Bromley · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Bereavement and grief counselling for Bromley
When a death has left a gap in your Bromley life, whether you're in Bickley, Shortlands or Hayes, we can work through the grief together over secure video. There are no stages to get through and no deadline for feeling better. You can bring sadness, anger, guilt or relief, and we go at a pace you choose.
If you are thinking about ending your life, call 999 or the Samaritans free on 116 123, day or night. More urgent help is on this page.
The practical facts for Bromley
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Bromley by car
- About 75 minutes with clear roads (50.3 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Bromley South, change at London Victoria for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free bereavement helpline
- Cruse Bereavement Support helpline, 0808 808 1677
- 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.
Hospital corridors, house clearances and quiet Saturdays
A death in Bromley tends to leave behind paperwork and places in roughly equal measure.
There may have been a last stretch of visiting at the Princess Royal University Hospital at Farnborough Common, the car park and the corridors now fixed in your memory, followed by weeks of registering the death, ringing banks and choosing music for the service. Then the busy part ends and the quiet begins. Perhaps it's your dad's house in Coney Hall or Plaistow that needs clearing, with a lifetime packed into the loft. Perhaps it's a Saturday habit that has gone: coffee on the pedestrianised High Street, a slow loop of The Glades, the walk home through Hayes. If you grew up in Bromley and live elsewhere now, every trip back to sort things out can open it all up again. And if you cared for them at home in Bickley or Bromley Common, hours that were full of appointments and medication times can suddenly hold nothing at all.
No stages, no deadline, room for all of it
There is no map of stages I'll expect you to move through, and no point by which you ought to be feeling better. Grief comes and goes in its own pattern, and our sessions follow it. One week you may want to tell me about them: the way they laughed, the arguments, the ordinary details nobody else asks about now. Another week it may be what is harder to say aloud, such as anger that they left, guilt over a decision made in a hospital corridor, or relief that a long illness is over, followed by guilt about the relief. If they were hard to love, or hurt you, that belongs here too, because mixed feelings are still grief. When someone has died by suicide, the questions left behind can be heavy to carry, and we can hold them together without pushing for answers. An expected death often brings grief that started long before the funeral, while a sudden one can leave the world feeling shifted overnight. Sometimes drinking slips into the gap, with a bottle opened at the hour you used to ring them. I've been in recovery myself, so you can tell me about that plainly, and CGL Bromley is the borough's free drug and alcohol service if you want specialist help with it. We work towards a way of living alongside the loss that makes sense to you, in your own time.
Where grief can catch you in a Bromley life
After the wards at Farnborough Common
If your last weeks together were spent at the Princess Royal University Hospital, even driving past Farnborough Common can bring them back. We can talk through what stays with you from that time.
Clearing the family home
Sorting a parent's house in Shortlands or Park Langley, deciding what to keep and what to let go, can stir up a whole childhood. Sessions can make room for both the task and the feelings.
When the caring has stopped
After years of looking after someone, their death can take your role as well as the person. Bromley Well supports unpaid adult carers, including anyone still caring for another relative.
Grieving alongside your children
Children often grieve in bursts, between ordinary moments. Bromley Y supports young people's emotional wellbeing and works with parents too, while your own sessions stay a place for your grief.
Free bereavement support for Bromley
Free bereavement help comes from Cruse Bereavement Support, through its Bexley and Bromley branch or on 0808 808 1677, and our sessions can run beside either. Where mourning has turned into weeks of flat mood or constant worry, you can refer yourself to NHS Bromley Talking Therapies. Bromley and Orpington Samaritans will listen at any hour, day or night, when grief keeps you awake.
- Free bereavement helplineCruse Bereavement Support helpline0808 808 1677Free, from trained volunteers. Open Monday and Wednesday to Friday 9.30am to 5pm, Tuesday 1pm to 8pm.
- Free NHS talking therapyNHS Bromley Talking Therapies0300 003 3000Free NHS talking therapy for low mood or anxiety that has settled in after a loss. You can refer yourself, with no GP referral needed.
- If drinking or drug use is part of itChange Grow Live (CGL) Bromley Drug and Alcohol Service020 8289 1999Free and confidential.
- Local organisationSouth East London MindMental health charity.
- Local organisationBromley Well (unpaid adult carers support)
- Local organisationAccessible Counselling and Therapy (ACT)Low-cost or fee-paying.
- Local organisationBromley Mental Health HubBorough-wide single point of access for adult mental health.
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.
The South London NHS Mental Health Crisis WhatsApp Service is another option: WhatsApp 0303 330 1511.
What people in Bromley ask before starting
My mum died at the Princess Royal in Bromley last month. Is it too soon for grief counselling?
There's no right moment. Some people want to talk while the arrangements are still under way, and others wait a year or more, until friends have stopped asking. Both make sense. Whenever it feels right, the free 15-minute call is there; share only as much about your mum as you want, and I'll tell you honestly which weekly slots I have open.
Is there a Cruse bereavement service covering Bromley?
Yes. Cruse Bereavement Support covers the borough through its Bexley and Bromley branch, and its national helpline is 0808 808 1677. It's free, and you can contact it yourself. Private counselling with me can run at the same time, or follow on afterwards if you'd like regular sessions with one person for as long as you find them useful.
Is meeting in person realistic for grief counselling from Bromley?
My room is in Hove, about 75 minutes' drive from Bromley, so weekly grief counselling from there runs by secure video. It can be easier to cry in your own home, with nobody to pass on the way out and no drive back afterwards. If sharing a room matters, we can plan an extended visit to Intergen House every so often.
I'm in Bromley and drinking more in the evenings since my brother died. Can we talk about both?
Yes. Drinking often moves into the evenings that grief has emptied, and you can tell me honestly how much without being judged; I've been in recovery myself. CGL Bromley, the borough's free drug and alcohol service, is on 020 8289 1999 if you want specialist help. If grief ever leaves you feeling you can't go on, the South London crisis WhatsApp service is on 0303 330 1511, and the urgent help section above these questions lists more.
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 about the person you've lost, whenever you choose
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.