Southampton · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Southampton
Typing rehab in Southampton into a search bar, whether for your own sake or a relative's, usually means things feel urgent. This page sets out how help is organised in the city and where one-to-one counselling with me fits. My room is in Hove, 86 minutes' drive away, so from Southampton our sessions would usually be by secure video, with an occasional visit if you want one.
The practical facts for Southampton
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Southampton by car
- About 86 minutes with clear roads (61.2 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- Direct trains from Southampton Central to Hove.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- SSJ&I
- 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 port city where alcohol shows up in the figures
Southampton is a working city with a large student population and a port that never fully closes, and alcohol runs through a lot of its social life, from Ocean Village to the student streets of Portswood and Highfield.
Shifts at the docks or on hospital wards often finish at hours when a drink to come down feels like the only way to switch off. Over time that can become a habit nobody remarks on. Hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions in Southampton ran at 1712.9 per 100,000 in 2023/24, well above England's 611.7 per 100,000. That figure describes the city as a whole, and it says nothing about you, but it does mean the question you're asking is a common one here. Quite often the first person to search isn't the one drinking or using. It's a mother in Sholing, a partner in Woolston, or a grown-up son who has started to dread phone calls home.
How rehab and counselling fit together here
The front door for drug and alcohol treatment in the city is the Southampton adult alcohol and drug service, SSJ and I, run by The Society of St James in partnership with Inclusion. They assess what someone needs and set up detox with medical oversight, community treatment, or a stay in residential care where that is what's needed. What I offer is one-to-one counselling that can come before that step, run alongside it, or carry on afterwards. Beforehand, it can help you look honestly at what drinking, drugs or gambling are doing, and at what you fear losing if you stop. During treatment, we work on the feelings and situations that tend to pull you back. Afterwards, when the structure of a programme falls away, sessions can help you build a daily life that holds without the substance. My own recovery came before more than 25 years of counselling, so I know from the inside how hard the first honest conversation can be. If you're the parent, partner or adult child of someone who is using, you can come for sessions in your own right, whether or not they've accepted any help, and talk about the fear, anger and exhaustion of living alongside it.
Who does what in Southampton's treatment system
Assessment and treatment places
The city's adult alcohol and drug service, run by The Society of St James with Inclusion, assesses need and arranges detox, residential places or community treatment.
Support once treatment ends
SSJ and I aftercare and The SSJ Academy offer Re-Fit, Re-Set and Re-Connect, a peer support and volunteering pathway that can sit beside our counselling.
Somewhere for parents to turn
Parent Support Link (PSL) is a family-support charity listed for the city, there for you while you work out how to respond to someone else's using.
The drink after a late shift
Port turnarounds and hospital rotas finish at odd hours, and a drink to come down from work can slowly become the routine we look at together.
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 Southampton
Counselling with me sits beside the free routes in Southampton. SSJ and I, the adult alcohol and drug service, is where assessment, detox and residential referrals happen. Its aftercare and The SSJ Academy keep people connected after treatment ends. Families can turn to Parent Support Link (PSL), and Solent Mind supports wider mental health across the city.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceSSJ&IRun by The Society of St James, in partnership with Inclusion. Free and confidential.
- Local organisationSSJ&I aftercare and The SSJ AcademyRecovery community.
- Local organisationUnpaid Carers Support SouthamptonLow-cost or fee-paying.
- Local organisationCaraway
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.
Local drop-in crisis support: Safe Haven Southampton (No Limits, young people 11-25) (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 Southampton ask before starting
Where do people in Southampton go for rehab?
Residential rehab and detox for Southampton residents are arranged through SSJ and I, the city's adult alcohol and drug service, after an assessment of what you need. My part is one-to-one counselling, usually by video from Southampton, which can begin before that assessment, continue through treatment and carry on for as long as it's useful afterwards.
My son is drinking and refuses help. Can I talk to someone in Southampton?
Yes. You can come to counselling for yourself, whatever he decides, and use the time to sort through fear, guilt and the arguments that keep repeating at home. Parent Support Link (PSL) is a family-support charity for the city as well. If he does want help, the adult alcohol and drug service run by The Society of St James and Inclusion is the place he'd start.
Does addiction counselling over video work from Southampton?
Yes, and from Southampton it's usually the sensible way. Hove is 86 minutes away by car, and even the direct Southern train from Southampton Central swallows a big part of your day. Video gives you one counsellor at a fixed weekly time, from a quiet room in Shirley, Woolston or wherever home is, and a Hove session can be slotted in on occasion if you would like one.
What happens once treatment in Southampton finishes?
Leaving a programme can feel exposed, because the daily structure goes. SSJ and I aftercare and The SSJ Academy run a peer support and volunteering pathway called Re-Fit, Re-Set, Re-Connect, and counselling with me can run alongside it, looking at the pressures and feelings that tend to return once day-to-day support thins out.
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, for you or for someone you're worried about
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.