Twickenham · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Twickenham
If you have typed rehab and Twickenham into a search bar, whether it's about you or about a person you're worried sick over, here is the honest picture. Residential rehab and medical detox are arranged through the free borough service, and I offer one-to-one counselling by secure video that can sit alongside it.
The practical facts for Twickenham
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Twickenham by car
- About 83 minutes with clear roads (56.9 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Twickenham, 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.
Steady on weekdays, lost at weekends
If your work or your weekends revolve around match days at Twickenham Stadium, drink can become part of the routine and outlast the crowds.
Away from the stadium the picture is usually quieter and easier to miss. A commuter can be reliable all week on the trains to Waterloo, then lose most of Saturday and Sunday. Someone else has drifted from wine with dinner to wine instead of dinner. The person searching may not be the one drinking or using at all. It might be a mother in Whitton counting bottles in the recycling, or a husband in St Margarets who stopped believing the explanations months ago. For alcohol-specific conditions, Richmond upon Thames had a hospital admission rate of 569.5 per 100,000 in 2023/24, below England's 611.7 per 100,000. That figure counts hospital stays across a whole borough. It can't tell you how serious things are in your house, and a lower borough figure doesn't make your worry any smaller.
WithYou Richmond assesses, and counselling keeps you company
For people in Twickenham, the free door into treatment is WithYou Richmond, the adult drug and alcohol service delivered within RCDAS, on 020 3228 3020. Their team assesses what you need and, where it is safe and needed, can arrange medically supported detox, treatment in the community or a residential place. None of that is something I offer. My part is weekly one-to-one counselling, and it can fit at any point: while you are still deciding whether to ring them, during their treatment, or once the formal support has ended and you are back among the same streets and the same weekend habits. Sessions look at what the drinking, the drugs or the gambling have been doing for you, whether that is easing the tension after a long day or filling the loneliness of a Sunday evening, because that need has to be met some other way. You don't have to have stopped first. I have my own lived experience of recovery, so I'm hard to shock and I won't preach. If you are the parent, partner or grown-up child of someone who is using, you can have sessions on your own, to decide where your limits are and how to stay close without covering for them.
Different ways it reaches a Twickenham home
After the final whistle
Work or weekends built around match days at the Stadium or the Stoop, and a drinking habit that no longer waits for a fixture.
Weekday sober, weekend gone
Steady on the Waterloo trains from Monday to Friday, then weekends that vanish. Being dependable at work doesn't mean the drinking is under control.
A family asking for help
WithYou Richmond runs support for the family and friends of someone who drinks or uses, and your own counselling can sit beside it, even if they refuse help.
When worry spills over at night
If someone else's drinking or drug use has pushed you to breaking point after hours, the Twickenham Recovery Hub near Twickenham Green is an out-of-hours crisis café run by Richmond Borough Mind.
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 Twickenham
WithYou Richmond is the free route for assessment and treatment, and its support for family and friends is there if someone else's drinking or drug use is wearing you down. Richmond Carers Centre helps people who have ended up caring for someone. For your wider mental health, Richmond Borough Mind runs ARC, free short-term emotional support you can refer yourself to in Twickenham.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceWithYou Richmond020 3228 3020Run by We Are With You (WithYou). Free and confidential.
- Local organisationJourney Recovery Hub, Twickenham
- Local organisationTwickenham Recovery HubOut-of-hours crisis café near Twickenham Green.
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: Journey Recovery Hub, Twickenham (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 Twickenham ask before starting
Can I find a rehab in Twickenham itself?
Not one I can name. From Twickenham, the way into detox or a residential place is an assessment with WithYou Richmond, on 020 3228 3020. You can start counselling with me while you wait for that, keep it going during their treatment, or pick it up once you are home again.
My partner drinks far too much on match days and beyond. Where do I start in Twickenham?
Begin with some support of your own. WithYou Richmond helps family and friends as well as the person drinking, and counselling gives you a private hour to think before the next row. Tell your partner what you have seen, calmly and at a sober moment. If they drink heavily every day, read the withdrawal safety note on this page before anyone talks about stopping.
Does addiction counselling with you mean travelling from Twickenham to Hove?
No. Hove is about 83 minutes by car from Twickenham, too far for a weekly session, so we meet on a secure video link. The hour runs just as it would in the room, and talking from your own home can make it easier to be honest about what has really been happening.
Is it possible to begin sessions before WithYou Richmond has seen me?
Yes. You don't need a referral or an assessment first. Arrange the free 15-minute call, give me a rough picture of what's happening, and I'll say plainly how soon a weekly slot could open. You can contact WithYou Richmond at the same time, and neither has to wait for the other.
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 private first call, for you or for them
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.