Bognor Regis · in person in Hove or online
Counselling and therapy for Bognor Regis
Maybe life between the pier and Hotham Park has felt off for months, and you couldn't say exactly why. Getting in touch at that stage, unsure and unlabelled, makes perfect sense. I'm a BACP-registered counsellor, and from Bognor, secure video is usually the easiest way for us to meet: the same counsellor and the same hour, from your own front room, with Hove visits whenever you would like one.
The practical facts for Bognor Regis
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Bognor Regis by car
- About 49 minutes with clear roads (28.3 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- NHS West Sussex Talking Therapies – West Team, 01273 265967
- 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.
A resort town where summer noise meets quiet winters
Bognor Regis has been a seaside resort for a long time, and Butlin's has run a holiday site on the Brookland land since 1960.
In August the pier, Hotham Park and the seafront are full of visitors. Out of season the town gets much quieter, and for anyone already low, that quiet can sit heavily. Arun is also an older district: the median age there was 49 at the 2021 Census, against 40 for England, and in 18.3% of Arun households one person aged 66 or over lived alone. Further along Upper Bognor Road, the University of Chichester campus brings in a younger crowd who are often far from family. Small areas in Marine, Hotham, Pevensey and Orchard wards sit among the more deprived parts of England in the 2025 deprivation figures, and money worry tends to leak into sleep, patience and health.
Starting without a neat label for it
You can bring something clear-cut, such as a separation, a death, serious illness in the family or a job that is wearing you down. You can just as easily bring something vaguer: a flatness since you retired to Felpham, worry that wakes you at four, snapping at your children, or evenings when a glass of wine has turned into most of the bottle. All of these are reasonable reasons to start. Early on, the two of us map what is pressing on you and what holds it there: a parent in Aldwick who now needs your care, a North Bersted home gone quiet after years of noise, or an old hurt that has come back to the surface. Then we agree what to focus on, and I will tell you honestly if a different kind of help would suit you better and where to find it. More than 25 years of counselling, a toolkit that includes Human Givens, and lived experience of recovery come with me into each session, whether you join from Felpham or the town centre. Nothing you say about drinking, shame or family will shock me.
Pressures that come with living on this stretch of coast
Quiet after the season ends
When the holidaymakers leave the seafront and the pier, long winter evenings at home can make low mood and loneliness much harder to ignore.
Older, and on your own now
With Arun's older population and many over-66s living on their own, grief, retirement and health worries can go unspoken for months.
Studying away from home
Engineering deadlines at the Tech Park on Upper Bognor Road, homesickness or a first breakup can weigh more when your family is miles from the University of Chichester.
Free help alongside sessions
Anxiety or low mood needs no GP letter in Bognor, because the West Team of the county's NHS West Sussex Talking Therapies service takes calls directly, and West Sussex Mind (Bognor) hosts peer support in town.
Public health figures for the area
These are local authority figures from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. "Similar to England" means the difference is not statistically significant. The figures describe a whole population over a period, not any one person.
Free and low-cost support for Bognor Regis
Private counselling can sit beside the free help around Bognor. Arun residents struggling with anxiety or low mood can self-refer to the NHS West Sussex Talking Therapies West Team. West Sussex Mind (Bognor) runs peer support, workshops and social activities. My Sisters' House Women's Centre on London Road offers free counselling to women, and the Stonepillow Bognor Regis Hub on Clarence Road is a weekday drop-in for anyone homeless or in crisis.
- Free NHS talking therapyNHS West Sussex Talking Therapies – West Team01273 265967Free 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 itWest Sussex Drug & Alcohol Wellbeing Network (DAWN)0330 128 1113Run by Change Grow Live. Free and confidential.
- Local organisationCarers Support West Sussex – support for carers of drug and alcohol users
- Local organisationWest Sussex Wellbeing – support for family and friends (council-run)
- Local organisationMy Sisters' House Women's CentreWomen's centre charity.
- Local organisationSt Wilfrid's Hospice (Bosham) Family Services and bereavement support
For gambling, the National Gambling Helpline is free, day or night, on 0808 8020 133 (NHS gambling support).
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 SUSSEX to 85258.
If you drink heavily every day, or take drugs such as benzodiazepines or GHB daily, do not stop suddenly without medical advice. Withdrawal can cause seizures and can be dangerous. Your GP or the local drug and alcohol service can arrange medically assisted withdrawal. Call 999 or go to A&E if someone in withdrawal is shaking visibly, unusually restless or agitated, confused, seeing or hearing things that are not there, or has a fit. For milder symptoms, such as a slight tremor or sweating, contact your GP or NHS 111 the same day (NHS guidance). Counselling works alongside medical support, not instead of it.
What people in Bognor Regis ask before starting
Could I see you in person from Bognor, or is it video only?
You can, in my one room in Hove, about 49 minutes' drive from Bognor, or a train ride changing at Barnham. Week to week, secure video from home is usually simpler, as nobody has to drive or change trains at Barnham. You can mix the two, perhaps meeting in Hove first and then continuing online.
How quickly can I start counselling from Bognor?
Things start with a free 15-minute consultation, on the phone or on screen, from wherever you are in Bognor. If we go ahead, you choose from the slots genuinely free that week, so nobody in Felpham or Aldwick is left waiting on a list. Self-referrals for anxiety or low mood in Arun go to 01273 265967, the number for the West Team within NHS West Sussex Talking Therapies, and cost nothing.
My GP mentioned the Bedale Centre. How is that different from seeing you?
The Bedale Centre on Glencathara Road is home to Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust teams, reached through a GP or NHS referral, for people who need specialist mental health care. Counselling with me is private, one to one and weekly. If you are already under the Bedale Centre, our sessions can run alongside your NHS care, and it helps to let your care team know.
If I hit a crisis at night in Bognor, where can I turn?
The Bognor Regis, Chichester and District Samaritans branch is on Argyle Road, and Samaritans answer on 116 123 at any hour. Sussex Partnership publishes a crisis text line too: send the word SUSSEX to 85258. When someone's life is in danger right now, ring 999 without waiting. Further West Sussex numbers, including Sussex Partnership's, sit in the urgent help box on this page.
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 first conversation from the Bognor seafront
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.