Gravesend · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Counselling and therapy for Gravesend
If you're in Gravesend and looking for someone to talk to, I offer counselling by secure video. I'm a BACP-registered counsellor with more than 25 years' experience, and my one room is in Hove, about 79 minutes' drive away, so video is how we would normally meet. A free 15-minute call lets you find out whether talking to me feels right before anything is booked.
The practical facts for Gravesend
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Gravesend by car
- About 79 minutes with clear roads (64.9 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Gravesend, change at London Bridge for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- NHS Talking Therapies Kent and Medway, 0333 091 0414
- 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 river town that works around the clock
The Thames is still a workplace in Gravesend.
Royal Terrace Pier is in 24-hour use by the Port of London Authority and the Gravesend RNLI lifeboat station, and the Thames river pilots are based in the town. It is also a commuter town, with High Speed 1 trains to St Pancras, and Gravesham Community Hospital on Bath Street runs an Urgent Treatment Centre open 8am to 8pm every day of the year. Wherever you live, in Milton, Denton, Northfleet or Windmill Hill, your week may be split between work, on the river or in London, and the people waiting at home, with very little time that belongs only to you. Talking to a counsellor who sits outside your work and social circles, by video from your own home, gives you a private hour to say what is really going on.
What we might talk about, and why distance can help
In the early sessions we get clear on what is troubling you and what you'd like your days to feel like instead, and then we work on it at your pace. You might bring tiredness from years of irregular shifts, anger you don't recognise in yourself, a relationship that has gone quiet, grief or a drinking habit you've started to keep count of. In 2023/24 Gravesham recorded 699.6 hospital admissions per 100,000 for alcohol-specific conditions, above the England rate of 611.7. That is a borough figure and says nothing about you, and you can raise drinking here without shame whether or not it is part of what brings you. If you worship at the Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara, or work alongside the same pilots and lifeboat crew week after week, a local counsellor might be someone you meet again at a wedding or on the pier. On a screen in your own front room, I have no link to your gurdwara or your crew, which can make it easier to say what you would keep from people who know you. My own lived experience of recovery informs how I sit with people.
What you might want to talk about
Shifts and broken sleep
Nights on the river, early trains or rota changes that leave your body clock and your temper out of step with everyone else's.
A men's group, or one to one
North Kent Mind's wellbeing services in Dartford, Gravesend and Swanley include a men's group. If you'd rather talk privately first, or alongside it, one-to-one video sessions can sit next to a group.
The St Pancras commute
High Speed 1 makes London close, but a day that starts before light and ends after dark can leave little of you for home in Chalk or Riverview Park.
Drinking that worries you
Maybe it has become a nightly thing. We can look at it honestly, and Change Grow Live offers free specialist help through its West Kent community drug and alcohol service.
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 Gravesend
Alongside private counselling, North Kent Mind runs wellbeing groups across Dartford, Gravesend and Swanley, including a men's group and groups on managing anxiety and depression, and offers low-cost counselling, though it states it does not provide a crisis service. For worry or low mood, contact NHS Talking Therapies Kent and Medway directly, without a GP. On a hard night, Samaritans answer 116 123 free at any hour, and the local branch is Samaritans of Medway, Gravesham and Swale, on Priory Road in Strood.
- Free NHS talking therapyNHS Talking Therapies Kent and Medway0333 091 0414Free 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 itWest Kent community drug and alcohol service (Change, Grow, Live)0330 128 1113Run by Change Grow Live (CGL). Free and confidential.
- Local organisationImago - Kent Carers Support (West Kent adult carers service)
- Local organisationNorth Kent Mind Counselling & Therapy Services
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 Release the Pressure Helpline - Kent is on 0800 107 0160. Local drop-in crisis support: Kent and Medway Safe Havens (Mental Health Matters); Dartford Safe Haven (Mental Health Matters) (check opening times before you go).
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 Gravesend ask before starting
Is there a counsellor in Gravesend I can see in person?
Not with me. My only room is in Hove, about 79 minutes' drive from Gravesend, so I work with people in Gravesend by secure video. If face-to-face matters and you're happy to travel occasionally, a longer session in Hove is possible. North Kent Mind's affordable counselling is offered in person by trainee and newly qualified counsellors, though it has a waiting list of four to six months, and its Fast Track service can be in person or online.
Where can I get urgent mental health help in Gravesend at night?
No Safe Haven is listed in Gravesend itself. The closest listed is Dartford Safe Haven on Hythe Street, open 6pm to 11pm every day, and there is a 24-hour Safe Haven at Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham. Release the Pressure, the Kent helpline, is on 0800 107 0160. In an emergency, call 999 or go to A and E.
Can I start soon if I'm in Gravesend, or is there a wait?
Start by booking the free 15-minute call. We'll talk about what's going on, and if you want to continue and I have space, we'll fix a first video session around your rota. If my availability doesn't match what you need, I'll tell you plainly so you can look elsewhere without losing time, including NHS Talking Therapies Kent and Medway; you can contact it yourself about anxiety or low mood.
I work irregular shifts in Gravesend. Can counselling fit round them?
It can. Video removes the travel, so a session can sit between a shift and sleep without a long drive in the middle. If your rota changes from week to week, as it can on the river or at the hospital, tell me on the first call and we'll look at how to keep some rhythm to the sessions, because regular contact matters more than a fixed day.
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.
A first conversation, 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.