Pimlico · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Pimlico
Searching for rehab from Pimlico, for yourself or for a son, partner or parent, usually means things have gone further than anyone wanted. Turning Point's free Westminster service is where detox and residential places are organised. I offer one-to-one counselling beside it, held mostly on secure video, because the room in Hove is 93 minutes' drive away.
The practical facts for Pimlico
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Pimlico by car
- About 93 minutes with clear roads (52.5 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.
Victoria on the doorstep, Parliament round the corner
Pimlico runs from London Victoria down to the Thames, close to Parliament, and Dolphin Square is home to many MPs.
So close to Westminster's offices and committee rooms, a career can give drinking or drug use excellent cover, and often the only witness is a partner or parent at home. The garden-square houses around Eccleston and Warwick Squares and the 1,600 homes of Churchill Gardens can look like separate worlds, yet drinking, drugs and gambling turn up behind both kinds of front door. Borough-wide, Westminster counted 689.0 admissions per 100,000 for alcohol-specific conditions in 2023/24, which sits above England's 611.7. It is a separate measure from the alcohol-related admissions rate in the public health panel on this page, and neither says anything about one family. What matters on this page is the person you are worried about, which may well be you, and how to find the right help without wasting weeks.
Where rehab is arranged, and where these sessions come in
From Cubitt's stucco terraces to the Churchill Gardens blocks, the area falls to Turning Point Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea, whose Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service takes calls free on 0330 303 8080. An assessment there settles the level of care, and when it is warranted the team books a medically supervised detox or a bed in a rehab unit. Weekly outpatient counselling with me can slot in wherever you are with Turning Point: while that phone call still feels too big, alongside their programme in the community, or once rehab ends and you are back among the stucco terraces and the old evening routine. We look honestly at the purpose the drinking, drugs or gambling have served, whether that is closing the day down, numbing a loss or quietening a mind that will not rest, and what else could carry that load. You can come to the first session with the bottle still in the cupboard, and nothing here will sound like a lecture. I speak from my own recovery as well as more than 25 years of counselling. If you are the worried relative rather than the person using, the hour can be wholly yours, to think about what you say, what you stop covering for, and how your own week can stay yours while theirs is in disarray.
Who in Pimlico might be reading this
A partner drinking behind closed doors
In a quiet garden-square flat the evidence is easy to tidy away. Counselling gives you somewhere to say what you have seen, and Turning Point is where treatment starts.
Bets placed on the phone
Gambling can stay invisible for months. At the Gordon Hospital on Bloomburg Street, the GamCare drop-in at Hope in the Community Westminster holds advice every fortnight and a peer workshop each month, and counselling with me fits around both.
Unpaid carer to a drinker
If a relative's drinking or drug use has quietly made you their unpaid carer, Carers Network supports carers, and an hour with me is about what this is costing you.
Back in SW1 after rehab
Coming home from rehab to St George's Drive, the same flat and the same evening habits can test what changed; a fixed weekly video hour helps protect what treatment built.
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 Pimlico
Every Westminster address, these squares included, is served by Turning Point's Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service, which handles assessment and any referral on to detox or rehab. For gambling, the GamCare drop-in meets at Hope in the Community Westminster on Bloomburg Street, Carers Network supports people caring for a relative, and Central London Samaritans listens on 116 123 at any hour. Counselling with me can sit beside each of them.
- 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 Pimlico ask before starting
Is there a free route into rehab for Pimlico and Westminster residents?
Yes: anyone living in SW1, on a garden square or on the Lillington and Longmoore estates alike, can ring Turning Point's Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service on 0330 303 8080 and ask to be assessed, and that assessment is how Westminster opens the way to a rehab bed or a medically supervised detox. Video hours with me can begin before that call is made, keep going while their programme runs, or start fresh when someone comes back to SW1 after rehab.
My partner works near Parliament and keeps their drinking hidden. What can I do?
Another adult has to choose change for themselves, but you can describe calmly what you have noticed, pick a sober moment, and make sure they know Turning Point exists. Carers Network supports people caring for a relative. Counselling for yourself gives you room to decide what you will keep covering and what you will stop. If they ever seem in immediate danger, call 999.
Is video addiction counselling possible from Pimlico, rather than travelling down to Hove?
Yes, and from Pimlico video is the usual arrangement. The room is around 93 minutes away by road, so weekly sessions happen on screen from a private room at a regular time. Since Victoria sits on the neighbourhood's northern edge and Southern runs straight from there to Hove, an occasional 90-minute session in the room is easy enough to fit in.
Do I need to stop drinking, or wait for Turning Point, before starting counselling?
You need neither. Book a short introductory call and I will tell you honestly which regular times are free. Anyone drinking large amounts daily should talk with a GP or Turning Point before changing anything, and read the withdrawal safety note beside the crisis numbers on this page, since stopping suddenly can be dangerous.
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 call from SW1, for you or for them
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.