Godalming · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Godalming
If you searched for rehab because of your own drinking, drug use or gambling, or because of someone you love in Godalming, this is where I fit. Sessions are one-to-one on secure video, and my own recovery is part of why I do this work. Surrey's free treatment route is where detox and any residential stay are arranged, and counselling with me can sit before, beside or after that treatment.
The practical facts for Godalming
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Godalming by car
- About 68 minutes with clear roads (43.5 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Godalming, change at Havant for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- i-access, 0300 222 5932
- 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.
Drink and drugs behind a tidy front door
From outside, Godalming can look like a town where nothing goes badly wrong: a riverside market town on the Wey, known for its independent schools.
That picture can make it harder to admit that what used to be a Saturday thing now happens on a Wednesday, that a glass of wine at six has become a bottle by ten, or that a betting app gets opened once everyone is asleep. The district figures look reassuring too. Waverley's hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions, on the narrow definition, ran at 341.4 per 100,000 in 2023/24, which Fingertips places below England's 504.1 per 100,000. A district rate can't see inside a house in Ockford Ridge or Busbridge, though, and it says nothing about yours. Sometimes a relative notices first and starts carrying the problem quietly for everyone.
i-access first for rehab, counselling around it
If rehab is what you were looking for, the free starting point for anyone in Godalming is i-access, Surrey's drug and alcohol service, which Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust provides together with the non-profit Via. You can ring them on 0300 222 5932. They assess what's needed, and where medically supported detox or a residential place is right, they arrange it. What I offer sits around that route: a weekly hour before you're ready to phone them, while you wait to start, alongside their community support, or after a residential stay, when you come home to the same town and the same people. With the person drinking or using, we look at what the habit does for you as well as what it costs, without lectures and without asking you to call yourself an addict. With a parent or partner, the hour belongs to you: the fear, the anger, the point at which protecting someone starts to mean hiding it for them, and how to stay steady while they decide. Medical questions are for your GP or i-access, who can work alongside our sessions.
Whoever is reading this, there's a place to start
When your child is using
Your son or daughter, still at school or at Godalming College, is drinking or using and it frightens you. These sessions are for you as the parent, and your GP can advise on help for them.
A partner who hides it
Bottles moved, stories that don't add up, money missing from a joint account. Catalyst Counselling works with families, friends and carers, and our sessions can be just for you.
Before the i-access assessment
Between making the first call and starting treatment, a weekly session gives you somewhere to hold on to your resolve and think about what you want to say.
Drinking since the funeral
When alcohol has become how you get through a bereavement, we can make room for the grief and the drinking together. Cruse's South West Surrey service helps with the loss itself.
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 Godalming
Alongside private sessions, i-access is the free Surrey drug and alcohol service for Godalming and the place to ask about detox or rehab. Catalyst Counselling offers counselling for families, friends and carers, and Action for Carers Surrey supports people across the county who look after someone. If serious mental illness sits alongside the drinking, your GP can refer to the Community Mental Health Recovery Service for Waverley, an NHS team for adults with severe or enduring difficulties.
- Free drug and alcohol servicei-access0300 222 5932Free and confidential.
- Local organisationi-access information and carers support for family and carers
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 Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS FT Mental Health Crisis Helpline is on 0800 915 4644.
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 Godalming ask before starting
If I live in Godalming, who decides whether I need rehab or detox?
Start with i-access, the free drug and alcohol service covering Godalming, on 0300 222 5932. They assess what you need and, where detox or a residential place is right, they arrange it and make the placement. Weekly counselling with me can come before you go, while you wait, or once you're home again.
My grown-up son in Godalming is drinking heavily. Is there counselling just for me, as his parent?
Yes. You don't need his agreement, and the sessions are about you: the worry, the arguments, the money you've handed over and the question of what is yours to fix. i-access offers information and carers support to family members, and Catalyst Counselling works with families and friends too. If he's ever in danger, call 999.
Can addiction counselling from Godalming be done entirely online?
Yes. At 68 minutes each way by car, or a train with a change at Havant, weekly trips to Hove aren't realistic, so we'd meet on secure video. Being in your own home can make it easier to be honest about drinking or drugs. If you'd like to meet in person later, we can arrange an occasional longer session.
Can I start counselling in Godalming before I've stopped drinking?
Yes. You don't have to have stopped, or even decided to stop, before we talk. We start with what's happening now and what you want. If you drink every day, please read the withdrawal warning in the urgent help box on this page, and involve your GP or i-access before changing anything. The free call is where we'd begin.
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 private first call, whichever side you're on
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.