Chiswick · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Counselling and therapy for Chiswick
Perhaps something in your Chiswick life feels heavy and you can't quite say what. Talking it through one to one is a sensible first step, and you can start before you have the words. My counselling room is in Hove, a 90-minute drive away, so sessions from W4 normally run over a secure video link, with the same counsellor every week and no commute at all.
The practical facts for Chiswick
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Chiswick by car
- About 90 minutes with clear roads (75.2 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Chiswick, change at Clapham Junction for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- Hounslow Talking Therapies, 0300 123 0739
- 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.
Between the High Road, the river and the M4
Chiswick looks settled from the outside. Chiswick High Road is one of the 35 major centres in the London Plan, the Thames curls around Strand-on-the-Green and Duke's Meadows, and Chiswick House and Gardens is open free from 7am until dusk. Yet the district also sits where the M4, the North Circular and the South Circular begin, and plenty of days here are shaped by traffic, trains and deadlines. Waterloo is about 25 minutes from Chiswick station, and four District line stops run along the area, so work can follow you home quickly. Around Turnham Green or Grove Park it is easy to assume everyone else is coping, especially in a district known for its comfort. Pressure can build quietly behind a nice front door: a marriage under strain, a parent growing frail, sleep that has gone, or a glass of wine in a riverside pub garden that now happens most nights.
When you want to talk but can't name it yet
General counselling is for the times when something is wrong and the label is unclear. You might arrive with a specific event, such as redundancy, a separation or a bereavement. Equally, you might bring a sense that you have lost your spark, that small things set you off, or that a busy West London life has left no space to think. Early on, we piece together what is going on in your W4 life and what keeps holding it there. That could be the speed of a working week in the city, caring for someone older across Chiswick or Brentford, loneliness in a sociable neighbourhood, or an old pattern that has surfaced again. From there we settle on a focus, and if ARC Hounslow, West London Mind or another service would fit you better, I'll say so straight away. Internal Family Systems is one strand of the integrative way I work, and the how I work page explains the rest. Twenty-five years and more of practice, plus recovery I have lived through myself, mean you can speak plainly and expect to be met with steadiness.
What a Chiswick week can carry
Work that boards the District line
With four District line stations and Waterloo around 25 minutes away, the office can feel close enough to never quite leave your evenings or weekends.
A frail parent nearby
Looking after someone frail in Chiswick or Brentford is tiring. The Carer Cafe at The Chiswick Cinema offers unpaid carers free advice, with our sessions as your own space.
Pub culture on your doorstep
Fuller's brewed at the Griffin Brewery for over 350 years and Strand-on-the-Green has three riverside pubs. If drinking has started to worry you, it is welcome in the room.
Needing quiet as well as talk
The Rosary at Chiswick House and Gardens is a designated Silent Space. You could pair weekly counselling with a regular walk there to let things settle.
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 Chiswick
Free services in Hounslow can run alongside private counselling. For anxiety and low mood, Chiswick residents can refer themselves to Hounslow Talking Therapies, which West London NHS Trust runs. West London Mind and the Hounslow Wellbeing Network offer community support, and Age Concern Chiswick runs a Friendship Club for older neighbours. Should drinking or drugs be the concern, ARC Hounslow is the borough's addiction recovery service, and Al-Anon Chiswick supports families.
- Free NHS talking therapyHounslow Talking Therapies0300 123 0739Free 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 itARC Hounslow (Addiction Recovery Community)01895 488675Run by Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL). Free and confidential.
- Local organisationHounslow Council Carers Service
- Local organisationSamaritans Ealing branch (covers Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow)
- Local organisationAllkind suicide bereavement support
- Local organisationExit Here Chiswick monthly bereavement support group
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 West London NHS Trust 24-hour mental health helpline (Mental Health Single Point of Access) is on 0800 328 4444.
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 Chiswick ask before starting
Is face-to-face counselling possible from Chiswick, or is it video only?
Sessions in person happen in Hove, about 90 minutes' drive from Chiswick or a rail trip changing at Clapham Junction. With that distance, secure video is the sensible way to hold regular sessions from W4, and the counselling is the same work with the same person. Occasional sessions in Hove are welcome whenever meeting in one room matters to you.
If I contact you from Chiswick this week, how soon could we begin?
Once we've had a free 15-minute call, by phone or video, you pick a regular weekly slot from whatever I have free at that point. Waiting lists play no part. If you would also like NHS help for worry or low mood, you can contact Hounslow Talking Therapies on 0300 123 0739 yourself, without going through your GP.
Who can I call tonight in Hounslow when everything feels too much?
West London NHS Trust runs a 24-hour mental health helpline on 0800 328 4444 for anyone in Hounslow, including Chiswick. Samaritans answer at any hour on 116 123, and their Ealing branch covers Hounslow. Hounslow Safe Space, run by Hestia, is another option. Ring 999 whenever someone's life is at immediate risk. Each of those numbers also sits in the urgent help panel alongside this Chiswick guide.
Will video counselling from my Chiswick flat feel too exposed?
Talking from your own front room in Grove Park or Bedford Park can feel steadier than a strange consulting room, with no Tube ride first. Pick a spare room or bedroom with the door closed and headphones in, at an hour when nobody else is about. The link is secure, and if someone is home you can sit in a parked car or book a small room at work. We can check together after a few weeks how it is going.
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.
Start with one short conversation from W4
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.