Portsmouth · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Portsmouth
If you've searched for rehab in Portsmouth, for yourself or for a son, partner or parent, this page sets out how the city's route works and where counselling fits into it. I offer one-to-one counselling, which from Portsmouth would mostly be by secure video, since my only consulting room is in Hove. The city's own service is the one that arranges detox and residential care, and our sessions can run alongside it.
The practical facts for Portsmouth
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Portsmouth by car
- About 69 minutes with clear roads (48.4 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- Direct trains from Portsmouth & Southsea to Hove.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- Portsmouth Recovery Hub, 023 9229 4573
- 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.
What rehab can mean on Portsea Island
When people search for rehab, most picture going away for weeks.
In Portsmouth the route usually starts much closer to home. The Portsmouth Recovery Hub, run by The Society of St James with Inclusion, is the city's free drug and alcohol service, and an assessment there is how detox with medical support, help in the community or a place in residential care gets arranged. Portsmouth Recovery also lists peer support through Ambition Portsmouth and Community Day Rehab, so it's worth asking the Hub what each involves and which might suit. For serving Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel, FLAGS at HMNB Portsmouth offers alcohol and gambling support. In Portsmouth, the rate of deaths from drug misuse was 11.8 per 100,000 in 2022 to 2024, above the England figure of 5.8 per 100,000. That counts deaths across the whole city over three years, and it isn't a prediction about you or anyone you love. If worry about someone is pressing, the Hub is where to take it.
An hour of your own beside the Recovery Hub
Counselling with me is a regular hour with the same person, separate from any medical treatment. We look at what drink, drugs or betting have been doing for you, what they've cost you and what you want now. You don't have to have stopped, or even to have decided to. Sessions can begin while you wait for a Recovery Hub assessment, run alongside community support, or start once you're back in Portsmouth after residential care. If you serve, we can talk honestly about how drinking or betting fits around leave and time away, and FLAGS can work alongside us. Families are welcome in their own right. If you're a mother in Cosham whose son has moved back in, or a partner in Milton who has started counting the empties in the recycling, the hour is yours, for your fear and anger, the money and the limits you want to hold. I can't make anyone else change. My own recovery means very little you say will shock me, and medical questions stay with your GP or the Hub.
Whose search this might be
Serving, and drinking on leave
If drink or betting has crept up around shore leave or long spells away, FLAGS at HMNB Portsmouth supports serving sailors and Royal Marines, and private sessions can sit beside it.
A parent who can't switch off
The Carer Helpline from Portsmouth Recovery, run with Parent Support Link, is there for families and carers. Sessions with me give you an hour that is about your own worry for once.
Holding a household together
Living with a partner's drinking or using wears you down. The Family Support Project at The Society of St James and Rebound Carer's Group exist for the people around them.
Home from residential care
Coming back to Southsea or Paulsgrove after residential treatment can put you straight back among the people and places that went with using. Weekly counselling gives you a steady place to protect what you started.
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 Portsmouth
If you're the one standing beside someone who drinks or uses, there is help for you too. Portsmouth Recovery's family and carers support, the Family Support Project at The Society of St James and Rebound Carer's Group all support relatives, and Portsmouth Carers Service supports carers in the city. For the person using, the Portsmouth Recovery Hub is the free service. Counselling with me can run beside any of them.
- Free drug and alcohol servicePortsmouth Recovery Hub023 9229 4573Run by The Society of St James (SSJ) with Inclusion. Free and confidential.
- Local organisationPortsmouth Recovery peer support
- Local organisationRebound Carer's GroupSupport for families and friends.
- Local organisationFLAGS (Forces Link Alcohol & Gambling Support), The Society of St James
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.
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 Portsmouth ask before starting
How do I get someone in Portsmouth into rehab?
Contact the Portsmouth Recovery Hub, the city's free drug and alcohol service, on 023 9229 4573. An assessment there settles which kind of help fits, from medically supported detox to care in the community or a residential place. Treatment is voluntary, so an adult has to agree to it, and waiting for that can be the hardest part for a family. The Recovery Hub arranges any place; I can support you while it's being worked out.
My partner drinks and won't get help. Can I have counselling on my own from Portsmouth?
Yes. Sessions for a partner are about you: how their drinking affects your sleep, your money, your children and your confidence, and what you're willing to keep doing. They don't need to know or agree. The Family Support Project at The Society of St James and Rebound Carer's Group are local and set up for people in exactly your position.
I'm in the Navy at HMNB Portsmouth. Would addiction counselling get back to my ship?
No. I work privately, with no link to the Navy, and what you tell me stays confidential within the usual limits around serious risk of harm, which I explain at the start. If you'd like support built around service life, FLAGS at HMNB Portsmouth works with serving personnel on alcohol and gambling, and you can use both.
Do I need to stop drinking before addiction counselling from Portsmouth?
No. You can start before you've stopped, and before you're sure you want to. From Portsmouth we'd normally meet by video, which spares you a long trip in the early weeks. What stopping might do to your body is a medical question for your GP or the Recovery Hub, so ask them before you change anything, and read the withdrawal safety note on this page. When you're ready, start with a free 15-minute call. It commits you to nothing.
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 about you, or about them
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.