Clapham · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Clapham
If you've searched for rehab in Clapham, for yourself or for someone you love who lives there, this page sets out the honest route. Detox and treatment are arranged through Lambeth's free drug and alcohol service, and what I offer is weekly addiction counselling by secure video, shaped by my own lived experience of recovery, before, during or after that treatment.
The practical facts for Clapham
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Clapham by car
- About 84 minutes with clear roads (50.0 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Clapham High Street, change at Clapham Junction for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- Lambeth Drug and Alcohol Service, 020 3228 1500
- 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.
When the worried relative lives somewhere else
A search for rehab in Clapham can start outside Clapham.
It might be a parent hours away, or in Australia, whose grown-up son or daughter rents a room near Clapham High Street and sounds fine on the phone until suddenly they don't. It might be a sister who visited and found the flat in a state she wasn't expecting. Sometimes flatmates or a partner notice first: rent paid late, a weekend that now starts on Thursday, money that doesn't add up. Distance makes it harder to judge how bad things are and harder to know who to call. In Lambeth, the rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions was 653.5 per 100,000 in 2023/24, above the England figure of 611.7 per 100,000. That describes a whole borough over a year. It can't tell you anything about the person you're worried about, and it doesn't make your worry any less real.
How Lambeth's free service and weekly counselling fit together
For a Lambeth address, the free route is the Lambeth Drug and Alcohol Service, a consortium led by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust with We Are With You, Humankind and Phoenix Futures, on 020 3228 1500. They assess what's going on, and where a medically managed detox or a residential place is needed, they're the people who can arrange it. Afterwards, Lambeth Harbour offers recovery and aftercare. I do none of that. My part is the regular hour around it. You might start counselling while you're still working up to that first call, keep it going through community treatment, or begin once you're home from a residential stay and back among the same streets and contacts. In sessions we look honestly at what drinking, drugs or gambling has been doing for you, whether that's easing loneliness or getting you through the week. You don't have to have stopped to begin. I have my own experience of recovery, so you won't shock me and you won't get a lecture. A relative can come on their own as well, to work out where helping ends and covering up begins.
Lambeth routes, for the person and the family
The assessment that opens treatment
The Lambeth Drug and Alcohol Service on 020 3228 1500 assesses Lambeth residents and can arrange detox or residential care where it's needed. Talking it through first can make picking up the phone easier.
After the programme ends
Lambeth Harbour, part of the same consortium, offers recovery and aftercare, for the stretch when formal treatment has finished and everyday life returns.
Support in your own right
Carers' Hub Lambeth runs a Substance Misuse Carers service for relatives and partners of someone whose drinking or drug use is affecting the family.
An address across the Common
Part of Clapham falls in Wandsworth, and the Lambeth service covers Lambeth addresses only. If the person lives on the Wandsworth side, their GP can name the right local service.
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 Clapham
Relatives don't have to wait until the person they're worried about is ready. The Lambeth Drug and Alcohol Service supports families and carers as well as working with Lambeth residents, and Carers' Hub Lambeth runs a Substance Misuse Carers service. Once formal treatment ends, Lambeth Harbour carries on with recovery and aftercare. Weekly counselling with me can sit alongside any of them.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceLambeth Drug and Alcohol Service020 3228 1500Free and confidential.
- Local organisationCarers' Hub Lambeth: Substance Misuse Carers service
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 Text Service (SLaM) is another option: WhatsApp 0303 330 1511 or text 80991.
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 Clapham ask before starting
How do I get my son or daughter into rehab from Clapham?
For a Lambeth address, residential rehab and detox are usually reached through an assessment with the Lambeth Drug and Alcohol Service on 020 3228 1500. As an adult, your son or daughter normally has to take part in that themselves, so you can't book it for them. What you can do is get support for yourself, through the service's help for families or Carers' Hub Lambeth, and keep the door open for when they're ready.
Is there free drug and alcohol help in Clapham if I live on the Wandsworth side?
Yes, but not from the Lambeth service named here, which covers Lambeth addresses. Clapham straddles two boroughs, and the part around the Common that falls in Wandsworth comes under that council's own drug and alcohol service. Your GP can tell you which one is yours. Counselling with me doesn't depend on your borough, because sessions happen by video whichever side of the boundary you live on.
Can I start addiction counselling by video from Clapham before I've stopped?
Yes. There's no referral, assessment queue or requirement to be sober first. Book the free 15-minute call, tell me roughly what's happening, and I'll be straight about when a regular time is free. Sessions are by video because Hove is 84 minutes' drive away. If you drink heavily every day, look at the withdrawal warning higher up this page first, and check any change with your GP or the Lambeth Drug and Alcohol Service.
My flatmate in Clapham is drinking or using more and more. Is it my place to do anything?
You can't make someone change, but you're allowed to be worried and to protect yourself. You might say plainly what you've noticed, once, when they're sober, and mention the Lambeth Drug and Alcohol Service. Counselling can help you decide where your limits are, especially when your home is shared. If you think they're in danger, call 999 straight away.
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.
One honest conversation, whoever is asking
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.