Guildford · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Guildford
If you searched for rehab in Guildford, whether for you or for someone close to you, the free Surrey route below handles assessment, detox and residential care, through to support for the family, and I offer weekly one-to-one counselling over secure video alongside it.
The practical facts for Guildford
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Guildford by car
- About 70 minutes with clear roads (44.3 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Guildford, change at Gatwick Airport 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.
The worry that sits at the kitchen table
The person reading this may not be the one drinking.
It could be a wife in Jacob's Well who has started counting bottles in the recycling, or a grown-up son in Westborough whose retired father now pours his first glass before lunch. It could be a sister who hasn't heard from her brother in weeks and fears he is sleeping rough in town. Or it may be you, a student in a shared house near the University of Surrey whose weekend drinking or drug use has crept into the week, hoping to deal with it before anyone at home finds out. In Guildford, hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions ran at 560.6 per 100,000 in 2023/24, below England's 611.7 per 100,000 for the same year. That figure counts admissions across the whole borough, and it says nothing about how serious things are in your own home.
What i-access does, and what counselling adds
In Surrey, the free way into drug and alcohol treatment is i-access, run by Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust with the non-profit Via, on 0300 222 5932. Its team assesses what someone needs and can arrange a detox, or treatment in the community or in residential care. My part is narrower: a regular hour of one-to-one counselling. It can begin before anyone has rung i-access and carry on while their treatment is under way. It can also pick up after a residential stay, once the routine of treatment has ended and the old evenings are still there. In sessions we look honestly at the times the pull is strongest, and at what drinking, using or betting has been quietening for you, whether boredom, grief, nerves or something much older. There is no requirement to stop, or to promise you will, before we begin. I have lived experience of recovery myself, so you won't need to tidy anything up for my benefit. If you're the family member, the hour is yours alone. We can work out where your limits sit and what you'll stop covering for, and find a way to say what you've noticed that doesn't end in another row.
Free help around Guildford, and where counselling fits
The assessment comes first
i-access, on 0300 222 5932, works out with you what level of help is needed, from support in the community up to a residential place. Counselling can begin while you wait to be seen.
Company at the Recovery Café
i-access also runs a Recovery Café and group support, where people in recovery spend time with others doing the same. Weekly one-to-one sessions can sit beside it.
When someone is sleeping rough
Guildford Action is a homelessness charity with a day service, personal support and a needle exchange, there for a relative who isn't ready or able to stop.
Carers count at the Safe Haven
The Guildford Safe Haven is an evening and weekend drop-in for adults in Surrey or north-east Hampshire in mental health crisis, and it is open to their carers too.
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 Guildford
If you're the one holding things together at home, i-access offers information and carers support for family and carers, and that is a sensible place to start. Action for Carers Surrey supports carers across the county, and Catalyst Support is a Surrey mental health and wellbeing charity. Any of them can run alongside private counselling.
- 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. Local drop-in crisis support: Guildford Safe Haven (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 Guildford ask before starting
Is there a residential rehab in Guildford I can contact directly?
There isn't one I can point you to in Guildford itself; the free route in Surrey runs through i-access, the county drug and alcohol service, on 0300 222 5932. It assesses what you need and can arrange a detox or a residential place from there. You can start weekly counselling with me before that assessment, keep it going during community treatment, or pick it up once you're home in Guildford after a residential stay.
My partner in Guildford drinks every night and insists it's fine. Can I get support just for myself?
Yes. You don't need their agreement to look after yourself. For relatives like you, i-access offers information and carers support of its own, Action for Carers Surrey helps if you've become a carer in all but name, and counselling with me gives you a private hour to decide what you'll do next. Before anyone tries to stop drinking suddenly, please read the withdrawal safety note in the urgent help section of this page.
Can I have addiction counselling by video from Guildford, or do I need to come to Hove?
From Guildford, video is the realistic option, since the Hove room is about 70 minutes away by car. Sessions on screen follow the same shape as sessions in the room. Talking from home can make honesty come more easily, and there is no waiting room to sit in. An occasional session in Hove is possible if you'd like one, but it is never expected.
How soon can addiction counselling start from Guildford?
You don't need a referral from anyone. Book the free 15-minute call when you're ready, and a rough outline of what is going on is plenty. I'll tell you honestly when a regular weekly slot is free. If you're also waiting to be assessed by i-access, the two can run side by side, and you won't have to choose between them.
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 call, whoever in the family is struggling
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.