Folkestone · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Folkestone
Perhaps you typed rehab Folkestone at midnight, worried about your own drinking or about a husband, daughter or brother. In Folkestone, assessment, detox and any rehab bed are organised by The Forward Trust through its East Kent service. I offer one-to-one addiction counselling around that, and with Hove 113 minutes away by car, sessions from Folkestone would normally be on secure video.
The practical facts for Folkestone
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Folkestone by car
- About 113 minutes with clear roads (97.7 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- East Kent community drug and alcohol service (The Forward Trust), 0300 123 1186
- 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.
Weekend bars on the Harbour Arm, quiet drinking up the hill
Folkestone has reinvented itself around the sea.
The Harbour Arm now runs bars, live music and DJ sets at weekends and on some evenings, and the Creative Quarter draws visitors up the Old High Street. Most of that is simply a good night out. For a few people it is the setting where drinking slowly stopped being a choice. Away from the seafront, the picture is often quieter: a commuter who needs something to come down after the high-speed train back from St Pancras, a worker coming off a shift at the Eurotunnel terminal in Cheriton, or an older resident on the Leas pouring an earlier drink each afternoon. The district council calls Folkestone a town of two halves, and drink or drugs turn up in both. Kent's alcohol-specific death rate for 2024, 10.2 per 100,000, was below England's 13.8, though a county number says nothing about the person in your kitchen.
Treatment through The Forward Trust, counselling around it
From Cheriton to the East Cliff, Folkestone's way into treatment is a call to The Forward Trust on 0300 123 1186, the charity behind Kent's community drug and alcohol service for the east of the county. Their assessors listen first, then weigh up with you whether support in the community, a medically supervised detox or a residential bed suits your situation. My part is the counselling that surrounds that. Before you call, sessions can help you get honest about what you want. While you are in treatment, our hour sits apart from the groups and paperwork, a place to ask what drink, drugs or gambling have been doing for you in a town of two halves, perhaps muffling debt on one side of Folkestone, loneliness on the other, or an old hurt. Home from a residential place, you may find the Harbour Arm's weekend music and the bars along the Old High Street feel very close again, and a fixed weekly hour gives those cravings and wobbly evenings somewhere to land. Because I am in recovery myself and have practised for over 25 years, whatever you bring from a Harbour Arm weekend or a quiet flat in Foord will not shock me. Parents, partners and grown-up children can book sessions for themselves too, whether or not the person drinking is ready to talk.
Folkestone help, and which door to knock on
Assessment, detox and rehab beds
Folkestone residents reach community treatment, detox or a residential place through The Forward Trust, whose assessment line is 0300 123 1186.
Support aimed at families
Folkestone relatives worried about how much someone close to them drinks or uses can find support of their own at Al-Anon Family Groups, whatever the other person decides.
A late evening walk-in
Folkestone Safe Haven on Rendezvous Street opens to adults every evening from 6pm to 11pm, without a referral, for nights that feel too much.
When home no longer feels safe
If drinking has turned into threats or harm at home, Rising Sun's One Stop Shop in Folkestone runs a weekly drop-in on Thursdays with no appointment needed.
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 Folkestone
Private sessions sit alongside the free help in Folkestone rather than replacing it. Assessment, detox and residential places for anyone in Folkestone go through The Forward Trust-run East Kent community drug and alcohol service. Kenward Trust and Al-Anon Family Groups support families, South Kent Mind on Dover Road offers low-cost counselling and groups, and Folkestone Safe Haven is open each evening. Amparo supports anyone affected by suicide.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceEast Kent community drug and alcohol service (The Forward Trust)0300 123 1186Free and confidential.
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 Release the Pressure Helpline - Kent is on 0800 107 0160. Local drop-in crisis support: Folkestone Safe Haven (Mental Health Matters) (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 Folkestone ask before starting
Can I get into rehab from Folkestone, and who decides?
A place in residential rehab or detox comes after The Forward Trust assesses you on 0300 123 1186, and as the provider of East Kent's community treatment they decide with you what fits. They explain the options, from community support to a residential bed. I provide one-to-one counselling by video that can start before that call, continue during treatment, and carry on once you are home.
My partner drinks every night after work in Folkestone. What can I do if they won't get help?
You can get support for yourself first. Partners in Folkestone can lean on Al-Anon Family Groups, and a weekly hour with me, booked just for you, is a place to untangle the worry, settle on boundaries and find words that don't end in a row. If your partner later decides to act, their first call would be to The Forward Trust on 0300 123 1186.
Can I have addiction counselling from home in Folkestone without anyone knowing?
Yes. Sessions run over a secure video link, so you can join from a closed room in Sandgate, Cheriton or the town centre, or from a parked car, and nobody sees you walk into a building. What you say stays private within normal professional limits, and in our first session I will explain the rare situations where a safety risk could mean sharing something.
How quickly could I start counselling from Folkestone while waiting for The Forward Trust?
Fairly quickly. Once we have spoken for 15 minutes, free of charge, you pick a weekly slot from those actually open in my diary, with no queue to join. Sessions can hold you through the wait for an assessment or treatment place. Before any plan to stop drinking overnight, or if your body is already worrying you, speak to your Folkestone surgery and read this page's withdrawal safety note.
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 short call from Folkestone, for you or your family
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.