City of London · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Counselling and therapy for City of London
If you spend your weekdays in the Square Mile, or live on one of its estates, and something has started to feel heavy without a clear name, this is a sensible first stop. I'm a counsellor working one to one. I work from one room, in Hove, 100 minutes' drive from the Square Mile, so we'd normally meet on secure video, with the odd Hove session available on request.
The practical facts for City of London
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From City of London by car
- About 100 minutes with clear roads (54.1 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- City & Hackney Talking Therapies, 020 7683 4278
- 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.
Six hundred thousand by day, a village by night
The City empties and fills like a tide. More than 600,000 people work here, yet only about 8,600 call it home, so most of the Square Mile's life belongs to people who arrive through Liverpool Street or Blackfriars and leave again at night. The City Corporation's own figures show a young workforce: 56% are aged 22 to 39, against 44% across the UK, and over half work in financial and professional services. Behind the desks there is also a hidden workforce of cleaners, security and service staff, whom the City's health strategy names as more likely to carry stress and anxiety. For residents, the picture is different again. Around 51% of households are one person living alone, many of them older, in the Barbican, Golden Lane or the Middlesex Street estate. Portsoken, in the east, sits among the most deprived 20% of the country. It is possible to be surrounded by crowds here all day and still have no one to tell.
When the trading floor follows you home
Nobody needs a neat label before writing to me from the City. Some people arrive with something definite: a restructure, a performance review that has knocked their confidence, a relationship ending under the weight of long hours, a parent unwell somewhere far from the City. Others only know that Sunday evenings have started to feel like dread, that sleep has thinned out, or that the after-work drink near Leadenhall Market has become a nightly habit. Gambling belongs on that list too; the City's suicide prevention plan now names problem gamblers as a group it watches out for, and it is something you can speak about plainly with me. To begin, we sift out what is pressing on you and why it persists: a culture that prizes never switching off, evenings alone in a Barbican flat, or something older the pace has kept buried. Then we agree a focus. I bring more than 25 years' experience and my own recovery, so nothing you say about pressure, shame or drinking will shock me. The how I work page sets out my integrative approach.
What a Square Mile week can leave behind
Long hours in finance
Over half the City works in financial and professional services, where late finishes and constant availability can crowd out sleep, friendships and any sense of who you are outside the job.
The staff nobody sees
If you clean, guard or serve in City offices, often at early or late hours, the stress the City's health strategy describes is real and worth bringing to counselling.
Living alone on an estate
With 51% of City households being single people, evenings in the Barbican or Golden Lane can be quiet in a way that slowly turns into loneliness.
Younger than the national workforce
With 56% of City workers aged 22 to 39, plenty of people here are building careers far from family, carrying expectations they have rarely said out loud.
Free and low-cost support for City of London
Our work can run alongside the City's free and low-cost support. For anxiety and low mood, City and Hackney Talking Therapies lets you refer yourself. The City Wellbeing Centre, run by Tavistock Relationships, offers sliding-scale counselling. Mind in the City, Hackney and Waltham Forest runs peer support, and Dragon Café in the City meets at Shoe Lane Library. For drinking or drugs, the City and Hackney Recovery Service is the local route.
- Free NHS talking therapyCity & Hackney Talking Therapies020 7683 4278Free 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 itCity and Hackney Recovery Service0345 144 0050Free and confidential.
- Local organisationCity of London Carers Support Service (Imago)
- Local organisationCentral London Samaritans
- Local organisationDragon Café in the City (Mental Fight Club)Free fortnightly wellbeing sessions, low-cost or fee-paying.
- Local organisationSt Joseph's Hospice bereavement serviceHospice bereavement counselling.
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 City of London ask before starting
Can I have counselling in the City of London in my lunch hour?
A video session can fit a working day if you have a genuinely private space, such as a booked meeting room with a closed door, though an open-plan floor or a coffee shop will not feel safe enough to talk. Joining from home, before or after the commute, is often calmer. We can look at which times suit your week on the free call.
Is there free NHS counselling if I live in the Barbican or elsewhere in the City?
For City residents, City and Hackney Talking Therapies is the local NHS service for anxiety and low mood; a self-referral on 020 7683 4278 needs no GP letter. The City Wellbeing Centre, commissioned by the City of London Corporation, offers low-cost sessions on a sliding scale, and our video work can carry on beside either one.
Can I meet a counsellor in person if I work near Liverpool Street?
Face-to-face sessions take place only at Intergen House in Hove, about 100 minutes by car from the City or a Thameslink train from Blackfriars with a change at Brighton. Weekly work from the Square Mile normally runs on secure video, and an in-person session in Hove can be booked occasionally if you would value one.
Will my employer find out if I see a counsellor while working in the City?
No. Private counselling is arranged between you and me, with nothing passed to your firm, your HR team or your manager. What you tell me stays private, apart from the narrow safeguarding exceptions I set out in our first session. You can pay personally and join from your own device, so nothing needs to go through a work account.
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 away from the desk to start
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.