Brentwood · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Counselling and therapy for Brentwood
Perhaps something in your Brentwood life has felt heavy for a while and you can't quite say what. You're welcome to begin there. We would work one to one, and since my only room sits in Hove, an 89-minute drive from the Essex commuter belt, Brentwood sessions mostly happen on secure video at a fixed weekly hour. A trip to Hove now and then is there if you want it.
The practical facts for Brentwood
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Brentwood by car
- About 89 minutes with clear roads (72.9 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Brentwood, change at Farringdon: Elizabeth line from Brentwood to Farringdon for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- Mid Essex Talking Therapies
- 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.
Elizabeth line mornings, country park weekends
Brentwood sits just outside the M25, about 20 miles from Charing Cross, and for a lot of households the week is shaped by the station.
Elizabeth line trains run through central London to Paddington, eight an hour off-peak, and Shenfield adds Greater Anglia services to Liverpool Street. Some of that work stays local too, at Equity Insurance Group in the town centre or LV=, which employs 350 people here. Then the weekend opens out into Weald Country Park, Thorndon Country Park and Shenfield Common. The borough is also getting older. Between 2011 and 2021 its population rose 4.6% to 77,000, while the number of residents aged 65 and over went up by 10.3%, so plenty of people in Hutton or Pilgrims Hatch are working full weeks while keeping an eye on a parent. The council has even put chatty benches around the borough to get people talking, a quiet admission that loneliness can sit inside a busy commuter town.
Not sure what to call it yet
A general first session is for exactly that uncertainty. You might arrive with something clear, such as a bereavement, a marriage under strain or a job in the City that has started to frighten you. Or it might be vaguer: sleep that never quite refreshes, irritability with the people closest to you, a flatness that has crept in since the children left Brentwood School, or an evening glass of wine that has stretched into most of the bottle. Each of those is a reasonable thing to bring. In our opening sessions we map what is weighing on you and what feeds it, and then settle together on where the hours should go. If it turns out you need something different, such as a GP appointment about medication or a specialist service, I'll say so and help you find it. Human Givens is one strand of an integrative way of working, and the how I work page covers the rest of the mix. Behind me are more than 25 years of counselling and a recovery of my own, so whatever you carry home on the Elizabeth line can be said bluntly here.
Commuting, caring and quiet loneliness in the borough
The Elizabeth line both ways
Early trains from Brentwood or Shenfield into central London, the same crowded ride home, and evenings that feel too short to recover in before it starts again.
An older parent across the borough
With the number of over-65s in the borough up 10.3% in a decade, working adults can end up juggling their own lives with a parent's growing needs.
Lonely in a busy town
A full diary and a commuter's timetable can still leave you without anyone to talk to, which is why the borough's chatty benches exist at all.
Free help to use alongside
You can put your own name forward to Mid Essex Talking Therapies when worry or low mood dominates, and the Thurrock and Brentwood Mind hub in Great Warley is open on weekdays for a drop-in.
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 Brentwood
Private sessions with me can run side by side with free support in the borough. When worry or low mood sits at the centre, Mid Essex Talking Therapies lets Brentwood adults put their own names forward. Thurrock and Brentwood Mind runs a weekday drop-in at its Brentwood Hub in Great Warley. Brentwood CVS hosts a Monday morning Community Café at Merrymeade House, and the Essex Community Tree Network lists local partners by need.
- Free NHS talking therapyMid Essex Talking TherapiesFree 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 itOpen Road Adult Drug and Alcohol Service (Essex)Chelmsford centre 01245 284772; Basildon centre 01268 531435Free and confidential.
- Local organisationCarers First (Essex adult carer support service)
- Local organisationEssex Recovery Foundation (Recovery Spaces)
- Local organisationSaint Francis HospiceIndependent hospice charity at The Hall.
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.
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 Brentwood ask before starting
Can I sit face to face with you rather than meet from Brentwood on video?
My one counselling room is in Hove, which is about 89 minutes by car from Brentwood or a train route with two changes. Week to week we'd use secure video, so your evening in Brentwood stays your own. Should sitting together matter, the odd 90 or 120-minute session in Hove is possible, and even our opening meeting can take place there.
How soon after the call could my Brentwood sessions begin?
Once the free 15-minute call is done and you want to continue, I'll name the weekly hours still free in my diary, and you pick one that sits around your trains from Shenfield or Brentwood. There is no referral needed from a GP. Brentwood residents can also go straight to Mid Essex Talking Therapies, NHS-funded help for anxiety or low mood, though it keeps its own waiting times.
Where in Brentwood can I get free mental health support while I wait?
Thurrock and Brentwood Mind runs its Brentwood Hub at 2 The Keys in Great Warley, open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm, with wellbeing groups and carers' support. Brentwood CVS runs wellbeing sessions at Merrymeade House. The Essex Community Tree Network lists 53 partner organisations for Brentwood, searchable by what you need.
Who can I call tonight if I'm struggling in Brentwood?
Samaritans of Chelmsford and Mid Essex covers Brentwood and answers by phone around the clock on 116 123. Basildon Hospital has a Mental Health Urgent Care Department run by EPUT. If anyone's life is in immediate danger, call 999. Other crisis contacts for Essex are collected in the urgent help panel here.
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.
Fifteen minutes on the phone from the commuter belt
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.