Kensington · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Anxiety counselling for Kensington
This is anxiety counselling for the racing heart on a packed Circle line train, the 3am replays of a meeting, or a health worry that will not settle, as they turn up in Kensington life. With the Hove room about 95 minutes' drive away, sessions from Kensington run weekly over secure video, with an in-person visit only now and then if you would like one.
The practical facts for Kensington
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Kensington by car
- About 95 minutes with clear roads (53.4 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- Kensington and Chelsea Talking Therapies, 020 3317 4200
- 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.
Crowds, deadlines and the feeling of always being on
Kensington is rarely quiet. Exhibition Road fills with visitors heading for the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum, Kensington High Street is busy with shoppers, and the trains through High Street Kensington and Gloucester Road can be packed. For someone already on edge, crowds like these are often where panic first shows itself. Work brings its own pressure: exam season at Imperial College, auditions at the Royal College of Music, or a deadline at Northcliffe House. Home can add another layer, since the borough has a high proportion of single households and plenty of people end the day alone with whatever their mind has been chewing over. In the borough's own health profile, 1 in 5 Kensington and Chelsea residents reported high anxiety on the day before they were asked. That is a borough-wide figure, not a description of you, but it does show how ordinary the feeling is and that it is nothing to be ashamed of.
Settling the alarm, one week at a time
Anxiety is the body's alarm doing its job too often and too loudly. In counselling we start by mapping when it fires: the walk to the station, the minute before a presentation, the evening alone when a health worry takes over. From there the work runs on two tracks. In the moment, you learn practical ways to bring your breathing and attention back under your own control, so the Tube or a crowded museum hall becomes manageable again. Over the weeks, we look at what keeps the alarm primed, whether that is overwork, the cost of living, a perfectionism that leaves no margin, or an older fear that present events keep brushing against. I draw on the Human Givens approach, which pays close attention to basic needs such as sleep, security, connection and a sense of control, and to how anxiety grows when those needs go unmet. If a nightly drink has become the way you calm down, that can be part of what we discuss, without judgement. Your GP in the Royal Borough is the person for medication questions, and can keep that side in hand while our weekly sessions carry on.
Four Kensington places the alarm goes off
Packed platforms at Gloucester Road
Crowded Circle and District line trains can trigger panic. Counselling helps you build steadier responses so the daily commute stops being something you dread.
Exam season in South Kensington
Assessments at Imperial College can bring sleepless weeks. Students can use Imperial's own counselling service, and private sessions offer continuity through the holidays.
Newsroom pressure at Northcliffe House
Working to news deadlines at Northcliffe House can leave your nervous system running hard long after you have left the building.
Evenings in a single household
With so many single households across the borough, worry can grow in the evening when there is nobody at home to talk it through with.
Free and low-cost support for Kensington
In the Royal Borough, free NHS help for anxiety comes from Kensington and Chelsea Talking Therapies, part of Community Living Well, where you can refer yourself online or on 020 3317 4200, either in place of our sessions or beside them. Mind Within, a low-cost counselling service from West London Mind, is a further option, and Imperial students can contact the college's Student Counselling and Mental Health Advice Service.
- Free NHS talking therapyKensington and Chelsea Talking Therapies020 3317 4200Free 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 itTurning Point Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea (Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service)0330 303 8080Free and confidential.
- Local organisationCentral London Samaritans
- Local organisationImperial College London Student Counselling and Mental Health Advice Service
For gambling, the National Gambling Helpline is free, day or night, on 0808 8020 133 (NHS gambling support).
Private counselling with me can run alongside any of these; you do not have to choose one or the other.
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 CNWL Mental Health Single Point of Access crisis line, London boroughs) is on 0800 0234 650.
What people in Kensington ask before starting
How do I refer myself to Kensington and Chelsea Talking Therapies for anxiety?
No GP letter is required: the CNWL website has an online form, or you can phone 020 3317 4200 from anywhere in the Royal Borough. The service is free for Royal Borough residents. If you prefer seeing the same counsellor at an unchanging weekly hour, private sessions can replace that route or run next to it.
Does anxiety counselling over video work if I panic on the Tube from Kensington?
Video can be a good place to start precisely because you do not have to travel. We work on the panic from a room where you feel safe, practising ways to steady yourself, and then you try them on short trips from High Street Kensington or Gloucester Road between sessions, at whatever pace feels manageable.
How quickly can I start anxiety counselling from Kensington?
Start with a short free call about what the anxiety is doing to your days. If we both think it fits, I offer a weekly time I really have open and we begin when that slot next comes round, with no waiting list. If anxiety ever becomes overwhelming between sessions, the CNWL crisis line on 0800 0234 650 is open all day and night.
I work long newsroom shifts off Kensington High Street. Can sessions fit around a rota?
We look for a time that survives the rota, early morning or a regular evening, and stick to it. On a secure link you can take the hour from home or a quiet corner of Northcliffe House, with no travel eating into a day the news cycle already owns. If shifts change in a way we cannot avoid, we agree how to rearrange before it happens.
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 calmer first step, from your own room in Kensington
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.