Fleet · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Bereavement and grief counselling for Fleet
When someone you love has died, life in Fleet can look strangely ordinary on the surface while everything underneath has shifted. I offer bereavement and grief counselling by secure video, whether the death was expected or sudden, last month or years ago, with no stages to pass through and no point by which you are meant to feel better.
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 Fleet
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Fleet by car
- About 89 minutes with clear roads (74.6 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.
The walks and roads around Fleet that lead back to them
Loss in a town the size of Fleet tends to follow you about.
The circuit of Fleet Pond you walked with a partner, the Basingstoke Canal towpath where your dad took the dog, or the turning for Fleet Community Hospital on Church Road, where you may have visited towards the end, can all catch you off guard on an ordinary afternoon. If the last days were spent at Frimley Park Hospital, over the Surrey border, the road towards Camberley may feel heavier now than it used to. Commuting brings its own strain. Compassionate leave runs out, and soon you are back on the train to London Waterloo, composed at a desk all day and undone by the time you get home. And if you moved to Elvetham Heath or Edenbrook not long ago, few neighbours may have known the person you lost, so fewer think to ask how you are doing.
Making room for every part of the loss
Grief counselling with me has no stages to tick off and no date by which you ought to have moved on. You set the pace. One week you might want to tell me about the person, their habits, their humour, the phrase they always used. Another week you might hardly mention them and talk instead about how tired you are. Grief is rarely just sadness. Anger, guilt and relief often come with it, and they can be easier to say aloud to someone outside the family. If you cared for a parent through a long decline, relief and loss can sit side by side without cancelling each other out. If the relationship was a hard one, you may be mourning what never happened as much as what did. When a death comes suddenly, or by suicide, it can leave heavy questions, and we can stay with them without pressing for answers. Sometimes drink starts doing some of the grieving, a nightcap that becomes three, or a habit you shared that keeps them near. I have been through recovery myself, so an evening glass in Fleet that keeps creeping upwards is safe to name here, and Inclusion Recovery Hampshire gives free, specialist drinking support across the county. What we work towards is room in your life for the loss, with the rest of you alongside it.
Losses that can land differently in Fleet
After the last days at Frimley Park
If your final days with them were spent at Frimley Park Hospital, the road to Camberley can carry those memories. We can go back over that time as slowly as you need.
Commuting to Waterloo while grieving
Compassionate leave rarely lasts as long as grief does. An evening video session after the commute gives the loss somewhere to go other than the train home.
The carer whose days have emptied
When years of caring end, a Fleet home without the appointments and medication rounds can feel strangely still. If you still care for someone else, the Hampshire Carers Support Service supports carers.
Your child grieving at school
When a son or daughter at Calthorpe Park School or Court Moor School has lost a grandparent or parent, you may be holding their grief and your own. Your sessions are a place for yours.
Free bereavement support for Fleet
Alongside its helpline, Cruse Bereavement Support offers Hart families a Support After Suicide Service that spans Hampshire. When the weight of a loss turns into persistent low mood or anxiety, people registered with a Fleet GP can refer themselves to Talk Plus, while the NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire service shown on this page is for patients in Hook, Hartley Wintney and Odiham. Hart Voluntary Action's 121 Adult Counselling offers Hart adults free sessions, and private grief counselling can run beside any of these.
- 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 Talking Therapies Hampshire023 8038 3920Free 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 itInclusion Recovery Hampshire0300 124 0103Free and confidential.
- Local organisationThe Princess Royal Trust for Carers in Hampshire (Hampshire Carers Support Service)
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.
In this area you can also text HANTS to 85258. Locally, the Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Mental Health Crisis Helpline is on 0800 915 4644. Local drop-in crisis support: Aldershot Safe Haven (check opening times before you go).
What people in Fleet ask before starting
Is there free bereavement support for people living in Fleet?
Yes. Ringing 0808 808 1677 reaches the Cruse Bereavement Support helpline from Fleet, and where the person took their own life, the charity's Support After Suicide Service reaches into Hampshire too. Hart Voluntary Action offers up to 10 free counselling sessions to adults who live in Hart or have a Hart GP. If the loss has brought low mood or anxiety, Fleet GP patients can refer themselves to Talk Plus. Paid counselling with me can run next to whichever of these you choose.
My mum died at Fleet Community Hospital months ago and I still can't concentrate. Is that part of grief?
It often is. Grief has no set length, and trouble concentrating, sleeping or remembering ordinary things can carry on long after a death. It doesn't mean you are grieving the wrong way. If it is getting in the way of work or home life, talking it through can help you make space for it. Should the grief ever leave you feeling unable to carry on, the Surrey and Borders line answers day and night on 0800 915 4644, and the urgent help box lists more.
Can I have grief counselling from Fleet by video, or do I need to come to Hove?
Weekly sessions from Fleet run over secure video, since 89 minutes in the car each way, straight after an hour spent on your grief, would ask too much of you. You stay in your own home, with time to sit quietly afterwards. If, months on, you would like to sit with me in person, a longer session at Intergen House can be set up.
The funeral was only a few weeks ago. Can I book grief counselling from Fleet this early?
There is no wrong moment. Some people want to talk in the first weeks after a funeral, and others only reach out a year or more later, when everyone else seems to assume they are fine. Both are reasonable. It all opens with a free 15-minute call, made from your home in Fleet. Share only what feels manageable about who died, and I'll let you know straight away when a regular weekly slot becomes free.
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.
Tell me about them when you're ready
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.