Brentwood · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Brentwood
If you've typed rehab Brentwood because drinking, drugs or gambling has got out of hand, for you or someone you love, this page sets out the real route. My part is one-to-one addiction counselling, and because the Hove room is an 89-minute drive or a change at Farringdon away, Brentwood sessions usually run on secure video at an hour you choose. Occasional visits to the Hove room are possible too.
The practical facts for Brentwood
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Brentwood by car
- About 89 minutes with clear roads (72.9 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Brentwood, change at Farringdon: Elizabeth line from Brentwood to Farringdon for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- Open Road Adult Drug and Alcohol Service (Essex), Chelmsford centre 01245 284772; Basildon centre 01268 531435
- 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.
Commuter-belt comfort and a habit nobody mentions
From the outside, Brentwood can look like a place where everything is in order.
The station sends Elizabeth line trains straight through central London, and the town's own employers include financial firms such as Bank of New York Mellon and LV=. Weekends might mean a walk on Shenfield Common or a show at Brentwood Theatre. That outward steadiness can make a drinking or drug problem harder to name. A drink on the train home, a few more after a long week, a habit kept tidy for years: by the time anyone in Shenfield or Hutton says it out loud, it may have been there a long while. The county picture is better than average, which can add to the sense that it shouldn't be happening here. In 2023/24 Essex recorded 362.2 alcohol-specific hospital admissions per 100,000, lower than England's 611.7 per 100,000. A county figure says nothing about one household, though, and yours is the one that matters.
How counselling fits around Open Road treatment
Detox and residential rehab for Brentwood residents are assessed and arranged through Open Road Adult Drug and Alcohol Service (Essex), the free Essex drug and alcohol service, with centres in Chelmsford and Basildon. My part is one-to-one counselling, which can sit before treatment while you decide what to do, alongside it while Open Road manages the clinical side, or after it when the structure falls away and staying well becomes daily work. In sessions we look honestly at what the drinking or using does for you, because it usually does something: quietens worry, blunts grief, fills the space a demanding job leaves behind. We look at the moments that pull you back, and at the life you want to build that doesn't need it. Families are equally welcome. If you're a partner or parent in Brentwood watching someone you love disappear into a bottle or a habit, you can come on your own behalf, whether or not they ever do. I speak about this from lived experience of recovery as well as more than 25 years of practice, so nothing you describe is likely to surprise me.
Where help sits for Brentwood households
Open Road for treatment
Open Road Adult Drug and Alcohol Service (Essex) assesses and arranges detox or residential care, with centres in Chelmsford and Basildon serving people from Brentwood.
Support for worried families
Open Road family support and Blossome, a peer service for anyone affected by someone else's addiction, give relatives their own space while counselling continues.
Recovery company near home
Essex Recovery Foundation runs Recovery Spaces, so the steadiness built in sessions has a local community of people in recovery to lean on between them.
Discreet hours from home
Video sessions mean no waiting room and no one from Brentwood School gates or the office seeing you arrive, which can make a first step easier.
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 Brentwood
Counselling with me works best beside the free Essex services. Open Road Adult Drug and Alcohol Service (Essex) is the route to assessment, detox and residential care, on 01245 284772 for the Chelmsford centre or 01268 531435 for Basildon. Open Road family support and Blossome help relatives, and Essex Recovery Foundation offers Recovery Spaces for peer support in recovery.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceOpen Road Adult Drug and Alcohol Service (Essex)Chelmsford centre 01245 284772; Basildon centre 01268 531435Free and confidential.
- Local organisationCarers First (Essex adult carer support service)
- Local organisationThurrock and Brentwood Mind (Brentwood Hub)
- Local organisationSaint Francis HospiceIndependent hospice charity at The Hall.
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.
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 Brentwood ask before starting
Where do people in Brentwood go for rehab or detox?
Residential rehab and detox for people in Brentwood are arranged through Open Road Adult Drug and Alcohol Service (Essex), which assesses what level of care fits and refers on. You can contact its Chelmsford centre on 01245 284772 or its Basildon centre on 01268 531435. I provide one-to-one counselling that can run before, during or after that treatment, usually by video from Brentwood.
My husband drinks too much but won't get help. Can I have counselling on my own in Brentwood?
Yes. The hour can belong wholly to you, whether that means the dread before he gets home, the excuses made to friends, the rows, or sorting what is yours to change from what is his. Blossome offers peer support for people affected by someone else's addiction, and Open Road family support is there for Essex families too. If he later wants help, Open Road is his route to assessment.
Could my addiction sessions run online so I can stay in Brentwood?
That is the usual arrangement. The Hove room is about 89 minutes' drive from Brentwood, so weekly sessions happen over a secure video link from somewhere private, such as a spare room or a parked car. If you'd like an occasional meeting in person, a longer session in Hove can be planned around it.
I've finished treatment with Open Road, so would counselling from Brentwood still help me now?
The months after treatment can feel exposed, when appointments thin out and ordinary Brentwood life resumes, with its trains, offices and Friday evenings. Counselling can give you a steady weekly hour to notice early warning signs and work on what drove the drinking or using. Recovery Spaces, run by the Essex Recovery Foundation, can add peer support alongside.
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.
A first step for you or your family in Brentwood
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.