Bromley · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Counselling and therapy for Bromley
If you're in Bromley, Shortlands or Hayes and want a therapist you've chosen yourself, I can work with you by secure video at a regular weekly time. I don't have a room in Bromley. I work from a single room in Hove, and from Bromley Town or Bickley that's a long way to travel each week.
The practical facts for Bromley
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Bromley by car
- About 75 minutes with clear roads (50.3 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Bromley South, change at London Victoria for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- NHS Bromley Talking Therapies, 0300 003 3000
- 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 metropolitan centre, and quiet streets behind it
Bromley is one of Greater London's 13 metropolitan centres, with a pedestrianised High Street, the Charter Market, the Churchill Theatre and The Glades, whose catchment is put at 1.3 million people.
Behind the centre are the quieter roads of Sundridge, Park Langley and Bromley Common. Off-peak, Bromley South sends eight trains an hour to Victoria and two to Blackfriars, so your working week may mean London by day and Bromley in the evening. If you study or work at Rookery Lane, the largest of the London South East Colleges campuses, your hours may run differently again. When everyone around you seems busy and getting on with things, it can be hard to admit, even to yourself, that you aren't coping as well as you look. That is a good enough reason to get in touch, long before anything reaches a crisis.
NHS routes in Bromley, and choosing your own therapist
The Bromley Mental Health Hub, run by Oxleas with South East London Mind, is one way into NHS and Mind mental health support for adults in the borough. It looks at what you need and directs you to the service it thinks suits you. NHS Bromley Talking Therapies takes self-referrals directly if anxiety or low mood is what you want help with. Seeing me privately is a separate option, and it can sit alongside either of them. You choose the person you see, we use the first session to work out together what you want from the work, and then we keep the same hour each week. That steadiness can help if your weekdays run on the trains between Bromley South and Victoria or Blackfriars, or if you work in the shops around The Glades and your days off move. I'm a BACP-registered counsellor and in psychotherapy training, as a student member of UKCP, so the work can be short and focused or longer and deeper, and that choice can wait until we've talked. I bring more than 25 years of experience and my own lived experience of recovery, so drinking, drugs or gambling can be talked about here without anyone flinching. Anything to do with tablets or doses belongs with your GP, and our sessions carry on beside whatever they advise.
Reasons you might get in touch from Bromley
Holding it together at work
Capable all day on the shop floor at The Glades or at a desk up the line from Bromley South, then drained and short-tempered as soon as you're home.
Study on top of everything
A course at Rookery Lane, the largest of the London South East Colleges campuses, squeezed in around a job or a family, and the pressure that builds when the deadlines all land at once.
Panic on the way in
A racing heart on a crowded platform at Bromley South, or dread that builds on the run into Victoria and doesn't settle until you're home again.
Loss you haven't spoken about
A death or an ending everyone else seems to have moved on from. Cruse's Bexley and Bromley branch offers bereavement support, and we can make room for it in our sessions too.
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 Bromley
Bromley has a lower-cost option worth knowing about: Accessible Counselling and Therapy (ACT), a local charity offering counselling and psychotherapy to adults 18 and over. Bromley Well is a free borough-wide wellbeing service that can point you to the right help, and Bromley Y supports the emotional wellbeing of children, young people and their parents. None of them rules out seeing me privately as well.
- Free NHS talking therapyNHS Bromley Talking Therapies0300 003 3000Free 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 itChange Grow Live (CGL) Bromley Drug and Alcohol Service020 8289 1999Free and confidential.
- Local organisationClean Slate Project (Bromley's recovery hub)
- Local organisationCGL Bromley family and carer support
- Local organisationBromley and Orpington SamaritansLocal Samaritans branch.
- Local organisationCruse Bereavement Support, Bexley and Bromley branchBereavement support.
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.
The South London NHS Mental Health Crisis WhatsApp Service () is another option: WhatsApp 0303 330 1511.
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 Bromley ask before starting
How soon can I start counselling in Bromley?
There's no referral, no GP letter and no form to fill in first. You book the free 15-minute call, we talk about what's prompting you to look now, and if we both think it could work, we agree a regular weekly time by video. If my diary is full I'll say so straight away, so you can look elsewhere without waiting on me.
Is there free or charity-run therapy in Bromley?
Yes. NHS Bromley Talking Therapies is the borough's free service when worry or depression is the main thing, and it takes calls from you directly on 0300 003 3000. The Bromley Mental Health Hub, run by Oxleas with South East London Mind, is a way into adult mental health services for residents aged 18 to 64, and outside that age range your GP can point you on. Accessible Counselling and Therapy (ACT) is a local charity offering lower-cost counselling and psychotherapy for adults.
Can I see you in person if I live in Bromley?
You can, but only in Hove, because I don't have a room anywhere near Bromley. The drive is roughly 75 minutes each way, and the rail route means changing at London Victoria. For that reason most of our sessions would probably be on video, and you might come down to Hove occasionally for a longer face-to-face session.
Should I look for a psychotherapist or a counsellor in Bromley?
You don't have to decide before you start. On the free call, tell me what you're hoping for, whether that's help with something happening now or understanding patterns that go back years, and we'll shape the work around it. My BACP registration is as a counsellor, while with UKCP I'm a student member, still training as a psychotherapist.
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.
Arrange a free first call from Bromley
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.