Hailsham · in person in Hove or online
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Hailsham
Whether you searched 'rehab Hailsham' about your own drinking or about a husband, daughter or parent, the free door to detox and residential care in East Sussex is the STAR Drug and Alcohol Service. I offer one-to-one addiction counselling beside it, before, during or after treatment, in Hove 38 minutes away by car or over secure video, and relatives can book for themselves.
The practical facts for Hailsham
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Hailsham by car
- About 38 minutes with clear roads (25.2 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- Direct trains from Polegate to Brighton; change there for Hove, one stop.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- STAR Drug and Alcohol Service (East Sussex STAR), 0300 303 8160
- 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.
Shifts, a growing town and a drink to wind down
Hailsham is the largest inland town in East Sussex and still growing, with the Town Council putting its mid-2024 population at 23,768.
Work here ranges from the rope factory and industrial estates along Diplocks Way and Station Road to Gatwick shifts served by the hourly Metrobus 500, which runs through the night. When a night shift ends at dawn, a few drinks to get to sleep can feel reasonable, and the habit can settle in quietly. Money pressure sits close by for some households too, and Hailsham Foodbank and Wealden (Hailsham) Citizens Advice both work from the town. East Sussex as a whole recorded alcohol-related hospital admissions at 499.3 per 100,000 in 2023/24, statistically in line with England's 504.1. A county figure says nothing about your home; what matters is whether drink or drugs now cost you more than you want to pay.
Counselling beside STAR, Coastal Routes and the Monday meeting
In East Sussex, rehab usually starts with an assessment from STAR, provided by Change Grow Live, and STAR arranges community treatment and, where needed, detox or a residential place. Counselling with me is the outpatient talking side of that. Sessions can begin with the drinking or using still going on, before you have phoned STAR, part-way through treatment, or once a programme has ended and ordinary Hailsham weeks start again. We trace the pattern through your own weeks: the end of a night shift, the Friday wind-down, what the drink quietly gives you, and what it has cost you and your family. Often there is something older underneath, a loss, a trauma or years of carrying too much, and that gets proper time. Peer support can sit alongside: Coastal Routes Recovery is the county's lived experience recovery organisation, and the Hailsham Living Sober meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous gathers on Monday lunchtimes. I came through recovery myself and have spent more than 25 years counselling, so whatever the drink or drugs have led to, you can tell me straight.
Where counselling meets local help
First stop, East Sussex STAR
Change Grow Live's STAR team sees adults from Hailsham and across the county and agrees with each whether local help, detox or a residential place fits. You can call 0300 303 8160 before, after or alongside our sessions.
For the family at home
Adfam East Sussex supports people affected by someone else's drink or drug use, and your own counselling sessions can focus on how you are coping.
Bringing up a grandchild
If drink or drugs mean you are bringing up a grandchild, the Hailsham Kinship Carers Support Group offers peers who understand, and our hour gives you room for your own feelings.
When bills pile up
Drinking, using or gambling can leave debts behind. Wealden (Hailsham) Citizens Advice helps with debt, benefits and housing while counselling works on the strain.
Public health figures for the area
These are local authority figures from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. "Similar to England" means the difference is not statistically significant. The figures describe a whole population over a period, not any one person.
Free drug and alcohol support for Hailsham
Private counselling sits beside free help in and around Hailsham. Assessments, and any detox or residential stay that follows, come through STAR, free to anyone living in East Sussex. Coastal Routes Recovery offers recovery community led by people with lived experience, Adfam East Sussex supports families, and the Alcoholics Anonymous Hailsham Living Sober meeting is open to anyone who wants to stop drinking. Care for the Carers supports relatives worn down by caring.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceSTAR Drug and Alcohol Service (East Sussex STAR)0300 303 8160Run by Change Grow Live. Free and confidential.
- Local organisationHailsham Kinship Carers Support Group
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.
In this area you can also text SUSSEX to 85258.
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 Hailsham ask before starting
Where does someone from Hailsham go to get into rehab?
For a Wealden resident, the way in to a detox or a residential rehab bed is a call to East Sussex STAR on 0300 303 8160, a Change Grow Live service. STAR's assessors weigh up with you whether help close to home in Wealden, a detox or time away in residential care makes most sense. My part is one-to-one addiction counselling, in Hove or by video, which can come before, alongside or after that treatment.
Can I come to Hove in person from Hailsham for addiction counselling?
Yes. The drive is around 38 minutes, the Regency 28 bus runs from Hailsham towards Brighton, and Polegate has a direct train to Brighton. Weekly face-to-face sessions are quite workable from here. If shifts, childcare or a hard week get in the way, we can switch to secure video and keep the same time.
How quickly can counselling start if I'm worried about my drinking in Hailsham?
Start with a short free call to talk through what has been happening. If the call suggests we are a good fit, you pick a regular slot from my open times straight away, with no referral from your Hailsham surgery and no queue to join. You can contact STAR at the same time. Should your drinking be daily and heavy, talk to STAR or your Hailsham GP first before stopping, and see the withdrawal warning on this page.
My son lives in Hailsham and denies there's a problem. Could the counselling be for me instead?
Yes. Sessions can centre on you: the worry, the anger, the lies you have heard and the limits you want to set, whether or not he is ready to change. Adfam East Sussex supports families affected by someone else's drug or alcohol use, and if caring for him has worn you down, Care for the Carers can help as well.
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 from Hailsham, for yourself or someone close
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.