Wimbledon · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Wimbledon
If you typed rehab and Wimbledon into a search bar late at night, perhaps about your own drinking, perhaps about a son, a partner or a parent, this page sets out where each kind of help comes from. Rehab and detox are arranged through the free help Merton already has, and alongside it I offer weekly addiction counselling by secure video. Recovery is part of my own history.
The practical facts for Wimbledon
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Wimbledon by car
- About 74 minutes with clear roads (47.7 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- Via Merton, 0300 303 4610
- 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.
When the drinking stays indoors
In Wimbledon a problem can stay out of view for years.
Drinking can fit inside a full working life: a bottle opened when the train gets back from Waterloo, a glass that becomes most of the bottle once the children are asleep, a weekend line of cocaine that has started appearing midweek. Often the first person to notice isn't the one drinking. It might be a mother in Wimbledon Village who has begun checking the recycling, a husband in Raynes Park who no longer believes the reasons for missed evenings, or a grown-up daughter in South Wimbledon wondering whether her father is safe to drive. Merton's rate of alcohol-related hospital admissions, counted on the narrow definition, stood at 348.0 per 100,000 during 2023/24, which is below England's 504.1 per 100,000. That figure counts hospital admissions and nothing else, so it can't tell you what is happening in your own home.
Via Merton, CDARS, and where counselling fits
Via Merton, run by the charity Via on 0300 303 4610, is the borough's drug and alcohol service. It assesses what is needed and is the route to a detox with medical support, or to a residential place, when either is right. CDARS, Community Discovery and Recovery Services, is a separate South West London charity with an office at Wimbledon Chase. It runs a recovery programme for adults aged 18 and over, relapse prevention and family support, but it isn't the council-commissioned service, so keep the two apart when you ring round. What I offer is a regular hour of one-to-one counselling that can come before anyone rings Via Merton, continue while they're involved, or help you hold steady once structured support has ended. Week by week we get honest about what the drinking, drugs or gambling give you, such as the pressure they release or the feelings they mute. You don't need to have stopped to start. I've been through recovery myself, so very little you tell me will shock me. If you're the relative, you can book the hour for yourself alone.
Four places to start in Merton
Getting the borough assessment
Via Merton, on 0300 303 4610, looks at drinking or drug use with you and arranges detox or a residential place where it's needed. Counselling can help you make that call.
Worried about slipping back
CDARS, the recovery charity with an office at Wimbledon Chase, runs relapse prevention. Weekly counselling alongside it gives you a private hour to look at what keeps pulling you back.
A parent out of ideas
Via Merton supports family, friends and carers, and Al-Anon Family Groups has a meeting finder. In counselling with me, the hour is yours, to talk about how you are coping.
Covering for someone for years
If driving, explaining and tidying up after someone's drinking has turned you into their carer, Carers First Merton supports carers in the borough in their own right.
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 Wimbledon
In the borough, Via Merton handles assessment and treatment, and its family, friends and carers support is there for the people around the person using. CDARS runs a recovery programme, relapse prevention and family support across South West London, plus the Sunshine Recovery Café in Wimbledon for mental health. Al-Anon Family Groups holds meetings for anyone living with someone else's drinking. Private counselling with me can sit alongside all of them.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceVia Merton0300 303 4610Free and confidential.
- Local organisationCarers First Merton
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: Sunshine Recovery Café, Wimbledon; South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust Recovery Cafés (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 Wimbledon ask before starting
Is there a rehab in Wimbledon, or do I go through Via Merton?
I can't name one, and I'm not one myself. If you live in Merton, the free route into detox or a residential place is through Via Merton, on 0300 303 4610, who will work out with you what level of help is safe. Counselling with me can start ahead of that call, run alongside community support, or pick up once you're home from a residential stay.
My partner in Wimbledon won't admit there's a problem. Can I get help on my own?
Yes, and you don't need their agreement. Via Merton's family, friends and carers support is open to you, and Al-Anon Family Groups runs meetings for people affected by someone else's drinking. Counselling with me can be your space to decide what you'll stop covering for, how to raise it without a fight, and how to look after yourself and anyone else at home.
Would I have to travel to Hove for addiction counselling from Wimbledon?
No. At around 74 minutes by car, Hove is too far for a weekly hour, so from Wimbledon the sessions run by secure video. It's the same hour, at the same time each week, only on a screen. Talking from home can make honesty easier, and nobody from your road will see you walk in anywhere.
Can I start counselling while I'm waiting to hear from Via Merton?
Yes. Private sessions need no referral and have no assessment queue. Once we've had the free 15-minute call and you've given me a rough idea of what's going on, I'll say plainly when a regular slot is free. Where your drinking is heavy and daily, look at the safety warning about withdrawal on this page before you change it.
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.
Say it out loud to someone who has been there
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.