Greenwich · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Greenwich
If you've searched for rehab from Greenwich, for yourself or for someone you're frightened for, the free Greenwich route below handles assessment and treatment, and I offer one-to-one counselling alongside it by secure video, drawing on my own recovery.
The practical facts for Greenwich
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Greenwich by car
- About 87 minutes with clear roads (67.7 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Greenwich, change at London Bridge for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- Via Greenwich, 0300 303 4552
- 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.
After the shift, after the show, after the City
In Greenwich a habit can hide in plain sight, because so much of the place runs on going out.
Visitors fill the riverside, The O2 has event nights on the Peninsula, and the trains and DLR bring people home late from the City and Canary Wharf. If you work in hospitality, a drink after closing can become the only way to come down. If you work near Bank, cocaine might have started as a way to keep up and may now decide the shape of every weekend. A student at the University of Greenwich may be living away from home for the first time, and parents can be the last to hear. And the person searching isn't always the one using. Hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions in Greenwich ran at 429.3 per 100,000 in 2023/24, which sits below England's 611.7 per 100,000 for the same year, though a borough average can't tell you anything about one household.
How Via Greenwich, rehab and counselling fit together
For anyone living in the borough, the free starting point is Via Greenwich, run by the charity Via, on 0300 303 4552. They assess what a person needs. Where someone needs detox under medical supervision, or time in residential treatment, Via is the service that arranges it. What I offer is an outpatient hour each week, which can begin before anyone has rung Via, carry on during community treatment, or help hold the changes steady after a residential stay, when the old streets and routines are waiting. Together we get honest about the job the drinking, drugs or gambling have been doing for you, whether that's switching off, numbing a loss, getting through a social life or quietening worry, and what else could take that job on. You don't have to have stopped, or promised to stop, before we begin. My own recovery means very little will shock me, and I won't lecture. If you're the parent, partner or grown-up child, the sessions can be entirely yours: how to say what you've seen without it becoming a fight, where helping turns into covering, and how to stop your own life shrinking around someone else's habit.
Greenwich households this page is written for
A son or daughter at university
Your child studies at the University of Greenwich and the calls home have changed. Via Greenwich supports family, friends and carers as well as the person who is using.
A partner who drinks every evening
You've stopped believing the explanations and started counting the bottles. Al-Anon UK is for people affected by someone else's drinking, and counselling here can be just for you.
Hospitality hours, hospitality habits
Late finishes around the market, the riverside or event nights on the Peninsula, and a drink or something stronger to come down afterwards. We look at what the habit is doing for you.
Caring for someone who uses
If looking after a relative's drinking or drug use has quietly turned you into their carer, Greenwich Carers Centre supports carers across the borough, and our hour is about you.
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 Greenwich
Via Greenwich handles assessment and treatment, including detox where it's needed, and its family, friends and carers support is open to relatives in their own right. If a bad night comes before anyone is ready to call Via, the Lewisham, Greenwich and Southwark Samaritans branch at New Cross is there on 116 123. Both can sit beside private sessions with me.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceVia Greenwich0300 303 4552Free and confidential.
- Local organisationGreenwich Carers Centre
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.
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 Greenwich ask before starting
Where would someone from Greenwich actually go for rehab?
For people living in Greenwich, residential treatment and medically supported detox are reached through an assessment with Via Greenwich, on 0300 303 4552. Counselling with me can start before that assessment, run during treatment, or pick up when you're home again.
My son is at university in Greenwich and I think he's using drugs. What can I do?
You can't make an adult child change, but you can tell him calmly what you've noticed and make sure he knows Via Greenwich exists. Via also supports family and friends in their own right. Counselling for yourself gives you somewhere to think through what you will and won't do before the next phone call. If he ever seems in immediate danger, call 999.
Can I have addiction counselling from Greenwich without travelling to Hove?
Yes, and from Greenwich it's the sensible way. The room in Hove is about 87 minutes away by car, so sessions run by video, from a spare room, a parked car or anywhere private. The work follows the same shape it would in person, and nobody nearby sees you arrive at a service.
Do I need to be sober, or wait for Via, before I start?
Neither. You don't need a referral, an assessment or a date you stopped. Book the free call and I'll tell you honestly when a regular slot opens. If you drink heavily every day, talk to your GP or Via Greenwich before changing anything, and read the withdrawal safety note that sits with the crisis numbers here.
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 the person you're worried for
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.