Winchester · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Winchester
A rehab search from Winchester might be about your own habit, or about a son, daughter or partner. Assessment, detox and residential places come through Inclusion Recovery Hampshire, the county service. My part is a weekly one-to-one counselling hour that can sit ahead of that treatment, run through it, or follow it. Hove is a 94-minute drive away, so Winchester sessions are usually by secure video.
The practical facts for Winchester
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Winchester by car
- About 94 minutes with clear roads (72.6 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- Inclusion Recovery Hampshire, 0300 124 0103
- 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.
Who arranges treatment in the Itchen valley
Drug and alcohol treatment for Winchester residents comes from Inclusion Recovery Hampshire, a county-wide service that Inclusion runs as part of the NHS trust MPFT.
Anyone in the district, or a relative on their behalf, can phone 0300 124 0103; the team then assesses and settles with the person whether help in the community, detox under medical care or a stay in a rehab unit fits best. That decision is made between them and you. In a small cathedral city, where you can meet a colleague from Castle Hill on the walk past the Guildhall, asking for that kind of help can feel exposed, and the worry about being seen can keep a household quiet for longer than anyone intended. Counselling is a separate strand, a private weekly hour that runs beside whatever treatment is agreed. As context and nothing more, alcohol-specific conditions brought 677.0 hospital admissions per 100,000 across the cathedral city's district in 2023/24, above England's 611.7, a district-wide count that says nothing about your household.
Weekly sessions for the drinker, the user or the worried parent
The work with me is weekly, one to one and outpatient. You can come while still drinking or using, with no pledge made to anyone. Together we work out what purpose the drinking, drugs or betting have served, be it unwinding after a day of meetings at Castle Hill, getting through night shifts at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital, or filling quiet evenings once the children have moved out. Underneath there is often an older hurt, and it gets room too. If Inclusion sets up time in detox or a residential unit, the weeks after coming back to Winchester can feel shaky, and a regular hour gives them some shape. Families are just as welcome on their own account. A parent in Badger Farm whose son came home from university drinking hard, or a wife in Fulflood who has stopped inviting friends round, can book sessions that belong to them alone, about limits, guilt and staying well whatever the other person chooses. Having come through recovery myself, and with 25+ years of this work behind me, I will hear what you describe without shock or a lecture.
Where help for drink and drugs sits around Winchester
Assessment, detox and residential care
From Harestock to St Cross, the free service is Inclusion Recovery Hampshire on 0300 124 0103; after assessing someone it sets up whatever level of care they agree, from community help to detox or rehab.
A parent's worry
Parent Support Link (PSL) offers support to families. Alongside it, separate sessions with me can focus on you, the parent, and everything you have been carrying at home.
Student drinking far from home
At the University of Winchester, nights out can drift into something harder to stop. Video sessions work from a room in Burma Road or West Downs student village.
Hardship and needle exchange
Trinity Winchester at Bradbury House gives practical help to people affected by homelessness, including advice on substance use and a needle exchange, and it can run alongside counselling.
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 Winchester
The free county route into drug and alcohol treatment, including detox and residential care, is Inclusion Recovery Hampshire, provided by Inclusion as part of MPFT. Hampshire parents worried about a son or daughter have Parent Support Link (PSL), while The Princess Royal Trust for Carers in Hampshire backs whoever has become a relative's carer. Trinity Winchester offers substance-use advice to people facing homelessness, and private counselling with me fits alongside each of these.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceInclusion Recovery Hampshire0300 124 0103Free 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.
In this area you can also text HANTS 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 Winchester ask before starting
Where does a Winchester family start if someone needs rehab?
Inclusion Recovery Hampshire is the county's free drug and alcohol service, on 0300 124 0103. Their assessment leads to a plan agreed with the person, anything from help in the community to detox under medical supervision or a spell in a rehab unit, and Inclusion organises whichever is chosen. You can begin weekly sessions with me ahead of that assessment, keep them going through treatment and carry on afterwards.
My daughter's drinking is worrying us at home in Winchester. Where do parents get support?
Parent Support Link (PSL) supports families. Where looking after her has turned into caring in all but name, The Princess Royal Trust for Carers in Hampshire is there for you as well. You can also book counselling for yourself, by video from home, to talk through fear, boundaries and what lies within your control. Her own route into treatment runs through an assessment with Inclusion Recovery Hampshire.
Can we do addiction counselling over video from Winchester instead of driving to Hove?
Yes, and with the Hove room 94 minutes' drive away it is the usual arrangement. You join from wherever is private, from Winnall to Olivers Battery, and nobody sees you walk into a building. Should you want a face-to-face hour, an occasional 90-minute session in Hove is possible, driving down or changing trains at Southampton Central.
Can I book addiction counselling in Winchester without seeing a GP first?
No referral is needed. You contact me directly, and sessions are confidential within the usual safeguarding limits. If you drink heavily every day, sudden stopping can be dangerous, so read the urgent help box on this page and speak to your GP or Inclusion Recovery Hampshire before you change anything. We can work out together who else, if anyone, should know.
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 about drink, drugs or a relative in Winchester
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.