Alcohol
For when drinking has stopped feeling like a choice.
Addiction Counselling · Preston Park
Addiction Counselling for Preston Park and the surrounding area, in person or online. Preston Park, named after the city's largest park, is a leafy and well-connected district north of central Brighton. From my room in nearby Hove I offer a calm, confidential space to do this work.

In and around Preston Park
Life in Preston Park
This is commuter ground. Trains leave early from Preston Park station and come back late, and the streets between Preston Drove, Beaconsfield Villas and Ditchling Road fill up again in the evening with people who have spent the day somewhere else. A great deal is held together here: mortgages, childcare handovers around Fiveways, work that follows you home on a phone. Things that take the edge off get woven into that schedule without anyone deciding to weave them. A drink on the train. An app opened in a quiet carriage. A weekend habit that has begun turning up midweek. From the outside everything continues to run exactly on time, which is part of the trouble.
Areas covered
Wherever you are in Preston Park, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
Official figures for Preston Park, for context rather than as a description of you.
the rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions (narrow definition) was 413.5 per 100,000 in 2023/24, below the England average of 504.1 per 100,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Admission episodes for alcohol-related conditions (narrow) (2023/24).
the rate of deaths from drug misuse was 11.1 per 100,000 in 2022 - 24, above the England average of 5.8 per 100,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Deaths from drug misuse (2022 - 24).
Reviewed June 2026.
Addiction counselling here treats the pain beneath the habit, not just the symptom, alcohol, drugs, gambling, food or behavioural, so recovery is something you grow into rather than force.
The method travels; only the geography changes. addiction counselling in detail explains it properly, how I work answers the practical questions, and my credentials and registration shows how the practice is held to account.
Sessions take place in a private, comfortable room at Intergen House on Western Road in central Hove, held to the strict BACP confidentiality you would expect. We begin with a free fifteen-minute call to check we are a good fit, and the same sessions are available by secure video if travelling is difficult or you would simply prefer it.
Hove is about ten minutes away by car, or a short train ride from Preston Park station, so an in-person session in the Hove room off Western Road does not require rearranging a day. That makes it realistic to hold a consistent weekly slot, which this work benefits from. On weeks when you are away, travelling or simply spent, the same session runs online by secure video without losing the thread.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
For when drinking has stopped feeling like a choice.
Compassionate, confidential help with substance use.
Breaking the cycle of compulsive gambling, guilt and debt.
Support for food and process addictions.
Help for those living alongside someone's addiction.
We treat the cause, not just the symptom.
Addiction Counselling in Preston Park
Addiction counselling here covers the full range, including the behavioural habits that never get called addiction until quite late. Gambling, trading apps, gaming, shopping and pornography all build the same machinery as a substance, and they suit a life that is already busy, because they fit in the gaps. High-functioning is the phrase people reach for, and it usually means nothing has fallen over yet while a great deal is being spent keeping it upright. What we examine is the arrangement itself: what it reliably delivers, what it quietly takes, and what would have to change for it not to be needed. There is no telling off in this room. The city's alcohol-related admission rate was 413.5 per 100,000 in 2023/24, against 504.1 across England. If you want a statutory route as well, the NHS find a service directory lists the drug and alcohol services open to you, and the Sussex Mental Healthline runs day and night.
Not sure if it is right for you? A free fifteen-minute call is a no-obligation way to talk it through.
Book a free 15-minute callMy counselling sits alongside the help available locally. You can find your nearest free NHS-funded drug and alcohol service via the NHS “find a service” directory (search “Preston Park”).
For confidential information and advice, FRANK (on 0300 123 6600) and Drinkline on 0300 123 1110 are free, and Alcoholics Anonymous and SMART Recovery run peer-support meetings you can find online.
Other local and national support verified for this area includes:
This is not a crisis service. If anyone is in immediate danger call 999. For urgent mental health support, call NHS 111 and choose the mental health option. The Samaritans are free, day or night, on 116 123, or text SHOUT to 85258.
If you drink heavily or use drugs daily, do not stop suddenly on your own. Withdrawal can cause seizures and can be dangerous. Speak to your GP or a local drug and alcohol service first, and they can arrange a safe, medically supported withdrawal. Counselling works alongside that, not instead of it.
Preston Park questions
In a private room at Intergen House on Western Road in central Hove. Preston Park is around ten minutes from the office by car or a short train ride to Hove, with Preston Park Station close by. Every service is also available by secure video across the UK, so you can meet from any private space in Preston Park or blend the two.
Early appointments are available, and being ten minutes from Hove makes them workable. Some people prefer the reverse and book after they are back, so the hour sits between work and home rather than at the start of a day they then have to perform through.
Fees are flat and simple: £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120. There is no block booking to buy and no discount structure, which keeps you free to stop whenever you want. That first 15-minute consultation carries no charge either.
Brighton and Hove has no single verified council drug and alcohol page, so the NHS find a service directory is the route to use. It shows the free specialist services near you. Many people use one of those for practical support while keeping counselling separate.
The room is in central Hove rather than on your own streets, which is why some people who live near Fiveways prefer it. It is an ordinary building with nothing on the door about what happens inside. Video is there when you would rather not travel at all.
It is not. Coming while the wheels are still on is easier work than coming afterwards, and it is more common than people assume. Waiting for a consequence severe enough to justify asking for help is how a habit buys itself several more years.
Around ten minutes by car, or a short train ride from Preston Park Station to Hove and a few minutes' walk. Online sessions are also available if that is easier for you.
Preston Park Station has frequent trains reaching Hove in a few minutes, then a short walk or bus to Western Road, and driving takes around ten minutes with parking near the room. Book a free fifteen-minute consultation first on 07914 681995 or online.
Sessions are £80 for sixty minutes, £100 for ninety and £120 for two hours, with a free first call. Preston Park lies within Brighton and Hove, so you can self-refer to Pavilions, the free Change Grow Live drug and alcohol service, without a GP.
Yes. The train to Hove is quick, and evening slots help around work, but secure video is there if you would rather stay put. Being a short hop from both the Downs and the sea, Preston Park clients often mix in-person and online as their week falls.
A free fifteen-minute call is the simplest place to start, no obligation, just a chance to see if we are the right fit.
Also available nearby: Brighton, Patcham, Hove. See all areas I cover.
Also available in Preston Park: substance use counselling, counselling for drinking problems and trauma counselling.
There is more on this in my writing: illness or indulgence? and a cognitive-restructuring exercise for compulsive behaviour.
Prefer to meet remotely? The same addiction counselling is available online by secure video across the UK, or see online counselling by region.