Soho · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Soho
Whether the rehab search is for you, a partner or a friend who lives or works around Soho, it is Turning Point's Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service that assesses Westminster residents for detox or a residential place. My part runs beside that: one-to-one addiction counselling, held on secure video because the Hove room sits about 101 minutes' drive from W1.
The practical facts for Soho
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Soho by car
- About 101 minutes with clear roads (54.3 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- Turning Point Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea (Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service, DAWS), 0330 303 8080
- 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.
Drinking, chems and gambling in one square mile of nightlife
Soho sits inside the West End zone that Westminster's licensing policy singles out as the only part of the city where the combined effect of licensed premises could be identified.
Between 2017 and 2019 that zone, which is wider than Soho, accounted for 43% of ambulance call-outs to the locations of licensed premises across Westminster. For anyone working its bars and kitchens, a drink after a shift can start to feel like part of the job. Near Old Compton Street, 56 Dean Street runs chemsex support for its registered patients, with help pages on mephedrone, GHB/GBL and crystal meth. And the Chinese Information and Advice Centre campaigns against the high number of gaming establishments in and around Chinatown and Soho. None of this says anything about you or the person you are worried about. It does explain why help here has to fit around late hours, the scene and habits that may have taken years to form.
Counselling before, during and after treatment
For anyone living in the West End, Turning Point Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea on 0330 303 8080 carries out the assessment and then sets up whatever is needed, whether community treatment, medically supervised detox or a residential stay. My part is the talking work around that: one-to-one sessions you can begin before an assessment, keep going through treatment, and continue once you are back in the same streets. You do not need to have stopped already. We look honestly at what the drink, the chems or the betting has been doing for you, when the pull comes, and what it has cost, and we make time for whatever older pain sits underneath. Returning from residential care to the bars around Old Compton Street can be the rawest part, and a fixed weekly hour is somewhere to bring it. Partners, parents and friends can book sessions of their own too, about the fear, the stories that no longer add up and where their own limits lie. With recovery in my own past and more than 25 years of practice since, nothing you describe will shock me.
Starting points between Dean Street and Chinatown
Wanting a rehab bed
A call to 0330 303 8080 books the DAWS assessment that any Westminster detox or residential place depends on, and we can begin talking in the meantime.
Chems and the scene
Patients already registered at 56 Dean Street can ask its chemsex team for a 20-minute phone assessment, then risk reduction and relapse prevention work, with our weekly hour running beside it.
Weekends without a plan
Build on Belief runs a Westminster weekend service, recovery-community support for the days when the week's structure falls away and old routines pull hardest.
A borough figure, not a verdict
Westminster's hospital admission rate for alcohol-specific conditions in 2023/24 stood at 689.0 per 100,000, above England's 611.7 per 100,000. That figure covers a whole borough, not your family.
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 Soho
Free support around Soho can sit alongside our sessions. Turning Point Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea assesses and arranges treatment on 0330 303 8080. St Anne's Church on Dean Street hosts 12-Step recovery meetings through the week, Build on Belief runs its Westminster weekend service, and 56 Dean Street chemsex support works with registered patients. If someone's drinking or using shapes your days, Carers Network supports unpaid carers.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceTurning Point Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea (Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service, DAWS)0330 303 8080Free and confidential.
- Local organisation12-Step recovery meetings at St Anne's Church, Soho
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.
Locally, the CNWL Mental Health Single Point of Access is on 0800 0234 650.
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 Soho ask before starting
Where is rehab for someone in Soho, and who arranges the place?
Residential rehab for people in Westminster is arranged after an assessment with Turning Point Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea, the council's free drug and alcohol service, on 0330 303 8080. Their staff decide with the person which kind of care fits, from community support to a detox or a stay away. If you work in Soho but live in another borough, ask them which service covers your home address. Counselling with me can begin before, during or after any of it.
My partner's drinking in Soho has got out of hand. Is there anything for me while they decide?
Yes, and you can start whatever your partner decides. Our sessions can centre entirely on you: the nights waiting up, the excuses made to friends, what you will keep doing and what you will stop. If looking after them has taken over your life, Carers Network supports unpaid carers, and Turning Point can tell you what they offer relatives and partners.
Can addiction counselling from Soho happen in person?
In person, sessions happen in Hove, about 101 minutes by car or a Tube and a train from Soho, so for regular weekly work video is the practical choice. You join from home or another private room, which also spares you being seen walking into a building. If sitting across from each other would help, we can book the odd longer session in Hove, a Victoria line ride and a Southern train away.
I use chems at weekends in Soho. Can I talk about that without being judged?
You can. Chems, sex, the scene and what keeps drawing you back can all be spoken about plainly, whether you want to stop, use less or first understand it better. If you're registered at 56 Dean Street, its chemsex service offers risk reduction and relapse prevention, and St Anne's Church on Dean Street hosts 12-Step meetings. Our work can run alongside both.
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.
Talk it through first, for yourself 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.