Richmond upon Thames · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Richmond upon Thames
Whether the rehab search was for you, a parent growing older on Richmond Hill or an adult son or daughter, the free first contact for any detox or residential stay across the borough is WithYou Richmond. Around that service sits my own part: weekly addiction counselling, one to one over secure video, whether treatment is still being weighed up, already under way or finished.
The practical facts for Richmond upon Thames
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Richmond upon Thames by car
- About 88 minutes with clear roads (70.0 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Richmond, change at Clapham Junction for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- WithYou Richmond, 020 3228 3020
- 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.
Who sorts out treatment for someone in Richmond
At the 2021 Census, Richmond upon Thames shared the highest median age in London, 41, and that shapes who ends up searching for help here.
Often it is someone in their forties worried about a mother on Richmond Hill or a father in Petersham whose evening drink has crept into the afternoon. Just as often it is a partner, or the person drinking, reading this after the house has gone quiet. Treatment for borough residents is free through WithYou Richmond, which works within RCDAS: its staff assess what is happening and then set up whichever fits, from community-based help to a detox bed or a residential placement. For anyone without a settled home, the Vineyard Community Centre Crisis Drop-In in central Richmond hosts a St Mungo's/SLAM substance misuse outreach team on weekday mornings. On the narrow definition, the borough recorded 366.6 alcohol-related hospital admissions per 100,000 in 2023/24, below England's 504.1 per 100,000, a count across a whole borough that cannot describe one household.
Adult children, partners and the person drinking
Addiction counselling with me is a weekly one-to-one hour, and who uses it depends on whose life is being shaken. If the drinking, drug use or gambling is your own, you can begin while still using. We look at when the pull arrives, what it settles for you, and what it has taken from work, money and home. If you are coming back to Richmond after a residential stay arranged through WithYou, the first months home can feel exposed, and a fixed session gives the wobbles somewhere to go before they grow. If you are the relative, the hour is about you: the checking, the excuses offered to friends, the guilt about stepping back. Sometimes that work shows the worry did not begin with a partner or parent now, but with growing up around a drinker decades ago. The ACA Richmond Wednesday meeting at The Bridge exists for exactly that, while Al-Anon Richmond Bridge Monday gathers relatives and friends of drinkers. Having lived through recovery, and counselled for over 25 years, I mean it when I say you can use the plain words, about bottles, debts or lies, and be heard without a flinch.
Where you might be standing in all this
A parent drinking at home
In a borough with London's joint-oldest median age, the person causing worry may be your mother or father. WithYou Richmond is the place to ask about an adult's assessment, and our sessions help you plan that conversation.
Raised around a drinker
If a parent's drinking shaped your childhood, the ACA Richmond Wednesday meeting at The Bridge is a weekly peer group for adults who grew up that way, and counselling can go deeper alongside it.
Living with someone who drinks
WithYou Richmond runs support for family and friends, and Al-Anon Richmond Bridge Monday meets weekly. Our hour can focus on your limits, your sleep and your own health.
Nowhere steady to stay
The weekday morning Crisis Drop-In at the Vineyard Community Centre offers support workers, GP sessions and addiction recovery support for people facing homelessness or crisis in central Richmond.
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 Richmond upon Thames
WithYou Richmond, on 020 3228 3020, is where Richmond's free assessments start, and its team books any detox or residential bed that is needed. Its family and friends support is open to worried relatives. Al-Anon Richmond Bridge Monday and the ACA Richmond Wednesday meeting at The Bridge offer peer support, while Richmond Carers Centre helps people who have ended up caring for someone who drinks. You can lean on any of these and still keep a weekly hour with me.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceWithYou Richmond020 3228 3020Run by We Are With You (WithYou). Free and confidential.
- Local organisationAl-Anon Richmond Bridge Monday
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.
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 Richmond upon Thames ask before starting
Is there a rehab in Richmond, and who decides whether someone needs one?
Residential places for Richmond residents are arranged after an assessment by WithYou Richmond, which runs adult drug and alcohol support across the borough at no cost, on 020 3228 3020. Its team looks at what is needed, anything from regular community appointments to a residential stay, with a detox first where that is needed. Counselling with me can sit before, alongside or after any of that, and you can book a first call without waiting for their assessment.
My mother lives alone on Richmond Hill and I think she drinks too much. What can I do?
Start with yourself, because you can act on that today. WithYou Richmond offers support for family and friends and can explain how an assessment works if she agrees to one. Richmond Carers Centre helps if you have become her carer. In our sessions we can work out what to say to her, what you will keep doing, and what you need to stop carrying alone.
Would addiction counselling from Richmond be by video, and how soon could it begin?
Video, nearly every time, because the Hove room is some 88 minutes' drive from Richmond, and by rail you change at Clapham Junction. There is no waiting list to join: after a brief free call you pick a regular weekly opening from my diary, early or late enough to fit around a commute into town. If sitting across from each other would steady things at some stage, we can add a visit to Intergen House.
I grew up with a father who drank. Is there help in Richmond for adult children of alcoholics?
Yes. The ACA Richmond Wednesday meeting at The Bridge is a weekly in-person group for adults who grew up with alcoholism or family dysfunction. Counselling can sit alongside it, giving you a private hour to look at the habits of watchfulness, people-pleasing or your own drinking that a childhood like that can leave behind.
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, for you or for the person you worry about
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.