Kew · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Kew
Perhaps you looked up rehab for Kew because of your own drinking, or because a parent near Kew Green, a partner or a grown child is struggling and you have run out of ideas. Detox and residential care for this borough are arranged through WithYou Richmond. Beside that service, my part is weekly one-to-one addiction counselling held over secure video, for the person using and for worried family.
The practical facts for Kew
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Kew by car
- About 90 minutes with clear roads (70.8 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- WithYou Richmond, 020 3228 3020
- 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.
When the drinking stays behind a Kew front door
Kew rarely looks like a place with a drink or drug problem.
Visitors queue for the Royal Botanic Gardens, researchers head to The National Archives, and Kew Green keeps the calm of a village. A problem with alcohol here tends to stay indoors. At the 2021 Census, 1,475 of Kew's 5,001 households were one person living alone, 29.5%, much the same share as the rest of Richmond upon Thames, and 560 of them were people aged 66 or over. When someone lives on their own, nobody counts the empties, and the first sign may be a missed lunch, a fall, or a son or daughter noticing on the phone that the words are blurring by early evening. In 2023/24, alcohol-specific conditions put Richmond upon Thames residents in hospital at a rate of 569.5 per 100,000, below England's 611.7 per 100,000; that figure describes the borough as a whole, not the house near Kew Green you are worried about.
Help for the person drinking, and for the family watching
Counselling with me is a regular one-to-one hour that can start before anyone has decided on treatment, during it, or once it ends. If the drinking or using is yours, we look at what it does for you, the loneliness it fills or the sleep it buys, and what it is costing, at a pace you can manage and without asking you to promise anything first. After a detox or residential place arranged through WithYou Richmond, the return to a silent Kew house, where nobody would spot a first drink, is when a standing weekly hour can matter most. If you are the relative, perhaps living some distance away, sessions can be about you: the phone calls you dread, the guilt of not being nearer, how hard to push and when to stop. You may instead be a husband or wife in the same house, watching it happen at the kitchen table. Because my own life includes recovery, and I have worked as a counsellor for over 25 years, you can describe what is really going on without dressing it up.
Kew situations that might bring you here
An older parent living alone
Of Kew's single-person households, 560 are people aged 66 or over. The Kew Neighbourhood Association offers free company and transport to medical appointments for TW9 residents who find it hard to get out.
Worrying from another town
You may live well away from the parent or sibling in Kew. WithYou Richmond runs support for family and friends, and our video sessions reach you wherever you live.
Back in Kew after rehab
Returning to a quiet Kew house after a residential stay can feel strangely empty. A standing weekly video session keeps someone in your corner while routines rebuild.
Caring for a drinker in Kew
If a partner's or parent's drinking has turned you into their carer, Richmond Carers Centre runs a support line and groups, and our sessions can hold what it costs 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 Kew
Assessment, detox and residential places for Kew residents go through WithYou Richmond on 020 3228 3020, which also supports family and friends. Richmond Carers Centre helps people caring for someone, Richmond Borough Mind offers wider mental health support, and the Kew Neighbourhood Association provides free befriending and transport to medical appointments for TW9 residents who find getting out hard. My sessions can sit beside all of these.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceWithYou Richmond020 3228 3020Run by We Are With You (WithYou). Free and confidential.
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 Text Service is another option: text 80991 or 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 Kew ask before starting
Who arranges rehab or a detox for someone who lives in Kew?
Kew sits in Richmond upon Thames, so the free route is WithYou Richmond, the adult drug and alcohol service for the borough, on 020 3228 3020. It assesses what someone needs and arranges community support, a detox or residential care where that fits. Our sessions can start ahead of that assessment, carry on through treatment, or pick up once someone is back home in Kew.
My father lives alone in Kew and I think he is drinking heavily. What can I do from a distance?
Help for you can begin straight away, whether you live round the corner from Kew Green or at the other end of the country. WithYou Richmond's family and friends support can talk through how an assessment works if he agrees to one, and the Kew Neighbourhood Association offers him free company and transport to appointments. In our video sessions we can plan what to say to him and decide what you can realistically carry.
Is addiction counselling from Kew done by video, and how quickly can it start?
Mostly on video: Hove is about 90 minutes from Kew by road, while the train means a South Western Railway service from North Sheen and a change at Clapham Junction. Once we have had a brief free call, you pick from the weekly times I genuinely have available, so the wait is normally short. If meeting in person ever feels important, a longer session in Hove can be arranged.
I work from home in Kew and the drinking starts earlier each day. Can video sessions still help?
Yes, and a few small arrangements make a difference. Taking the session in a different room or chair from your work desk helps it feel separate from the job, and headphones keep it private if others are at home. We can look at what the empty hours at home are doing to the drinking, and which small changes would make the day hold together.
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.
Talk it through first, whoever's drinking it is
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.