Dorking · in person in Hove or online
Counselling and therapy for Dorking
This is for anyone in Dorking or the villages around it who has been meaning to talk to someone and keeps putting it off. I'm a counsellor and psychotherapist working one to one, by secure video or in my room in Hove, 54 minutes' drive away. A short free call comes first, just to see how it feels.
The practical facts for Dorking
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Dorking by car
- About 54 minutes with clear roads (38.1 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Dorking Deepdene, change at Gatwick Airport for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- Mind Matters Surrey, 0300 330 5450
- 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.
Slow trains, steep hills and a familiar high street
Dorking is a market town wrapped on three sides by the Surrey Hills National Landscape, with Box Hill and Leith Hill close enough for an afternoon walk.
Trains run direct to London Victoria and London Waterloo, though none of them are expresses. Other jobs are in the town itself: Mole Valley District Council at Pippbrook, Denbies Wine Estate and the visitor trade around it, or Dorking Community Hospital on Horsham Road. In a town this size, the same faces turn up on the high street, at the gates of The Ashcombe School or The Priory School, and at Meadowbank on a match day. Out in Westcott, Brockham or North Holmwood, the circle can be smaller still. That familiarity is part of the appeal of living here. It can also make it harder to admit, out loud and to someone local, that you haven't been coping.
Slow London trains, local jobs and a counsellor elsewhere
Because no express trains run from Dorking, a London job can leave you very little of the evening, with two trains an hour to Victoria via Sutton and one to Waterloo via Wimbledon. If that is your week, a video session from home may fit better than another trip. If your work is in the town instead, at Pippbrook, Denbies Wine Estate or Dorking Community Hospital, you may meet colleagues on the high street or at Meadowbank, and you might prefer a counsellor with no connection to any of it. Either way, you can bring whatever has been building, such as a bereavement, a marriage under strain, panic on the train or feeling low for longer than you'd like. You don't need to have a clear reason. The first session is mostly you talking and me asking about what has been happening and what you'd like to be different. After that we choose together what to look at first, and how you'll notice small changes in an ordinary week. I bring more than 25 years of practice and my own lived experience of recovery, and anything medical stays with your GP, who can work alongside what we do.
If any of these sound familiar
Low mood that hangs on
Weeks or months of feeling flat, tired or tearful, when even a good walk on Box Hill or Leith Hill doesn't lift it for long.
Worn down by stopping trains
No express into Victoria or Waterloo, early starts and late returns, and weekends spent catching up on sleep until you can't remember what you used to enjoy.
Working where you live
A job at Pippbrook, Denbies or Dorking Community Hospital can mean colleagues are also neighbours, and talking to someone well outside the town can feel safer.
Loss and life changes
Bereavement, retirement or illness in the family, and finding it harder to adjust than you expected. The Cruse Bereavement Support national helpline can sit alongside counselling with me.
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 Dorking
If cost is a worry, there are other routes. Adults in Dorking with anxiety or low mood can refer themselves to Mind Matters Surrey, which provides NHS Talking Therapies locally. Mary Frances Trust runs Community Connections wellbeing groups across Mole Valley. For grief, Cruse Bereavement Support has local Surrey branches and a national helpline. Young people aged 11 to 24 can get free counselling from Heads Together Counselling in Dorking.
- Free NHS talking therapyMind Matters Surrey0300 330 5450Free 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 iti-access0300 222 5932Free and confidential.
- Local organisationAction for Carers Surrey
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.
Locally, the Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS FT Mental Health Crisis Helpline is on 0800 915 4644.
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 Dorking ask before starting
I'd rather not see a therapist in my own town. Is that unusual?
No. In a town the size of Dorking, it makes sense to want a counsellor with no links to your workplace, your neighbours or the school gate. My only room is in Hove and most of the work can happen by secure video, so there's real distance, and nobody locally needs to know unless you choose to tell them.
Is there free counselling for adults in Dorking, and how long is the wait?
For adults, the free NHS option is Mind Matters Surrey: you can contact them yourself on 0300 330 5450 when worry or low mood is what's weighing on you, and ask how long their wait is just now. Mary Frances Trust also runs Community Connections wellbeing groups in Mole Valley. With me, the free call comes first and I'll say honestly when a first session could be.
Is it worth the drive from Dorking for in-person sessions?
That depends on your week. It's about 54 minutes each way in clear traffic, so an hour's session takes a good part of the day. If meeting in the room matters to you, a 90-minute session makes the trip more worthwhile. If not, video from home works, perhaps with an occasional visit to Hove. You can change your mind as we go.
I'm worried about my drinking. Who can help in Dorking?
Ring i-access on 0300 222 5932, Surrey's free service for drink and drugs, run jointly by a Surrey NHS trust and the non-profit Via. Counselling with me can sit alongside that, looking at what the drinking does for you and what's underneath it. If you drink heavily, i-access can assess you and arrange detox or other treatment, and your GP can look after the physical side, so please talk to them as well.
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.
Have a first word, with no commitment
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.