Putney · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Putney
If 'rehab Putney' is what you typed, for yourself or for a partner, son or daughter, the free way into detox and residential care runs through Wandsworth Community Drug and Alcohol Service. I offer one-to-one addiction counselling beside it, informed by my own recovery. Hove is about 80 minutes' drive from Putney, so sessions would usually happen by secure video, plus an occasional trip south when you want one.
The practical facts for Putney
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Putney by car
- About 80 minutes with clear roads (58.1 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Putney, change at Clapham Junction for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- Wandsworth Community Drug and Alcohol Service (WCDAS), 020 3228 1777
- 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.
The Waterloo train, the river and a quiet habit
Putney is busy in the way a major London town centre is meant to be.
Six South Western Railway trains an hour run to Waterloo off-peak, the District line stops at East Putney, and the high street and the Embankment fill up after work and at weekends. More than twenty rowing clubs launch from the riverside, and the University Boat Race has started here since 1845. In a place organised around work, sport and socialising, a drinking problem can hide in plain sight for a long time. The after-work round becomes a nightly bottle, a weekend line of cocaine creeps into Tuesday, or a betting app fills the ride home. Across Wandsworth, hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions were 733.9 per 100,000 in 2023/24, a rate higher than England's 611.7. That is a borough-wide count of admissions, and it says nothing about any one person in SW15.
How WCDAS, its Recovery Hub and counselling fit
For Putney adults, the free door into treatment is Wandsworth Community Drug and Alcohol Service, known as WCDAS, on 020 3228 1777. The lead provider is South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, working in a consortium that also includes We Are With You, CDARS and St Mungo's. WCDAS assesses what is needed and, where supervised withdrawal or a residential stay is called for, organises it. Afterwards, its Recovery Hub and the CDARS Wandsworth and Richmond Day Programme offer structure and company. What I add is regular one-to-one counselling, and it can begin at any point: weeks before anyone has made that first call, during community treatment, or when someone comes home from residential care and the commute and the Friday invitations start again. Our hours together examine the job the habit does, perhaps switching off a work brain, easing shyness at a party or numbing something older. We then build other ways to meet those needs and plan ahead for the evenings that carry most risk. My own recovery means you can tell me the real numbers. And if you are the partner or parent, you can come purely for yourself.
Four Putney starting points for drink or drugs
Working hard, then drinking harder
A full week of trains to Waterloo, then evenings that seem to need a drink or a line to come down. Video sessions let us look at that pattern without adding travel to the week.
Disciplined on the water
Training from Putney Embankment can sit beside a drinking or drug habit for years. Being strict with yourself on the river is no proof that the drinking is under control.
A partner or parent at home
Substance Misuse Carer Support, run by Wandsworth Carers' Centre, exists for Wandsworth relatives coping with someone's drinking or drug use, and you can book your own sessions with me too.
Routine after residential care
The CDARS Wandsworth and Richmond Day Programme and the WCDAS Recovery Hub provide daytime routine and peer company, and weekly counselling can continue alongside both.
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 Putney
Wandsworth Community Drug and Alcohol Service handles assessment, detox and residential referrals for Putney residents at no cost. Relatives can turn to Substance Misuse Carer Support at Wandsworth Carers' Centre. The Putney Wednesday Club, a Rethink Mental Illness peer group, is open to people experiencing or recovering from mental health problems, and the Inner South West London Samaritans branch on Felsham Road listens by phone. Counselling with me fits alongside any of them.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceWandsworth Community Drug and Alcohol Service (WCDAS)020 3228 1777Free and confidential.
- Local organisationWandsworth Carers' Centre
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 is another option: text 80991 or WhatsApp 0303 330 1511. Local drop-in crisis support: Tooting Recovery Café (Hestia) (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 Putney ask before starting
Where does rehab start for someone who lives in Putney?
With an assessment from Wandsworth Community Drug and Alcohol Service on 020 3228 1777. The WCDAS team, free to Wandsworth residents, sits down with the person to decide between support in the community, detox under supervision or a stay in residential care, then sets up whichever is chosen. Our sessions may come first, overlap with WCDAS treatment, or pick up once someone is back in Putney.
My wife's drinking is getting worse and she won't talk about it. Is there help in Putney for me?
Yes, and you can have it now without waiting for her. Substance Misuse Carer Support at Wandsworth Carers' Centre helps relatives and friends affected by someone's drinking, and counselling with me can be on your own account, about the worry, the secrecy and where your limits lie. Should she be drinking heavily each day, read the withdrawal warning on this page before she, or you, push for any sudden stop.
Can addiction counselling work by video from Putney?
It does, and video is how SW15 sessions normally run, since reaching Hove means about 80 minutes at the wheel or an SWR hop to Clapham Junction and a Southern train onward. You log on from a room in SW15 with the door shut, and the hour stays an hour with no travel either side. Sessions in the Hove room are possible from time to time, perhaps for a longer piece of work.
I still go out drinking with the rowing crowd in Putney. Do I need to stop before we start?
No. Booking the free call while the drinking or using is still going on is fine, and what you change, and when, is decided afterwards. I only ask that you come to each session sober enough to make use of it. Daily drinkers should check this page's withdrawal warning and ask WCDAS or a GP what stopping would involve.
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.
One call from SW15, about you or someone close
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.