Kensington · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Kensington
If you searched 'rehab Kensington' on behalf of a son, a partner or yourself, this page sets out where treatment is arranged in the Royal Borough and where one-to-one addiction counselling fits around it. Because Hove is a 95-minute drive from the Royal Borough, we would mostly meet over secure video, keeping the odd trip down to the coast for when it helps.
The practical facts for Kensington
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Kensington by car
- About 95 minutes with clear roads (53.4 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- Turning Point Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea (Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service), 0330 303 8080
- 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.
Long lunches, late parties and two clinics on Warwick Road
Drinking in Kensington rarely looks like a problem from the pavement.
It happens over long lunches off the High Street, at gallery openings on Exhibition Road and after concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, then later and more quietly at home. The borough's own health profile records that 2 in 5 Kensington and Chelsea residents drink more than the recommended amount. Earl's Court holds a different part of the picture. Number 69 Warwick Road houses two services from Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust: the Club Drug Clinic, helping adults cut down or stop crystal methamphetamine, GHB, ketamine, mephedrone and chemsex use, and the National Gambling Clinic, the UK's first NHS treatment service for gambling. That both sit on one street says something about the range of habits found in this corner of west London. A borough figure describes nobody's family in particular, and needing help with drink, drugs or betting has nothing to do with an address.
Where counselling sits beside the borough's treatment services
Detox, residential rehab and community treatment for Kensington residents are assessed and arranged through Turning Point Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea, the borough's Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service, on 0330 303 8080. My part is one-to-one counselling, and it can come before you approach them, run alongside their programme, or carry on once a residential stay has ended. Beforehand, sessions can help someone move from wondering whether there is a problem to actually picking up the phone. While Turning Point's programme runs, our hour asks what drink or drugs have been doing for you, whether that is switching off after a deadline at Northcliffe House, filling a quiet flat in Earl's Court or carrying the strain of a PhD in South Kensington. Afterwards, the focus turns to ordinary weeks back in W8 or SW5, when the structure of a programme has gone and the old evenings are still waiting. Stopping is harder than it looks from behind a Kensington front door, and having been in recovery myself, with over 25 years in practice, I won't need convincing of that. Medication and physical health questions belong with your GP or the treatment team, and our sessions work around their plan.
Who does what for Kensington residents
Turning Point decides treatment places
Turning Point Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea assesses drinking and drug use and arranges detox, residential or community treatment for people who live in the borough.
Weekends at Acorn Hall
Build on Belief runs the Acorn Hall Weekend Service, giving Kensington and Chelsea residents in recovery a community to spend weekends with, alongside any counselling.
Club drugs and chemsex
The Club Drug Clinic at 69 Warwick Road in Earl's Court is a free NHS service for adults in Kensington and Chelsea, and you can refer yourself by online form.
When betting has taken over
The National Gambling Clinic, on the same Earl's Court street, offers free NHS treatment to adults living in Greater London, plus a Family and Friends service.
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 Kensington
Families and partners in the borough have free support of their own. Turning Point Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea runs support for families and friends, and the CGL alcohol service for Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster offers family and carer support. Build on Belief keeps a recovery community going at weekends. My weekly hours fit around each of them, whether you are the one using or the relative in Holland Park lying awake over someone else's habit.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceTurning Point Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea (Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service)0330 303 8080Free and confidential.
- Local organisationCarers Network
- Local organisationThe Alcohol Service @ Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster (CGL): family and carer support
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 crisis line, London boroughs) 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 Kensington ask before starting
How does someone in Kensington get a place in rehab?
Residential rehab and detox for Kensington and Chelsea residents are arranged through Turning Point Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea, which assesses what is needed and what fits. You, or the person you are worried about, can call them on 0330 303 8080. My role is one-to-one counselling, for them before or after a stay, or for you as the relative living with it.
How soon could I start addiction counselling if I live in Kensington?
After the free consultation I offer you a weekly time that is genuinely open in my diary, and we start from there with no waiting list. Where heavy daily drinking is involved, the safety note on this page explains why your GP or Turning Point should be part of the plan from day one, with our hours running in parallel.
Is video counselling enough when I'm trying to stay off drink in Kensington?
For a weekly hour, video holds up well, and it removes a trip of around 95 minutes each way that could easily become the reason to cancel. You join from a private room at home, or a quiet office near the High Street, at a fixed time. Sitting face to face is still possible now and then, as a longer appointment in Hove reached by train from Victoria.
My partner uses drugs at chemsex parties around Earl's Court. Where can either of us get help?
The Club Drug Clinic at 69 Warwick Road works with adults in Kensington and Chelsea who want to change chemsex or club drug use, and your partner can self-refer online. For you, Turning Point's families and friends support is open to people affected by someone else's use. Counselling with me can offer either of you a private space to talk it through.
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.
Talking it through from Kensington, before, during or after treatment
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.