Camberwell · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Bereavement and grief counselling for Camberwell
When someone close to you has died, Camberwell Green, Denmark Hill and the walk to the shops can all seem full of them, and bereavement counselling offers a regular hour each week to talk about who they were and how you are coping. Hove is an 88-minute drive from SE5, so our sessions happen over secure video and move only as fast as 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 Camberwell
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Camberwell by car
- About 88 minutes with clear roads (51.4 miles); longer at busy times.
- 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.
Grief within sight of Denmark Hill
In Camberwell, hospitals and ordinary life sit very close together.
If the person you loved spent their last days at King's College Hospital, you may still pass its doors on Denmark Hill on the way to the shops, and a bus stop or a corridor window can catch you unawares. If you work there yourself, or at the Maudsley, you may be used to other families' losses and find your own strangely hard to put into words. A funeral at St Giles' Church, a bench in Ruskin Park, a favourite corner of Camberwell Library: familiar places can become places you avoid, or places you seek out to feel near them. Some deaths happen a long way off, a parent dying in another city or another country while you are here, with a funeral you watch on a screen. And grief can land on top of everything else, in a crowded flat with no room to cry alone, or while rent and work are already stretching you.
Room for all of it, at your speed
Loss does not follow a neat sequence of stages, and nobody in Camberwell gets to set a date when you should be done with it. Each week we start from wherever you are that day. Sometimes that means telling me about the person: their voice, their habits, the arguments and the jokes. Sometimes it means feelings that are hard to admit to family. Anger at the hospital, at a brother who stayed away, or at the person for going. Guilt about a last visit that was cut short. Relief, if a long illness or a painful relationship has ended, which takes nothing away from how much you cared. Losing a parent differs from losing a partner, and a sudden death leaves different marks from an expected one, so we attend to what this particular loss has taken from your life. If you nursed them through months of illness, the empty days after caring ends get time of their own. After a suicide we go especially gently, and how they died stays yours to share or keep. If drinking has started to fill the evenings since the funeral, my own lived experience of recovery means we can look at that plainly and without judgement, as part of the grief.
Losses that Camberwell can bring close
After the wards at King's
If their final weeks were at King's College Hospital, the drive up Denmark Hill, the visiting hours and the late phone call can replay at odd moments. We can go over them as often as you need.
Grieving while caring for others
Working at the Maudsley or King's can mean returning to other people's distress days after your own loss. Sessions give your grief a place that belongs only to you.
The quiet after years of caring
After looking after someone for years, the days lose their shape. Southwark Carers on Camberwell Road supports carers, and our hour can hold the emptiness, guilt or relief that follows.
Bereaved by suicide
Questions without answers can circle for months. South East London Suicide Bereavement Service offers specialist support, and a weekly video hour with me can move alongside it at whatever gentle speed suits you.
Free bereavement support for Camberwell
Grief support in south-east London can sit beside our sessions. Anyone bereaved by suicide can use South East London Suicide Bereavement Service, a partnership of South London and Maudsley and South East London Mind, while Southwark Council's signpost for other grief is Cruse Bereavement Support. If you were a carer, Southwark Carers and the Mobilise online hub can help with what comes after. None of these needs a referral from me.
- 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 therapyTalking Therapies Southwark020 3228 2194Free 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 itCGL Southwark020 3404 7699Run by Change Grow Live (CGL). Free and confidential.
- Local organisationSouthwark Wellbeing Hub
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 Text Service (SLaM) is another option: WhatsApp 0303 330 1511 or text 80991.
What people in Camberwell ask before starting
Is there free bereavement support in Camberwell, or is grief counselling only private?
Free help exists. Southwark Council directs residents to the Cruse Bereavement Support national helpline, and anyone in SE5 bereaved by suicide has specialist help from South East London Suicide Bereavement Service. If grief has turned into months of low mood or worry, Talking Therapies Southwark takes self-referrals. A private weekly hour with me can be added to whichever of them you choose, or follow on later.
My mum died at King's College Hospital and I keep going over her last days. Would talking help?
It can. Going back over the last days, the decisions and the conversations on the ward, is something grief often does. In our sessions you can say all of it aloud, as many times as you need, with someone who won't rush you towards a conclusion. If going over it ever brings thoughts of ending your own life, turn straight to the urgent help listed on this page.
Would grief counselling from Camberwell be by video, or would I travel to Hove?
Video is how grief counselling from Camberwell normally works. Talking about someone who has died is tiring, and staying in your own home afterwards is kinder than an 88-minute drive or two trains back to SE5. Should sitting in the same room ever feel important, we can add a longer session at the Hove room between the regular video weeks.
Someone I love died abroad and I couldn't get to the funeral. Can I still have bereavement counselling from Camberwell?
Yes. Grief from a distance is still grief, and missing the funeral or the last goodbye can leave its own ache, along with guilt that often isn't deserved. We can talk about the person, the distance and the rituals you weren't part of, and think about ways of marking the loss here in south London that feel right to you.
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.
Say their name to someone who will listen
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.