Purley · in person in Hove or online
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Purley
If you're searching for rehab from Purley, Kenley or Riddlesdown, the Croydon Integrated Recovery Service, the borough's free provider operated by Change Grow Live, is where any detox or residential stay gets organised. I work alongside it with weekly one-to-one addiction counselling, in the Hove room just under an hour's drive away or on secure video.
The practical facts for Purley
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Purley by car
- About 55 minutes with clear roads (40.6 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- Croydon Integrated Recovery Service (Drug and Alcohol Service - Croydon), 0300 123 9288
- 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 comfortable suburb where drinking stays indoors
Purley's roads run from the station junction up towards Woodcote Village Green, the Webb Estate and the chalk slopes of Riddlesdown and Peaks Hill, and most of what happens here happens behind a front door.
That is where drinking or drug use tends to stay hidden: a parent whose evening wine has moved earlier and earlier, a teenager whose friendships and spending have changed, a partner whose betting app now arrives with letters about debt. A suburb that looks settled can make the effort of keeping up appearances exhausting for everyone in the house. Croydon logged 303.2 hospital admissions per 100,000 for alcohol-related conditions (narrow definition) in 2023/24, lower than England's 504.1. That is a borough measure of hospital stays. It can't tell you whether your own worry is justified, and nothing has to be bad enough by anyone's yardstick before you ask for help.
Where counselling fits with Croydon's recovery service
The Croydon Integrated Recovery Service, part of Change Grow Live, is reached on 0300 123 9288 and covers Purley as part of the borough. Its team assesses what someone needs, agrees with them whether help in the community, a supervised detox or a spell in residential care is right, and then books it. One-to-one counselling with me works around that. For one person it begins before any call to CGL, as a place to say out loud how much the drinking or using has grown. For another it runs through community treatment, or starts in the first week home after a residential place, when Purley High Street and the same contacts in the phone are all still there. In sessions we ask what drinking or using has done for you, perhaps settling nerves after the Thameslink ride back to Purley, numbing a bereavement or hushing a busy mind at bedtime, and what else might take on part of that load. With a recovery of my own and over 25 years of practice behind me, blunt talk about drink or drugs will not shock me. If you're the parent or partner, sessions can be wholly about you: what you've been covering, which rescues to stop, and how to stay close to someone without losing yourself.
Where a worried Purley household can turn
Help for families and friends
CGL Croydon runs support for the families and friends of someone drinking or using, so the worry you carry gets attention of its own, whether or not your relative has asked for help yet.
Debts behind the drinking or betting
The Purley Cross Centre at Purley Baptist Church hosts CAP Debt Centre money advice on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which can steady the practical side while our sessions handle the rest.
When you have become the carer
Mind in Croydon's carers' services include mental health support and counselling for carers, worth knowing if a relative's drinking has quietly turned you into their carer.
If it becomes an emergency
Purley War Memorial Hospital is an outpatient site and not an Urgent Treatment Centre, so if drink or drugs cause a medical emergency, call 999 or go to Croydon University Hospital.
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 Purley
Treatment for Purley begins with the Croydon Integrated Recovery Service on 0300 123 9288, which arranges detox and residential care where they're needed, and private sessions with me fit around it. CGL Croydon supports families and friends, Al-Anon Family Groups helps relatives of people who drink, and Carers First Croydon on George Street backs carers. For text support in a mental health crisis, SLaM's service is on WhatsApp 0303 330 1511 or text 80991.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceCroydon Integrated Recovery Service (Drug and Alcohol Service - Croydon)0300 123 9288Run by Change Grow Live (CGL). Free and confidential.
- Local organisationMind in Croydon carers' services
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.
The South London NHS Mental Health Crisis Text Service (SLaM) is another option: WhatsApp 0303 330 1511 or text 80991.
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 Purley ask before starting
We live near Purley High Street. Who actually arranges a rehab place?
Purley is in the London Borough of Croydon, so the free route is the Croydon Integrated Recovery Service on 0300 123 9288, which Change Grow Live provides. Their staff assess first, then line up whichever level of help suits, from outpatient support to a residential place. Our weekly sessions can begin while you are still waiting to be seen and carry on once treatment ends.
Is Hove close enough from Purley for face-to-face addiction counselling?
It can be. The drive is about 55 minutes, and by train you'd change at Three Bridges or East Croydon for Brighton, then go one stop on to Hove. If a weekly trip suits you, we can meet in the room at Intergen House. When early recovery makes that harder, secure video from home in Purley keeps the sessions going without the travel.
Our teenager in Purley is using drugs. Is there help for us as parents?
Yes, for you as parents. CGL Croydon offers support for families and friends through the borough's drug and alcohol service. Counselling with me can give you a weekly hour to talk through the fear, the arguments and how the two of you want to respond together. If drinking is part of it too, Al-Anon Family Groups has a national helpline and local groups.
What if drinking or gambling has left us in debt in Purley?
The Purley Cross Centre at Purley Baptist Church on Banstead Road runs CAP Debt Centre money advice on Tuesdays from 10am to 4pm and Wednesdays from 12 to 4pm, with a referral service to Citizens Advice Croydon. In counselling we can look at the shame and secrecy that so often come with debt, and at what the betting or the drink has been doing for you.
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 confidential first call from Purley
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.