Harrow · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Harrow
If you typed rehab and Harrow into your phone in the small hours, worried about yourself or about a son, wife or brother, the door to detox and residential care in this borough is Via Harrow, which assesses adults for free. Alongside it I offer weekly one-to-one addiction counselling, whether treatment is still ahead, under way or behind you. Hove is 97 minutes away by road, so we would normally meet by video.
The practical facts for Harrow
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Harrow by car
- About 97 minutes with clear roads (76.4 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- Via Harrow, 0300 303 2868
- 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.
Where a rehab search in Harrow actually leads
In Harrow, the adult drug and alcohol service is Via Harrow, on 0300 303 2868, run by Via with a weekend drop-in staffed by Build on Belief.
Its staff assess each person's needs and then organise community support, a detox or, if it suits, a residential stay. Its assessment is free, and you can ring before anyone has agreed to anything. Getting to that call can be the hardest part for Harrow families. The council's 2026 needs assessment says Asian communities in the borough appear to reach mental health services less than their need suggests, pointing to stigma, culture, language and access, and that men here seem to seek help less often. A drinking or drug problem kept inside a household in Rayners Lane or Kenton can stay hidden for years for exactly those reasons. For context, Harrow recorded 497.1 alcohol-specific hospital admissions per 100,000 people in 2023/24, a lower rate than England's 611.7 per 100,000. No borough average describes your own home.
An hour for the person using, or for the family holding things together
Our hour each week is outpatient and confidential, and you are welcome to start before you have stopped. We look at what alcohol, drugs or gambling have given you, perhaps the train back from Euston that ends at the off-licence, or the evenings when nobody at home asks, and at what they have cost. Underneath there is often shame, and in Harrow that shame can be tied up with family reputation, faith or what relatives in the community might say. Talking with someone who has no link to your family, your place of worship or your employer can make honesty possible for the first time. If Via Harrow has arranged a detox or a residential place, the weeks after you come home can feel exposed, and a steady session gives them a fixed point. Parents, wives, husbands and grown-up children can book sessions purely for themselves, to talk about covering for someone, lying awake listening for a key in the door, and deciding where their own line sits. Twenty-five years and more in this work, along with a recovery of my own, mean that whatever you tell me is heard without judgement.
Reasons a Harrow household ends up on this page
Not knowing who to ring first
Via Harrow, on 0300 303 2868, is the borough's adult drug and alcohol service. Its free assessment decides with you between outpatient support, a detox or a residential bed.
Saturdays and Sundays among people in recovery
Build on Belief runs the weekend drop-in for Via Harrow and a peer-led recovery community in the borough, a place to be with people further along, between our weekday sessions.
A family that keeps it private
Harrow Council notes that stigma, culture and language may keep some residents from asking for help. A counsellor outside your community can be somewhere to say what cannot be said at home.
Looking after someone who drinks
Via Harrow supports family, friends and carers in their own right, and Harrow Carers backs people who have slipped into looking after a relative, including a partner whose drinking now runs the household.
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 Harrow
Free help in the borough can sit beside our sessions. Via Harrow, on 0300 303 2868, arranges assessment, detox and residential care, and has its own support for family, friends and carers. Build on Belief Harrow is a peer-led recovery community. Harrow Carers backs relatives worn down by caring. On a bad evening, The Cove Harrow, a crisis safe space run by Hestia with CNWL, takes walk-ins between 2pm and 10pm, seven days a week, without an appointment.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceVia Harrow0300 303 2868Free and confidential.
- Local organisationSomali Hayaan Project (Mind in Harrow)Culturally specific mental health project for Somali adults.
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 CNWL Mental Health Single Point of Access is on 0800 0234 650.
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 Harrow ask before starting
Where do I start if my son in Harrow needs rehab?
Start with Via Harrow, the borough's adult drug and alcohol service, on 0300 303 2868. They look at what he needs and can then organise support close to home, a detox or a place in residential rehab. Via also supports family, friends and carers, so you can ask about help for yourself on the same call. Sessions with me can be just for you while he decides what to do, and they can carry on whatever he chooses.
Is there a recovery group in Harrow at weekends?
Build on Belief runs a peer-led recovery community in Harrow and also staffs the weekend drop-in for Via Harrow. Being among people who have lived through the same thing offers something a counsellor cannot, and the reverse is true as well. We can set our weekly video session on a weekday, so the group and the counselling run side by side without competing for the same hours.
Can I have addiction counselling from Harrow by video instead of travelling?
Yes. With Hove 97 minutes away by car, or two trains via East Croydon, video is how we would normally work. You will want a private spot where nobody walks in, which might be a car parked up in Headstone or a room at work once everyone has left. Should sharing a room with me ever feel important, we can set aside an extended hour in Hove that week.
My family would be ashamed if anyone in Harrow found out about my drinking. Will this stay confidential?
What you tell me stays private, within limits I explain clearly at the start, for example if someone's life or safety were at serious risk. Outside those limits, I contact your GP, employer or family only with your agreement, and video means nobody sees you walk into a building. Shame tends to keep drinking hidden for longer, and saying it aloud to one person outside the family can be where things begin to shift.
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.
One quiet call, about your own drinking or a relative's
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.