Woking · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Woking
If you've searched for rehab in Woking, for yourself or for a partner, parent or grown-up child, detox and rehab are arranged through i-access, Surrey's drug and alcohol service, and the addiction counselling I offer by secure video can sit before, during or after that help. I've been in recovery myself.
The practical facts for Woking
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Woking by car
- About 73 minutes with clear roads (57.5 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Woking, change at Clapham Junction for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- i-access, 0300 222 5932
- 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 drinking or using has to stay hidden
Woking is a town of many faiths and backgrounds.
Where a family or community holds that alcohol or drugs are wrong, a problem with either can feel impossible to name at home, let alone outside it. Secrecy has other sources too, such as a senior job that depends on always looking capable, or a betting app checked silently on a phone. Often the one who goes looking for help is someone else in the household, perhaps a sister in Goldsworth Park who has noticed money going missing, or a father in Mayford whose son no longer comes down before noon. In 2023/24, narrowly defined alcohol-related hospital admissions in Woking ran at 458.6 per 100,000, a rate below England's 504.1 per 100,000. That figure counts admissions across the whole borough; it can't tell you whether what is happening under your roof is serious.
The free Surrey route, and where I come in
For anyone in Woking, the door into specialist drug and alcohol treatment is i-access, on 0300 222 5932, run jointly by the non-profit Via and Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. Their team works out what a person needs and, if it's right, organises a medically supported detox or a place in residential treatment. My part is one-to-one counselling, which can begin while someone is still weighing up whether to ring them, continue through community treatment, or start once a residential stay has ended and an ordinary week has to be faced without its structure. Sessions look squarely at the purpose the habit has been serving: blotting out a memory, perhaps, or filling the hours after work dried up. Because of my own history, I'm not easily shocked, and I have no interest in preaching. Relatives are welcome in their own right. With them we'd look at where helping ends and shielding someone from consequences begins, and how to keep hold of your own values without cutting off someone you love.
Four places to start, depending on who you are
The relative doing the searching
You've noticed the empty bottles or the money that keeps going missing. You can have counselling for yourself, and i-access offers information and support to family and carers too.
Before you ring i-access
If you don't know what to say when you call 0300 222 5932, we can rehearse what you'd like to tell them and the questions you want answered before you dial.
Back from residential care
Returning to Woking after a residential stay arranged through i-access, when the daily timetable has gone. Weekly video sessions give new habits somewhere to be tested and kept.
When the home has gone too
If drinking or drug use has cost someone their housing, the York Road Project is a Woking homelessness charity, and The Lighthouse Woking supports people in need.
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 Woking
Beside private sessions, i-access offers its Recovery Café and group support for people in recovery, plus separate information and carers support for relatives. Catalyst Counselling offers support to families, friends and carers. The Woking charity SearchLight Counselling and Therapy, once Relate West Surrey, includes addiction therapy in its work, if you'd rather be seen in the town.
- Free drug and alcohol servicei-access0300 222 5932Free and confidential.
- Local organisationi-access information and carers support for family and carers
- Local organisationAction for Carers Surrey
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 Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS FT Mental Health Crisis Helpline is on 0800 915 4644. Local drop-in crisis support: Woking Safe Haven (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 Woking ask before starting
Where would rehab actually be arranged for someone living in Woking?
For people living in the town, detox and residential treatment are assessed and arranged by i-access (0300 222 5932), and it costs nothing to use. They work out with the person what level of help is safe. Counselling with me can run before that assessment, alongside it, or once someone is home.
My partner drinks every evening and insists it's under control. Can I get support for myself in Woking, even if they won't get help?
Yes, entirely in your own right, and your partner doesn't need to know or agree. We can look at what you've been carrying, what you've stopped saying, and what you're willing to keep doing. i-access and Catalyst Counselling both support family members as well.
Does addiction counselling from Woking have to be by video?
Usually, yes. The Hove room sits about 73 minutes' drive from Woking, and a weekly trip that long is hard to sustain when life is unsteady. On screen the session runs just as it would in person, and honesty may come more readily at your own kitchen table. Once things feel steadier, an occasional 90-minute session in Hove is an option.
Do I need an i-access referral before counselling can begin?
No referral is needed, and there's no reason to hold off until their assessment. Use the free 15-minute call to sketch what's going on, and I'll say plainly when a regular time is free. Counselling and an i-access assessment can overlap without any difficulty. You can also ring i-access yourself at any point, before or after we speak.
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.
Talk it through before anyone has to decide anything
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.