Uckfield · in person in Hove or online
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Uckfield
Whether that search for rehab in Uckfield was prompted by your own drinking or a relative's, East Sussex offers free detox and residential care through one door, the STAR Drug and Alcohol Service. Alongside STAR, I see people one to one before, during or after treatment, by secure video, or in the Hove room itself, roughly 34 minutes' drive from the Weald, and relatives may book sessions for themselves.
The practical facts for Uckfield
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Uckfield by car
- About 34 minutes with clear roads (21.9 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- STAR Drug and Alcohol Service (East Sussex STAR), 0300 303 8160
- 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.
Where treatment starts for an Uckfield household
Across East Sussex, free help with drinking and drug problems comes from one place, the STAR Drug and Alcohol Service, operated by Change Grow Live and answering on 0300 303 8160.
From Ridgewood to Harlands Farm, the town's residents are assessed by STAR, and if a detox, a residential place or community support is needed, STAR is the team that arranges it. Peer support is close to home as well: Alcoholics Anonymous meets at the United Reformed Church in New Town at 7.30am and 8pm on Wednesdays and at 6pm on Sundays. Wealden is an older district, with a median age of 49 in 2021 against 40 for England, so the person whose drinking worries you may be a retired parent as easily as a teenager. Counselling is the private, regular conversation that sits beside those services, rather than a replacement for any of them.
What weekly addiction counselling looks like
Sessions are one to one, and there is no need to have stopped drinking, or even to have made up your mind, before the first one. Together we trace when the pull is strongest, perhaps the drive home up the A22, an empty afternoon after retiring, or the quiet evenings since a separation, and what alcohol, drugs or gambling have quietly been giving you in return. There is usually a reason it started to make sense, and we take that reason seriously rather than lecturing you about it. If STAR arranges a detox or residential stay, counselling can carry on either side of it, and the weeks after coming home to Uckfield are worth planning for together. Partners and grown-up children are welcome to book for themselves, to talk about the worry, the covering up and where their own limits sit. If you look after someone whose drinking has become part of a wider mental health picture, the Uckfield Local Carers Centre at Victoria Pavilion runs a monthly group for carers of someone with severe mental illness. My own recovery, plus 25+ years in practice, means I will hear whatever you bring calmly.
Support around Uckfield for drinking and drug use
Assessment through STAR
An assessment from the STAR Drug and Alcohol Service, on 0300 303 8160, is how Uckfield residents reach a detox, a residential stay or support closer to home.
Families who are worn out
Relatives in the town living alongside someone's drinking or drug use can contact Adfam East Sussex, and you can also book an hour with me that is entirely about you.
Recovery led by lived experience
Coastal Routes Recovery is the Lived Experience Recovery Organisation for East Sussex, and its peer support sits comfortably beside one-to-one counselling.
Company away from the pub
Uckfield Men's Shed, a charity open to anyone over 18 on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at The Oaks Workshops in Framfield, offers workshop time and company for men's wellbeing.
Public health figures for the area
These are local authority figures from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. "Similar to England" means the difference is not statistically significant. The figures describe a whole population over a period, not any one person.
Free drug and alcohol support for Uckfield
For Uckfield, free treatment for drinking or drug use comes through STAR, delivered by Change Grow Live, and our counselling can sit beside it. Coastal Routes Recovery offers peer-led recovery support, Adfam East Sussex helps families, and AA meets each week at the United Reformed Church in New Town. Debt that has built up around drinking can be taken to Wealden Citizens Advice in Uckfield Library.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceSTAR Drug and Alcohol Service (East Sussex STAR)0300 303 8160Run by Change Grow Live. Free and confidential.
- Local organisationCare for the Carers
- Local organisationCarers O'Clock Uckfield (Culture Shift)Low-cost or fee-paying.
- Local organisationAA meetings in Uckfield (AA East Sussex Intergroup)
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.
In this area you can also text SUSSEX to 85258.
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 Uckfield ask before starting
Where does someone in Uckfield go to get into rehab?
Ring the STAR Drug and Alcohol Service on 0300 303 8160; Change Grow Live runs it free for East Sussex. STAR's assessment is what leads to a detox bed, a residential stay or support in the community, depending on what is needed. Our counselling can start ahead of that appointment and keep going through treatment and beyond, so talking need not wait on STAR's decision.
My husband drinks every evening in Uckfield and won't admit it's a problem. Where can I get support?
Help for you need not wait on his choice. Adfam East Sussex supports relatives in your position, and STAR can explain what it could offer him once he is ready to ask. Our hour would centre on you: the long evenings, the arguments, what you have stopped telling friends, and what you need to stay well.
Can I come to Hove in person from Uckfield, or is video better for addiction counselling?
Either works. Hove is about 34 minutes away by car, or you can take the Regency 29 bus through Lewes, so weekly in-person sessions are realistic from Uckfield. Video suits the weeks when you would rather stay at home, or when nobody else needs to know where you are. You can switch between the two as your treatment with STAR changes.
Is it worth going to AA in Uckfield as well as seeing a counsellor?
It can be, and the two do different jobs. AA offers peer support from people in recovery, and in Uckfield it meets at the United Reformed Church in New Town on Wednesdays and Sundays. Counselling is a private hour to look at what lies underneath the drinking. If the AA format does not suit you, Coastal Routes Recovery offers another kind of peer support, and we can talk the options through.
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.
Whether it is you or someone close, a first call from Uckfield
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.