Lewisham · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Lewisham
If you've searched for rehab in Lewisham, whether it's about you or someone you're worried sick about, this page sets out where detox and residential care come from and where counselling fits. Recovery is part of my own history, and I offer weekly one-to-one counselling over secure video alongside the free route. Family members and partners can come in their own right.
The practical facts for Lewisham
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Lewisham by car
- About 85 minutes with clear roads (65.5 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Lewisham, change at London Bridge for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- New Direction drug and alcohol recovery service (Lewisham), 020 8314 5566
- 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.
How the search for help starts in a Lewisham family
For some families, the search begins after a frightening night: a fall or an ambulance, and hours of waiting at University Hospital Lewisham.
For others it builds slowly. A father in Lee Green has a grown son back in the box room, sleeping into the afternoon. A partner in Hither Green has learned what kind of evening it will be from the way the key turns in the lock. Lewisham's 2023/24 figure for alcohol-specific hospital admissions, 595.6 per 100,000, was similar to England's 611.7 per 100,000. A number for a whole borough can't tell you how serious things are behind your own front door, and it says nothing about what living with it is costing you.
New Direction, rehab, and the counselling around them
In Lewisham the free starting point for drugs or alcohol is New Direction, the borough's recovery service, which Change Grow Live runs and which answers on 020 8314 5566. They assess what is going on, and if someone needs a medically managed detox or a residential place, New Direction is where that gets arranged. What I offer is the weekly hour around that route. Before the call, counselling can be where you say it out loud for the first time and work out what you want to ask. During community treatment, it gives you somewhere to bring the cravings, the arguments and the bad days. After a residential stay, when you're back in Lewisham where the old contacts are still saved and the old evenings are waiting, it gives the first months some shape, alongside the aftercare and recovery groups that Waythrough Lewisham PCRS runs. Together we look plainly at the job the drink, drugs or betting has been doing, the edge it takes off and the feelings it keeps down, and you won't get a lecture. My own recovery means very little will shock me, and you don't need to have stopped before we begin.
Free help in Lewisham, for the person and for the family
Calling New Direction
New Direction, which Change Grow Live runs for the borough, carries out the assessment that leads to detox or residential care where that is needed. Counselling can help you make the call.
Groups for families and carers
Change Grow Live runs a Family and Carers Group through New Direction, and Insight Lewisham's Family, Friends and Carers programme supports relatives in their own right.
Carers Lewisham, for the worried
Carers Lewisham has support for the family and friends of someone who uses drugs or alcohol, so the person doing the worrying can get help of their own.
Groups once treatment ends
Waythrough Lewisham PCRS runs aftercare and recovery groups, so the months after rehab or community treatment aren't faced alone. Weekly video sessions can run alongside them.
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 Lewisham
Treatment itself comes through New Direction, but other free help can sit around it. If someone else's drinking is shaping your life, Al-Anon Family Groups support relatives and friends across the UK and Eire. If your own mental health is suffering, SEL Mind Connect offers advisers, benefits help and peer groups once your GP surgery or South London and Maudsley refers you. On the worst nights, Samaritans answer free on 116 123, and their local branch covers Lewisham, Greenwich and Southwark.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceNew Direction drug and alcohol recovery service (Lewisham)020 8314 5566Run by Change Grow Live (CGL). Free and confidential.
- Local organisationCarers Lewisham
- Local organisationAl-Anon Family Groups UK & EireSupport for families and friends.
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 (SLaM) is another option: WhatsApp 0303 330 1511 or text 80991.
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 Lewisham ask before starting
Where does the route to a rehab place begin for someone in Lewisham?
It usually begins with New Direction, the free service for drugs and alcohol that Change Grow Live operates in the borough, on 020 8314 5566. Their assessment decides what level of treatment is safe and suitable, and if that means detox or a residential stay, they set it up. Counselling with me can begin now, carry on through community treatment, and support the return home.
My partner drinks every night and we live together in Lewisham. Can I get help for me?
Yes, and they don't have to agree to it, or even know. Sessions with me can be your space to work out what you'll no longer cover for, and how to look after yourself while still caring about them. New Direction's Family and Carers Group and Insight Lewisham's family programme both support relatives directly. If your partner drinks heavily every day, please check the withdrawal warning above these questions before anyone stops suddenly.
Is it possible to have addiction counselling from Lewisham without travelling?
Yes, and from Lewisham that's the normal arrangement, since the Hove room is around 85 minutes by car, with a change at London Bridge by train. A video session follows the same shape as one in the room, and you can join on a lunch break or from your car if home isn't private. Once things are steadier, a longer session in Hove can be arranged if you'd like to meet.
Do I have to wait for New Direction before I can see you from Lewisham?
No. You can book the free call while you're still drinking or using, and while you wait for an assessment, and counselling can overlap with New Direction's support. I'll tell you honestly when a regular time is free. I'd only ask that you're not under the influence when we meet, because otherwise the hour slips away from you.
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.
Whoever it's about, the first call is the same
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.