Farnham · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Anxiety counselling for Farnham
If worry has started to run your days in Farnham, whether it's a tight chest on the platform or the dread before a deadline, we can work on it together over secure video. Weekly sessions fit around your trains and your work, and we begin with a short free call.
The practical facts for Farnham
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Farnham by car
- About 84 minutes with clear roads (69.5 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Farnham, change at Guildford and Gatwick Airport for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- Mind Matters Surrey, 0300 330 5450
- 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 Farnham worry tends to live
Anxiety in a commuter town often keeps a timetable.
It can start on the platform before the train to Waterloo via Woking, ride in with you, and be waiting again on the way home, so that evenings in Upper Hale or Badshot Lea go on bracing for tomorrow. On the University for the Creative Arts campus, it may gather around showing your work to tutors and peers, or around rent and money. For others it is about health: an appointment at Farnham Hospital on Hale Road, then days of waiting to hear back and imagining the worst. And if you live alone or work long hours, worry can grow in isolation, with few people to check your thoughts against. Often it is a sign that your body's alarm has been switched on for too long.
Calming the alarm, then understanding it
Anxiety counselling with me starts practically. In the first sessions we look at what your anxiety does in your body and when it spikes, and you leave with one or two ways of steadying your breathing that you can use on a train or at your desk. Settling the body comes first because it is hard to think clearly with your pulse racing. Then we get curious about what the alarm is guarding: a fear of letting people down, perhaps, or a workload that was never sustainable. Solution-focused questions help here, turning attention to the times the worry is smaller and what is different then. We also look at avoidance, the quiet way anxiety shrinks a life, whether that means turning down the London job or skipping the crit. Change tends to come in small, deliberate steps. I won't tell you to stop worrying, and I won't rush you. If panic attacks are part of it, we'll go through what is happening in your body during one, because understanding it can take some of the fear out of the next.
When Farnham worry gets specific
Panic on the Waterloo train
A pounding heart somewhere between Farnham and Woking, or the fear of being stuck with no way off, can make the commute the hardest part of the day.
Showing work at UCA
Crits, portfolios and assessments on the Falkner Road campus can turn ordinary nerves into a dread that keeps you awake for days beforehand.
Waiting on a hospital result
After an appointment at Farnham Hospital, the gap before you hear back can fill with what-ifs, checking and reassurance-seeking that never quite settles.
Referring yourself to Mind Matters
Mind Matters Surrey is the free NHS Talking Therapies service for anxiety here, and you can refer yourself on 0300 330 5450 without seeing a GP first.
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 and low-cost support for Farnham
For anxiety, the free NHS option across Waverley is Mind Matters Surrey, which takes self-referrals. PeerTalk Farnham meets on Thursday evenings for people living with anxiety and depression, Creative Response runs therapeutic art sessions for adults, and Headroom Charity offers free counselling to young people aged 11 to 25 and their parents. Private sessions with me can run alongside any of these.
- Free NHS talking therapyMind Matters Surrey0300 330 5450Free NHS talking therapy for anxiety, low mood and related difficulties. You can refer yourself, with no GP referral needed.
- If drinking or drug use is part of iti-access0300 222 5932Free and confidential.
For gambling, the National Gambling Helpline is free, day or night, on 0808 8020 133 (NHS gambling support).
If someone at home is hurting, threatening or controlling you, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline is free, day or night, on 0808 2000 247.
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.
What people in Farnham ask before starting
How do I refer myself to Mind Matters Surrey for anxiety from Farnham?
You can do it yourself, by phone on 0300 330 5450 or through their website, without waiting for a GP appointment. It's free and run by Surrey and Borders Partnership. If there's a wait, or you'd rather choose who you see and when, private counselling with me can begin in the meantime and carry on alongside.
I get anxious on video calls. Will that be a problem from Farnham?
Feeling self-conscious on screen is very common at first, and we can go gently: with the camera angled however you like and pauses whenever you need them. Because the room is about 84 minutes' drive from Farnham, video is how we'd usually meet, so we'd treat nerves about the screen as part of the work.
Can sessions fit around commuting from Farnham to London?
We agree a regular weekly time on the free call, as far as my diary allows. Because there's no travel at your end beyond finding a private spot, a session can sit before your train or after you get home. It shouldn't be on the train itself, since you need somewhere you can talk freely.
What if I panic during a session, or late at night in Farnham?
If it happens in a session, we deal with it together there and then, and it often becomes useful to work with. Out of hours, the Surrey and Borders 24/7 crisis line is 0800 915 4644, and their evening Safe Haven drop-ins, 6pm to 11pm for adults, include Aldershot and Guildford. If life is at risk, phone 999 straight away.
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.
Start small: a free call about the worry
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.