Hounslow · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Bereavement and grief counselling for Hounslow
Planes keep landing at Heathrow and the Piccadilly line keeps running after someone you love has died, yet grief counselling gives you one weekly hour that is about them and about you. My room is in Hove, 85 minutes away by car, so from Hounslow our sessions would normally be on a video link, with an occasional visit to Hove whenever you'd like one.
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 Hounslow
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Hounslow by car
- About 85 minutes with clear roads (68.3 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Hounslow, change at Clapham Junction 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.
Losing someone while Hounslow keeps moving around you
In Hounslow, the last weeks of someone's life can lead to Twickenham Road.
West Middlesex University Hospital in Isleworth is the nearest accident and emergency department, so a sudden collapse, a late-night phone call or the final stage of a long illness may all have ended there, and driving past it afterwards can catch you off guard. Some deaths happen much further away. Heathrow sits within the Hounslow post town, yet when a parent dies abroad the funeral can be over before a flight is booked, and you are left grieving in Heston or Lampton without the gatherings the rest of the family shared. Closer to home, the ordinary parts of a Hounslow week hold the absence: a Piccadilly line seat beside you that stays empty, a Saturday walk on Hounslow Heath taken alone, a trip to the Treaty Centre with one fewer person to buy for. Grief tends to wait in exactly those places.
Talking about them, and about everything their death stirred up
Grief counselling with me follows no set stages and keeps no timetable. You decide where we begin: with who they were, with the last days on the ward, or with the weeks since, when the cards stopped arriving and everyone else went back to work. Tears are only one part of grief. Anger at the person who died, at a doctor or at a relative who never visited has a place in our hour, and so does guilt about a final conversation, or relief after months of caring, which can feel shameful to admit. If the relationship was a hard one, the grief may be knotted up with old hurt, and we can loosen that slowly. A death by suicide leaves questions that may never be answered; we can stay with them without forcing a conclusion. Sometimes drink becomes the way through the evenings. Having lived through my own recovery, I can talk about that plainly, and ARC Hounslow is the free local service if it has gone further than you want. Bit by bit, the aim is a way to carry their absence that still leaves space for work, family and the rest of life in Hounslow.
Kinds of loss, and the Hounslow help beside them
After the hospital in Isleworth
If the last days were spent at West Middlesex University Hospital, the Mulberry Centre's bereavement service is based on that same site and open to anyone in Hounslow.
A death far from home
When a parent dies abroad and you could not get there in time, grief can feel unfinished, and the missed goodbye deserves time of its own in our sessions.
Bereaved teenagers and young adults
Hounslow Youth Counselling Service gives free one-to-one counselling to 11 to 25 year olds who live, work or study in the borough, so a grieving son or daughter can have their own space.
After the caring ends
Hounslow Council Carers Service backs people while they look after someone; once the looking after stops, the strange freedom and the emptiness are both welcome to talk about.
Free bereavement support for Hounslow
Free bereavement help in Hounslow can run beside our sessions or follow them. The Mulberry Centre runs the Hounslow Bereavement and End of Life Support Service, offering bereavement counselling and a support group for anyone living or working in the borough, whatever the cause of the death. Allkind offers suicide bereavement support, and the Samaritans Ealing branch, which covers Hounslow, listens at any hour.
- 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 therapyHounslow Talking Therapies0300 123 0739Free 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 itARC Hounslow (Addiction Recovery Community)01895 488675Run by Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL). Free and confidential.
- Local organisationWest London MindMental health charity.
- Local organisationHounslow Council Carers Service
- Local organisationHounslow Wellbeing Network
- Local organisationStar Centre (EACH Counselling and 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 West London NHS Trust 24-hour mental health helpline (Mental Health Single Point of Access) is on 0800 328 4444.
What people in Hounslow ask before starting
Does Hounslow have its own bereavement service?
Yes. The Hounslow Bereavement and End of Life Support Service, run by the Mulberry Centre at West Middlesex University Hospital, offers free bereavement counselling and a support group to anyone living or working in Hounslow. You can use it on its own, alongside a private weekly hour with me, or before moving on to sessions with me, and once we have spoken we simply agree a time.
When is it too early, or too late, to see a grief counsellor from Hounslow?
Whenever it feels right to you. You might get in touch in the first fortnight, with the funeral still being planned, or only years later, when an anniversary or another loss opens things up again. After a short free call we agree a weekly video slot that fits around your Hounslow week, and if the first sessions feel too early, we can pause and pick up later.
Do I need to travel to Hove for bereavement counselling from Hounslow?
Not at all. From Hounslow, grief sessions normally run on secure video; you talk from home, perhaps with their photograph nearby, and stay put afterwards. Driving to the Hove room takes around 85 minutes, and by rail you change at Clapham Junction, so an occasional face-to-face session there is best saved for when you would really value it.
Someone close to me in Hounslow died by suicide. Is grief counselling right for that?
It can be. Grief after suicide often carries extra weight: unanswered questions, anger, guilt, and the sense that other people avoid the subject. We take those at your pace, without going over anything you would rather leave alone. Allkind suicide bereavement support is open to you at the same time as our sessions. If you reach a point where going on feels impossible, turn to the urgent help box on this page 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.
Begin with a quiet phone call from Hounslow
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.