, here is where I fit. In Bexley, the Pier Road Project does the assessing and arranges detox or rehab where needed. What I offer, as a counsellor in recovery myself, is one-to-one addiction counselling by secure video, before, alongside or after that free route.
The practical facts for Bexleyheath
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Bexleyheath by car
- About 76 minutes with clear roads (63.2 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Bexleyheath, change at London Victoria for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- The Pier Road Project (Bexley Drug and Alcohol Service), 01322 357940
- 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.
Drinking that hides inside an ordinary suburb
In a suburb of school runs and tidy front gardens, a habit can stay hidden for years, whether it is wine that starts the minute the Cannon Street train gets in or cocaine that came in with nights out in town.
The person reading this may not be the one using at all. It may be a mother in Barnehurst whose grown-up son still lives at home, or a husband who has started checking the recycling. When the neighbours know your car, keeping quiet can feel safer than asking anyone for help. For the borough as a whole, Bexley's hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions came to 405.6 per 100,000 people in 2023/24, below England's 504.1. A borough figure says nothing about one household, and a lower one is no reason to doubt what you are seeing at home.
The Pier Road Project, rehab, and where counselling fits
In Bexley, the free starting point for drugs or alcohol is the Pier Road Project, the borough's drug and alcohol service, led by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust with partners including St Giles Trust. You can call them on 01322 357940. They assess what someone needs, and if a medically supported detox or a residential rehab place is right, they are the ones who arrange it. What I offer is the counselling around that route: before someone feels able to pick up the phone, while they wait, alongside community treatment, or afterwards, when a person comes home and finds the old evenings waiting. In sessions we look plainly at what the drinking, drugs or gambling has been doing for you, perhaps switching off after work or numbing a loss, and what else could do that job. I won't lecture, and I have been through a version of this myself. If you're the parent or partner, you can come for yourself, to look at the line between helping and covering up, and at how to keep your own life from shrinking around someone else's habit.
Four ways in, depending on who you are
A grown-up child still at home
Your son or daughter lives under your roof and the drinking or using is getting worse. The Pier Road Project runs support for families and friends, separate from their own treatment.
The partner doing the cover-up
You ring in sick for them and hide the empties before the children see. Carers' Support in Bexley may help if looking after them has quietly become your whole week.
Not ready to call yet
You can talk it through with me first, and work out what you would want to ask the Pier Road Project when you do ring 01322 357940.
Wanting people who understand
The Pier Road Project runs service user groups, peer mentors and SMART Recovery groups, so you can be among people who know it from the inside, alongside one-to-one sessions.
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 Bexleyheath
The Pier Road Project is the place to ask about detox or rehab in Bexley, and it supports families and friends as well as the person using. Carers' Support (Bexley) and the Mind in Bexley Carers Service help if you've become someone's carer, and the Bexley and Dartford Samaritans branch is in Bexleyheath. Any of them can run beside private counselling.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceThe Pier Road Project (Bexley Drug and Alcohol Service)01322 357940Free and confidential.
- Local organisationPier Road Project service user groups, peer mentors and SMART Recovery groups
- Local organisationCarers' Support (Bexley)
- Local organisationCounselling Matters Bexley
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.
The South London NHS Mental Health Crisis WhatsApp Service () is another option: WhatsApp 0303 330 1511. Local drop-in crisis support: Bexley Crisis Cafe (Mind in Bexley) (check opening times before you go).
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 Bexleyheath ask before starting
How does someone in Bexleyheath get a rehab place?
The usual route starts with the Pier Road Project, Bexley's free drug and alcohol service, on 01322 357940. They assess what is needed and arrange detox or a residential place where that is the right step. Counselling with me can begin now and carry on around whatever they arrange, including the weeks after someone comes home.
My adult son lives with us in Bexleyheath and drinks every day. Can I get help even if he won't?
Yes. You can have sessions in your own right, about the worry, the arguments and the times you've covered for him. The Pier Road Project also supports the families and friends of someone who drinks or uses drugs. Because he drinks every day, please read the safety note on this page, and bring in his GP or the Pier Road Project early.
Can addiction counselling from Bexleyheath happen by video?
Yes. With Hove about 76 minutes away by car, video is how we would normally work, from wherever you can talk without being overheard. It keeps your appointments out of sight of anyone on your street. If you would like to meet face to face later, once things are steadier, a longer session in Hove is possible.
Do I need to stop drinking, or wait for the Pier Road Project, before seeing you?
Neither. You can book the free call while you are still drinking or using, and while you wait for an assessment. I only ask that you don't come to a session intoxicated, so the time is useful to you. Counselling and support from the Pier Road Project can overlap. If you drink every day, please read the safety note on this page first.
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.
Ring about yourself, or about them
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.