Broadstairs · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Counselling and therapy for Broadstairs
Whether it's a long Thanet winter, a quieter house or a worry you keep from the neighbours, counselling for Broadstairs starts with one steady person to talk it through with. My only counselling room is in Hove, more than two hours from the Kent coast, so from here we would meet on a secure video call, with the same counsellor every week and no travel at all.
The practical facts for Broadstairs
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Broadstairs by car
- About 129 minutes with clear roads (108.4 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- NHS Talking Therapies Kent and Medway, 0333 091 0414
- 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.
Seven bays, a quiet winter and a town that knows you
Broadstairs gets two lives a year. In summer the seafront below Harbour Street fills with visitors, the Pavilion on the Sands is busy and the second week of August belongs to Folk Week. Then the crowds leave, Viking Bay goes quiet and the long months between October and Easter can feel very still, especially in Kingsgate, Dumpton or out towards North Foreland. Across Thanet the median age rose from 43 to 45 between 2011 and 2021, older than the South East at 41, and you may well be retired, caring for a partner, or living alone now the children have moved away. A small, friendly town has real warmth. It can also mean you see your neighbour in the queue at Westwood Cross and feel you have to say you're fine. Counselling gives you an hour where that is set aside.
Starting when you only know something has shifted
You can get in touch with a clear reason, or with nothing more than a sense that you've lost your footing. Perhaps retiring beside the seven bays felt emptier than you expected, or the move to Thanet hasn't brought the calm you pictured, or a marriage has gone quiet, or caring for someone has filled years of your life. Others notice they are sleeping badly, losing interest in things they used to enjoy, or reaching for a glass earlier in the evening than they once did. Any of those is reason enough to talk. Our early hours go on untangling what weighs heaviest, whether that's a quiet house once the season ends or years as a carer, and what holds it there, while the focus stays yours to choose. If another kind of help would suit you better, I'll say so and point you towards it. Over 25 years as a counsellor, and a recovery of my own, sit behind how I listen. Human Givens is one strand I weave into an integrative way of working, and the others are described on the how I work page. You can come at whatever age and stage you are.
Pressures that turn up in Broadstairs lives
When the season ends
After Folk Week and the summer trade, a quieter seafront and shorter days can leave you with more time alone with your thoughts than you'd like.
Caring at home, week in, week out
In Thanet, 3.7% of residents aged five and over gave at least 50 hours of unpaid care a week in 2021, above the 2.7% England figure.
Settling into a new chapter
Moving to the coast, retiring or watching grown children leave can unsettle you in ways that are hard to put into words at first.
Money and housing worries
When the bills or the roof over your head feel uncertain, the Gap Project drop-in and CT10 Parochial Charities can help with the practical side while we talk.
Public health figures for the area
These are local authority figures from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. The figures describe a whole population over a period, not any one person.
Free and low-cost support for Broadstairs
Alongside our video hours, the Broadstairs and St Peter's area has free support of its own. Anywhere from Reading Street to Viking Bay, when anxiety or a low spell sets in, NHS Talking Therapies Kent and Medway answers self-referrals on 0333 091 0414. The Gap Project on Queens Road hosts a Monday Wellbeing Café, Live Well Kent and Medway offers community support, and the Broadstairs Town Shed welcomes anyone over 50 who wants company and something to make.
- Free NHS talking therapyNHS Talking Therapies Kent and Medway0333 091 0414Free 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 itEast Kent community drug and alcohol service (The Forward Trust)0300 123 1186Free and confidential.
- Local organisationBereavement Support Group, St Peter-in-Thanet church
- Local organisationAl-Anon Family Groups - BroadstairsIn-person peer support meeting for adults.
- Local organisationEKIDS (East Kent Independent Dementia Support) - Carers coffee morning, Pierremont HallLow-cost or fee-paying.
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.
Locally, the Release the Pressure Helpline - Kent is on 0800 107 0160.
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 Broadstairs ask before starting
Living out by Kingsgate or St Peter's, is a face-to-face session with you ever possible?
Face-to-face work happens in Hove, roughly 129 minutes' drive from Broadstairs, which makes an in-person hour a long day out. Weekly sessions from Broadstairs run well over secure video, so you keep the same counsellor and stay at home. If you'd value a face-to-face meeting at some point, we can arrange one in Hove.
Will I have to wait long for counselling in Broadstairs?
There's no Thanet waiting list to sit on: our free 15-minute talk comes first, then you pick a weekly slot from the hours I genuinely have open. Should anxiety or low mood be the main worry, CT10 residents can phone the county's free service directly on 0333 091 0414; that service, NHS Talking Therapies Kent and Medway, sits comfortably alongside our hours.
Is video counselling manageable for an older person in Broadstairs who isn't confident with computers?
You only need a phone, tablet or laptop with a camera and a quiet room. I send you a link, you tap it at the agreed time, and we're talking. If the first attempt is fiddly, we sort it out together without any rush. Talking from your own armchair can make it easier to speak openly.
Where can I turn in Broadstairs if a bad evening comes before our next session?
Rethink Mental Illness answers the free Release the Pressure Helpline for Kent on 0800 107 0160, so a hard evening in CT10 need not wait for our next hour. From Broadstairs or anywhere in Thanet, Samaritans pick up on 116 123 day and night, and 999 is the number when someone's life is in danger right now. More numbers for a crisis 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 your own home in Broadstairs
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.