Petersfield · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Petersfield
If drinking, drugs or gambling have a hold on you, or on someone you love in Petersfield, you can have one-to-one addiction counselling with me over secure video. Inclusion Recovery Hampshire arranges rehab and detox, and your GP covers medical care. Recovery is part of my own life story, and our sessions can come before, during or after any other treatment. Partners, parents and grown-up children can come on their own account.
The practical facts for Petersfield
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Petersfield by car
- About 71 minutes with clear roads (43.7 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Petersfield, change at Havant for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- Inclusion Recovery Hampshire, 0300 124 0103
- 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.
A quiet habit in a town where people notice
In a market town of about 15,000, people notice whose car is outside which house and who has stopped turning up, and that can make a drink or drug problem harder to admit.
Some people here work in shops and offices around The Square or on the Bedford Road estate, some on farms in the villages, and others leave each morning for Waterloo or Portsmouth, so drinking can hide inside very different shapes of day. A habit can sit quite comfortably inside a busy Petersfield week: a couple of cans on the late train back down the Portsmouth Direct line, a bottle that empties faster than it used to once the children are in bed, a few bets on your phone in the lunch hour. Sometimes the family sees it first. A partner or parent tells themselves it's stress, or a phase, until the worry is keeping them awake too. You don't need to wait until things look serious to anyone else before talking about it, and the first conversation can be about someone else entirely.
Rehab, Inclusion Recovery Hampshire and where I fit
If you searched for rehab in Petersfield, the honest place to start is Inclusion Recovery Hampshire on 0300 124 0103. It's the county's free drug and alcohol service, run by Inclusion. They assess what you need, and if detox or a residential stay is the right step, arranging it is their job. Counselling with me sits around that: before you're ready to call them, while you wait, alongside community treatment, or after you come home from a residential stay, when the old routines of the town are waiting for you. In sessions we start with what's true now. You might want to stop, to change how much you use, or simply to look honestly at what's happening, and any of those is a fair place to begin. We look at what the habit has been doing for you, perhaps switching off after a long day or quietening grief, and what else could do that job. Very little will shock me, and I won't lecture you. Anything medical is for your GP or Inclusion, who can work alongside our sessions. Hampshire's drug misuse death rate for 2022-24 stood at 4.1 per 100,000, lower than England's 5.8 per 100,000, though a county figure can't describe one family's worry.
Different doors into the same problem
Before you call Inclusion
Not ready to walk into a service yet? We can talk through what's happening first, and what you'd want from Inclusion Recovery Hampshire when you do get in touch.
Cans on the late train
If the Portsmouth Direct line home from Waterloo has become where the drinking starts, we can look at what the evening drink is doing for you, and what it is quietly costing at home.
Your son or daughter using
If your teenager started drinking or using after moving on to Bohunt Sixth Form or Alton College, you need somewhere for your own worry. Parent Support Link (PSL) supports families, and sessions can be about you.
Back from treatment
Returning from a residential stay to The Square, the Heath and the friends you left can be unsettling. Regular sessions give you somewhere to think through each week back in Petersfield.
Public health figures for the area
These are local authority figures from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. "Similar to England" means the difference is not statistically significant. The figures describe a whole population over a period, not any one person.
Free drug and alcohol support for Petersfield
Free local support can run beside our sessions. For any question about detox or rehab, start with Inclusion Recovery Hampshire, the county drug and alcohol service. Parent Support Link (PSL) offers family support, and the Princess Royal Trust for Carers in Hampshire supports people looking after someone. Petersfield Counselling Service offers general counselling, not addiction help, and Havant and East Hants Mind is the local Mind.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceInclusion Recovery Hampshire0300 124 0103Free 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.
In this area you can also text HANTS to 85258. Local drop-in crisis support: Havant Adults' Safe Haven (Havant & East Hants Mind) (check opening times before you go).
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 Petersfield ask before starting
Can you get me into rehab from Petersfield?
For Petersfield, the route to detox or residential treatment runs through Inclusion Recovery Hampshire on 0300 124 0103, which assesses what you need and arranges it where it's right. Inclusion is part of an NHS trust, and its service is free. What I can offer is regular counselling by video before you go, while you wait, and once you're home.
Can I have counselling from Petersfield about my partner's drinking, on my own?
Yes. Sessions can be entirely about you: the worry, the rows, the times you've covered for them and the question of what's yours to fix. Your partner doesn't need to agree, or be ready to change, for you to come. If looking after them has taken over your life, the Princess Royal Trust for Carers in Hampshire supports carers. If they're ever in danger, call 999.
Could I come to Hove in person from Petersfield instead of using video?
You can, although it's a long trip: about 71 minutes by car, or by train with a change at Havant. For most weeks video is more realistic, and it means no one in Petersfield sees you heading to an appointment. If being in the same room matters to you, we can plan a longer session in Hove every so often. If you commute to Waterloo, a session from a private room at work is another option.
Is drinking something Petersfield Counselling Service can help with?
It's a low-cost charity offering general counselling to adults, and it isn't an addiction service, so for drinking or drugs the free route is Inclusion Recovery Hampshire. You could still use Petersfield Counselling Service for other things in your life. Private sessions with me can focus on the drinking itself, alongside Inclusion if you're working with them too. It's also worth knowing that Petersfield Hospital on Swan Street lists community mental health teams among its services.
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.
A first conversation, for you or your family
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.