Bordon · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Counselling and therapy for Bordon
Whether you're in Bordon, Whitehill or Lindford, and whatever has been pressing on you, named or not, you can have one-to-one counselling with me. My practice spans more than 25 years, and I hold BACP registered membership. From this corner of Hampshire, secure video from home is usually the practical way to meet, with a visit to my room in Hove now and then if that suits you.
The practical facts for Bordon
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Bordon by car
- About 81 minutes with clear roads (45.9 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire, 023 8038 3920
- 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 garrison town turning into somewhere new
For most of the last century Bordon was an army town.
Bordon Camp was occupied from 1903, and REME trade training stayed until 2016, so plenty of local families lived to the rhythm of postings, deployments and moves. The former Prince Philip Barracks is now being turned into new homes and a new town centre, and by June 2025 some 2,400 homes had been delivered. Change on that scale brings its own pressures. If you've just moved into one of the new streets, you may not know a soul yet. If you've lived in Whitehill for decades, the place you knew can seem to be disappearing around you. If you served, or were married to someone who did, the end of that life can leave a gap that's hard to explain to people who never lived it. The town sits in Woolmer Forest with the Bordon Inclosure on the doorstep, and a walk under the pines can quieten a busy head for an afternoon. When the same worries are waiting at home, talking them through with someone outside the town can help.
Not sure what you need? That is a fine place to start
Nobody expects you to turn up with a label or a tidy explanation. Some people get in touch because sleep has gone, or because they keep snapping at the people they love and can't work out why. Others are carrying something older: a loss, a frightening time in service, a family pattern they keep repeating. The first sessions are for working out together what is going on and what would help. In Bordon that often means taking the town's own changes seriously. Leaving the forces, or leaving behind the life a partner's posting gave you, can unsettle your sense of who you are and where you belong. Moving onto a new estate with a mortgage, a long drive to work and no railway station can stretch a week thin, and when money is tight the strain tends to show up everywhere else too. We work with your real circumstances, at a pace you set. I work integratively, and where it helps we might use something like Internal Family Systems to understand the parts of you that pull in different directions. I came to this work with lived experience of recovery, which means I know from the inside how hard it can be to ask.
Some things a Bordon life can put on you
After the Army moved on
Bordon was built around the camp until REME training left in 2016. If your work, friendships or sense of purpose went with it, that loss deserves room.
New house, no one to call
Around 2,400 new homes have gone up on the old barracks land, and arriving somewhere with no shared history can be lonelier than people expect.
Local health services in transition
Chase Community Hospital now runs a limited set of community clinics while a town-centre Health Hub is planned. Video sessions need nothing more than a quiet room at home.
Miles from the nearest train
With no station in town, any appointment elsewhere starts with a drive or a bus to Liphook. Sessions from home take that whole leg out of the week.
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 Bordon
My sessions can run beside free and low-cost support around Whitehill and Bordon. Havant and East Hants Mind runs a Mental Health Hub at The Community Station on Camp Road, and its Instil Hope Counselling Service offers low-cost counselling online or at a Bordon clinic. On Tuesday evenings PeerTalk Bordon peer support group gathers at Whitehill Village Hall, and NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire lets you self-refer, no GP needed, when anxiety or low mood sits at the core of it.
- Free NHS talking therapyNHS Talking Therapies Hampshire023 8038 3920Free 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 itInclusion Recovery Hampshire0300 124 0103Free and confidential.
- Local organisationThe Princess Royal Trust for Carers in Hampshire (Hampshire Carers Support Service)
- Local organisationWhitehill & Bordon Community Trust (WBCT)Local community charity.
For gambling, the National Gambling Helpline is free, day or night, on 0808 8020 133 (NHS gambling 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.
In this area you can also text HANTS 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 Bordon ask before starting
Without a train station in Bordon, how would I get to sessions in person?
You'd come to my room in Hove, which is about 81 minutes away by car. Without a car, it's a bus or a lift to Liphook, then a train with a change at Havant. Because of that, weekly sessions from Whitehill or Lindford usually work better on secure video, and you can still come to Hove when it suits you. A longer session there can make the trip feel worthwhile.
What other support is there in Bordon alongside private counselling?
Quite a lot nearby. Anxiety and low mood can be referred directly to NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire by phoning 023 8038 3920 yourself. The Instil Hope Counselling Service from Havant and East Hants Mind offers sessions at a Bordon clinic or online, and the charity's Mental Health Hub is at The Community Station on Camp Road. Private counselling with me can come before, after or alongside any of these.
I left the Army and never really settled in Bordon. Is counselling for that?
It can be. Leaving the forces, or leaving the life that came with a partner's service, can change your routine, your friendships and how you see yourself all at once. We can talk about what you miss and what you'd like from here. Locally, the Royal British Legion Bordon and District Branch and the Armed Forces and Veterans Breakfast Club offer company alongside our sessions.
How soon can I start counselling from Bordon, and what happens first?
Your first step, taken from home in Bordon, is a free 15-minute call: sketch out what has been happening, and put any question you have to me. If we both think it's a good fit, I'll offer the times I have available and we'll book a first session, usually by video. For urgent support at any hour in the meantime, text HANTS to 85258, or call 999 in an emergency.
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 short call from home in Bordon
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.