Gosport · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Counselling and therapy for Gosport
Gosport is on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour and my only room is in Hove, so from here counselling with me usually happens by secure video. You'd speak with the same BACP-registered counsellor each week, from home in Alverstoke, Rowner or Lee-on-the-Solent, without crossing the water first.
The practical facts for Gosport
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Gosport by car
- About 82 minutes with clear roads (55.6 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire, 023 8038 3920
- 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 peninsula town that keeps the Navy's calendar
Living on a peninsula shapes ordinary days.
Gosport has no railway station, so getting out of town by public transport usually starts with the Gosport Ferry, which carries foot passengers and cyclists over to Portsmouth. The Royal Navy's HMS Sultan is still here, and naval postings, deployments and military family life are part of the town. If your partner is away, you may be the one keeping everything running, and it can feel hard to say you're not coping. If you're the one serving, talking about how you really feel may not come easily either. Gosport War Memorial Hospital has taken on more since the closure of Royal Hospital Haslar, and it provides inpatient and outpatient services for the town. If you'd rather talk to someone with no part in the town's health services or its naval life, video from your own kitchen table keeps it private, and you don't have to explain where you're going.
When someone you love is at sea, or you are
What brings you might be the loneliness of months apart, the tension of someone coming home to routines that moved on without them, irritability you can't explain, grief, or noticing that you drink more on the quiet evenings. With HMS Sultan in the town, the people next door, at the school gate and at work may share the same naval world as you, which can make admitting that things are slipping feel like a risk. A counsellor who sits outside the peninsula, and outside the Navy, can be easier to be straight with. In our first session I'll mostly listen, and ask what a better month would look like for you. Then we plan around the shape of life here: sessions arranged around leave, a posting or a homecoming, so the work doesn't fall apart the first time the calendar changes. If you've already had the telephone assessment with the Solent Mind wellbeing service and been pointed towards counselling, you're welcome to bring whatever came out of it to our first call. My way of working is integrative, and the how-I-work page sets it out, so our time here can go on you. I've been practising for more than 25 years and I have lived experience of recovery.
Things you might be carrying in Gosport
Holding the fort alone
Running the house, the children and your own worries while a partner is deployed, with nobody to hand over to at the end of the day.
Coming home and not fitting
After a long time away, family life has its own new shape, and the reunion you pictured feels tense or flat instead.
Quiet nights and a drink
When a glass or two has become how you get through the empty evenings, we can look at it honestly, and Inclusion Recovery Hampshire is the free local route if you want more.
Help without crossing the water
Gosport has no railway station, so any trip by train starts with the ferry. On video, a hard week doesn't also ask you to cross the harbour.
Public health figures for the area
These are local authority figures from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. "Similar to England" means the difference is not statistically significant. The figures describe a whole population over a period, not any one person.
Free and low-cost support for Gosport
Counselling with me can sit beside free help on the peninsula. The Solent Mind Fareham and Gosport Wellbeing Service begins with a telephone assessment and can signpost you on. Anchoring Minds, a Solent Mind project with the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity, gives peer support to serving sailors and marines and to their families. For worries about drink or drugs there is Inclusion Recovery Hampshire. If you look after someone, the Hampshire Carers Support Service is another free place to turn.
- Free NHS talking therapyNHS Talking Therapies Hampshire023 8038 3920Free 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 itInclusion Recovery Hampshire0300 124 0103Free and confidential.
- Local organisationThe Princess Royal Trust for Carers in Hampshire (Hampshire Carers Support Service)
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.
In this area you can also text HANTS to 85258.
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 Gosport ask before starting
Is there a counsellor in Gosport I can see face to face?
I don't see anyone in Gosport. My one room is in Hove, roughly 82 minutes away by car, and with no station in Gosport the trip takes the ferry and two trains. From Gosport I'd expect us to work by secure video. Should you want to meet in person, one longer session in Hove now and again can make the crossing worth it.
Can I get free counselling in Gosport?
Without a GP letter, anxiety or low mood can go straight to NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire, which used to be italk, on 023 8038 3920. The Solent Mind Fareham and Gosport Wellbeing Service isn't counselling itself, but it runs groups and one-to-one emotional support and can point you towards counselling. Seeing me privately means you choose the counsellor yourself, and the session time can bend around shifts, leave or the school run.
My partner is in the Navy. Will anything I say get back to the base?
No. Private counselling with me has no link to the Royal Navy or to any employer, and I don't report to them. What you say stays between us, within the usual professional limits around serious risk of harm, which I'll explain at the start. If peer support would help too, Anchoring Minds works with serving personnel and their families.
Can I start counselling from Gosport before or during a deployment?
Yes. Your first contact is a free 15-minute call, long enough for you to sketch what's happening at home or at work and for me to describe how our sessions would run. If it feels right to both of us, we book a first session at a time you can protect, which can be planned around leave, a posting or a partner's return, and paused and picked up again if the calendar changes.
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.
Book a first call from Gosport
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.