Tonbridge · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Tonbridge
If you've typed rehab in Tonbridge into a search bar, for yourself or for someone at home, here's the honest starting point. I'm an addiction counsellor with lived experience of recovery, working one to one by secure video. West Kent has a free service that sorts out detox and residential care, and this page explains who they are and how counselling sits beside them.
The practical facts for Tonbridge
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Tonbridge by car
- About 70 minutes with clear roads (43.7 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- West Kent community drug and alcohol service (Change, Grow, Live), 0330 128 1113
- 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.
How it shows up in an ordinary Tonbridge week
Drinking or using rarely looks dramatic at first.
It might begin as a can on the late train back into Tonbridge and become the bottle finished after everyone has gone to bed. It might be a son or daughter whose weekends at friends' houses leave them flat and secretive by Monday, or a partner whose betting app gets opened more often than their messages. Sometimes something happens that can't be explained away, like a night at Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Pembury or a missed shift. Those closest to it often notice first and keep quiet, out of loyalty, or because in a town where faces at the school gate and on the station platform are familiar, saying it out loud feels exposing. Whether you're the one drinking or the one lying awake about it, you can talk it through with someone outside that circle.
How counselling fits around the West Kent service
If rehab is what you're searching for, the free route for Tonbridge is Change, Grow, Live, which runs community drug and alcohol support for West Kent and answers on 0330 128 1113. Their team assesses each person and, where detox or residential treatment is needed, arranges it or makes the referral. My part is separate, and it can come before, during or after theirs. Before, it's somewhere to think aloud if you're not yet sure you want to change. During community treatment, it can be a steady weekly hour. After a residential stay, it gives you a place to talk through coming back to ordinary life in Tonbridge, with its old routes and old company. In sessions we look at what drinking or using has been doing for you, because a habit is often solving something, even if only for one evening, and we look for other ways of meeting that need. I've been in recovery myself, so nothing you tell me will shock me, and you don't have to promise to stop before we start. If you're a parent or partner, you can have sessions of your own about the worry and the arguments, and about where helping ends and covering begins.
If this page is for someone else
The parent of a young adult
A son or daughter, perhaps home from university, whose drinking or drug use frightens you. Sessions can be for you whatever they decide, and the Change, Grow, Live number is there for them.
Support made for families
Al-Anon Family Groups is there for relatives of people who drink, and the Kenward Trust runs Friends, Family and Loved Ones Support. Either can sit beside counselling for you.
What the district figure says
In 2023/24, Tonbridge and Malling had 454.3 alcohol-specific hospital admissions per 100,000 people, below England's 611.7. An area average can't tell you what's happening at home.
Picking up after residential care
When a stay arranged through Change, Grow, Live ends and you're back among familiar streets, a weekly video hour gives you a regular place to think through the pressures of being home again.
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 Tonbridge
Change, Grow, Live is the free starting point in West Kent for assessment and for arranging detox or residential care. The Kenward Trust supports friends and family, and Al-Anon Family Groups, signposted by Kent County Council, is for relatives of people who drink. For wider wellbeing support, try Live Well Kent and Medway. Seeing me privately can go on alongside whichever of them you use.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceWest Kent community drug and alcohol service (Change, Grow, Live)0330 128 1113Run by Change Grow Live (CGL). Free and confidential.
- Local organisationImago - Kent Carers Support (West Kent adult carers service)
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 Release the Pressure Helpline - Kent is on 0800 107 0160. Local drop-in crisis support: Kent and Medway Safe Havens (Mental Health Matters) (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 Tonbridge ask before starting
My brother in Tonbridge needs rehab. Where does that start?
For people living in Tonbridge, detox or a residential place starts with an assessment by Change, Grow, Live's West Kent community drug and alcohol service on 0330 128 1113. Either of you can ring to ask how a referral works. Counselling with me, for him or for you, can start before that call, during the wait or after treatment.
My husband in Tonbridge won't admit there's a problem. What can I do?
Start with yourself, since that part is within your reach. The Kenward Trust's friends and family support and Al-Anon are set up for people in your position, and you can have counselling with me about what you're living with. At a calm moment, tell him plainly what you've noticed, and keep the Change, Grow, Live number somewhere he can find it.
Could I see an addiction counsellor from Tonbridge privately, without anyone finding out?
Yes. From Tonbridge, sessions are by secure video, so there's no waiting room and no car parked outside a clinic. What we discuss stays confidential within the usual limits, such as a serious risk to someone's safety, which I explain at the start. You'll need somewhere private, which might mean picking a time when the house is empty.
Do I have to wait for my West Kent assessment before seeing you?
No. Book the free 15-minute call now and you'll hear from me straight away how soon a weekly slot could open. Counselling and the assessment can happen in parallel. If heavy drinking is a daily thing for you, please look first at the urgent help section above, where there's a warning about withdrawal, before making any change to how much you drink.
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 the person drinking or the person worrying
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.