Uxbridge · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Uxbridge
If you've typed 'rehab Uxbridge' for yourself, a partner or your son or daughter, the free door into detox and residential care in this borough is ARCH Hillingdon, run by CNWL. Alongside it, I offer one-to-one counselling that can start before an ARCH Hillingdon assessment, continue through treatment or pick up afterwards. Hove is 86 minutes' drive from Uxbridge, so we would normally work by secure video.
The practical facts for Uxbridge
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Uxbridge by car
- About 86 minutes with clear roads (72.6 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- ARCH Hillingdon, 020 3838 7850
- 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 help with drink and drugs starts in Hillingdon
ARCH Hillingdon, short for Addiction, Recovery, Community Hillingdon, is the borough's drug and alcohol service.
CNWL runs it for the borough, and the number for Uxbridge residents to ring is 020 3838 7850. Here someone's needs are assessed and a plan is put together, whether that turns out to be treatment closer to home in Hillingdon, a detox or a residential placement. It also runs a Recovery Day Programme with peer support, and offers help to families and carers in their own right. Admissions to hospital for alcohol-specific conditions among Hillingdon residents stood at 683.3 per 100,000 during 2023/24, a rate above England's 611.7 per 100,000 for that year. That is a borough-wide figure and tells you nothing about the person you're worried about. What matters more for an Uxbridge family is knowing that nobody has to prove things are bad enough before picking up the phone to ARCH Hillingdon and asking what the options are.
Counselling that sits around ARCH Hillingdon's treatment
What I offer is outpatient talking work, an hour at a time, one to one. You can start before you've contacted ARCH Hillingdon, while you wait for an assessment, during community treatment, or once you've come home from a detox or residential stay. We look at the job that drink, drugs or gambling has taken on in your life, be it relief, numbness or a reward after a long week, and at what sits underneath it, at a pace you set. Coming back to the same streets, pubs and friends in Uxbridge after treatment is where much of the real work happens, and a fixed weekly session gives you somewhere to bring the hard days. Families are just as welcome as the person who is drinking or using. A parent worried about a son studying at Brunel, or a husband watching his wife's drinking creep up since she started night shifts, can book sessions for themselves, to talk about fear, anger, covering up and the limits they want to keep. I came through recovery myself and have counselled for more than 25 years, so you won't need to soften anything.
First steps for someone in Hillingdon
Ringing ARCH Hillingdon
Call 020 3838 7850 to ask about an assessment. ARCH Hillingdon works out with the person which kind of treatment suits the situation, from support in the community through to detox or time in a residential unit.
Daytime Al-Anon on a Tuesday
If someone else's drinking is wearing you down, the Al-Anon Uxbridge Daytime Tuesday group meets in person from 10.30 to 12.00 for family and friends.
Beside the day programme
The Recovery Day Programme and peer support at ARCH Hillingdon give the week a shape, and counselling with me can run beside them or carry on once the programme ends.
After a stay at Hillingdon Hospital
When drinking has ended in an admission on Pield Heath Road, the weeks after discharge can be a natural point to start counselling, alongside whatever ARCH Hillingdon arranges.
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 Uxbridge
Free help in Hillingdon can run beside our sessions. ARCH Hillingdon, on 020 3838 7850, assesses and arranges treatment and has support for families and carers. Al-Anon meets in Uxbridge on Tuesday mornings, Mind in Hillingdon runs The Free Counselling Service, and Carers Trust Hillingdon backs anyone looking after a relative. If things feel unsafe tonight, the CNWL crisis line is open 24/7 on 0800 0234 650.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceARCH Hillingdon020 3838 7850Run by Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL). Free and confidential.
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 crisis line (London boroughs including Hillingdon) 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 Uxbridge ask before starting
How do you get a rehab place if you live in Uxbridge?
Residential care for people living in Hillingdon is arranged through ARCH Hillingdon after an assessment. Call 020 3838 7850, and the service, run by CNWL, will go through the options, from community treatment to detox or a residential stay, with the person concerned. You and I can start talking ahead of that call, keep going through any wait, and meet again after treatment.
My partner drinks heavily. Is there support in Uxbridge for me?
Yes, whatever your partner decides. ARCH Hillingdon offers support for families and carers, and the Al-Anon Uxbridge Daytime Tuesday group meets in person each week. The hour with me can belong to you alone: the evenings spent waiting, what you tell the children, and which limits you want to hold. You don't need your partner's agreement to book it.
Would addiction counselling from Uxbridge be in person or online?
Online, as a rule. The drive to Hove takes about 86 minutes, and rail means a Tube, Thameslink and Southern connection, so weekly sessions happen by secure video from somewhere private. That also keeps them out of sight of anyone in town. A longer in-person session in Hove can be arranged occasionally, perhaps once the work has settled.
I think my son at Brunel is using drugs; where do I turn in Uxbridge?
You can ring ARCH Hillingdon on 020 3838 7850 and ask about their support for families, even if your son isn't ready to go himself. Sessions with me can help you work out what to say, what to stop doing and how to look after yourself meanwhile. Should your son be in immediate danger, on campus or at home, ring 999 straight away; the urgent help box on this page lists other numbers too.
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 conversation before anyone has to decide
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.