Maida Vale · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Maida Vale
If you typed rehab and Maida Vale into a search bar, whether the worry is your own or a relative's, this page sets out how help is actually organised in Westminster and where I fit. My side is one-to-one addiction counselling by secure video, which means talking from a flat off Elgin Avenue or anywhere in W9, before, during or after treatment.
The practical facts for Maida Vale
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Maida Vale by car
- About 106 minutes with clear roads (56.2 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- Turning Point Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea (Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service, DAWS), 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.
Westminster's drinking figures and a W9 front door
Drinking in central London rarely looks dramatic from outside.
It can be a bottle passed round on the Regent's Canal towpath near Little Venice, rounds after work that drift late, or a flat on Elgin Avenue where nobody else sees how the evening ends. Borough data adds context. Westminster recorded 689.0 hospital admissions per 100,000 people for conditions caused wholly by alcohol in 2023/24, a rate above England's 611.7 per 100,000 that year. That number describes a whole borough, not you or your family. What it does show is that the harm is real here. In a neighbourhood where so many households are flats, and around a third are one person, drink or drugs can grow behind a closed door for a long time. Families often notice from a distance first: the missed calls, the changed voice on the phone, the excuses that no longer hold together.
How rehab, detox and counselling fit together for Westminster
Detox and residential rehab for Westminster residents are arranged through Turning Point Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea, the Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service, known as DAWS. They assess what is going on, talk through safe options, and organise medically supervised detox or a residential placement when that is what is needed. My part is the counselling around all of that. Before treatment, sessions can help you weigh up what you want and make the first call. During it, they give you somewhere steady to bring cravings, shame and fear. Afterwards, they help you build a life in W9 that doesn't keep leading back to the same place. Families come to me too. Perhaps it is your son, your wife or your ageing father in Maida Vale whose drinking or drug use frightens you; you can book sessions for yourself even while they say no to help. We look at what you can control, how to stop carrying every crisis alone, and how to say what needs saying. More than 25 years in this work, and my own recovery, mean I know this ground from both sides.
Where addiction help comes from in W9
DAWS for detox and treatment
An assessment by DAWS, Turning Point's Westminster service, decides with you whether detox or a residential place makes sense, and then books it. Call 0330 303 8080 to start.
Video sessions either side of DAWS
Weekly video sessions from Maida Vale can begin before you contact DAWS, continue while you are in treatment, and carry on once you are home again.
For parents and partners
If someone you love in W9 is drinking or using, sessions of your own help you steady yourself, whether or not they accept help yet.
Caring for someone in Westminster
Carers Network supports people looking after a relative, which can include a family member whose drinking or drug use has made caring part of daily life.
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 Maida Vale
Free treatment for people in W9 starts with a call to 0330 303 8080, the Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service run by Turning Point Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea, which organises detox or residential rehab where needed. Private counselling with me works alongside it. Relatives can also lean on Carers Network, and The Exchange at Ernest Harriss House offers advice drop-ins and community meals when money or isolation are part of the strain.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceTurning Point Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea (Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service, DAWS)0330 303 8080Free 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.
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 Maida Vale ask before starting
If I need residential rehab and I live in W9, who sorts it out?
From a W9 address, the route to detox or residential rehab is DAWS, Turning Point's Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service for Westminster. They assess you and, where it is needed, line up medically supervised withdrawal or a bed in a residential unit, which may be some distance from W9. I provide one-to-one counselling that can run before, alongside or after that treatment, held over video from your home in Maida Vale.
How do I contact the Westminster drug and alcohol service?
Turning Point Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea can be reached on 0330 303 8080, and you can contact them yourself. They will ask about your drinking or drug use and talk through options. If calling feels too big, a counselling session first can help you prepare what to say. Waiting times are set by them, and our sessions can begin while you wait.
My son in Maida Vale is drinking heavily and won't get help. Can I see you?
Yes. Sessions for a worried parent, partner or sibling are a real part of my work, and you don't need his agreement to come. We focus on you: the fear, the anger, the bargaining, and what you can and can't change. You can join by video from wherever you live, and Carers Network may also support you as a relative.
Would addiction counselling by video work as well as coming in?
For a lot of people in early recovery, video makes it easier to keep going week after week, since there is no 106-minute drive or three-stage rail trip to Hove. You talk with the same counsellor from your own room, and a session at a fixed time can become a steady anchor. If you'd ever like to meet face to face, a visit to Hove can be arranged.
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 before you make the next call
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.