Greenwich · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Counselling and therapy for Greenwich
If you live or work in Greenwich and have started looking for a therapist, it helps to know how this works before you call. I see people by secure video, and my only room is in Hove, a long way south. Sessions are one to one, at a pace you set, and you don't need to know what to call the problem before we speak.
The practical facts for Greenwich
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Greenwich by car
- About 87 minutes with clear roads (67.7 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Greenwich, change at London Bridge for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- Greenwich Time to Talk, 020 3260 1100
- 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 town centre that works for its visitors
Greenwich town centre is arranged around visitors.
They come for the Cutty Sark, the National Maritime Museum and Greenwich Park, and the Old Royal Naval College, at the heart of the World Heritage Site, makes the riverside a major area for visitor and hospitality work. The University of Greenwich has its campus just beside the Cutty Sark and Greenwich Market, and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is part of the town too. From Greenwich station, Southeastern and Thameslink trains and the DLR carry commuters towards the City and Canary Wharf. Away from the river, West Greenwich, Westcombe Park and the streets bordering Blackheath are quieter and residential, and life there can look settled from the pavement. If your working day is spent looking after other people's day out, or your evenings go on recovering from the commute, there may be little room left to notice how you are.
Counselling around a Greenwich working week
There's no need to have a label ready when you first call. It might be worry that won't switch off, a grief nobody around you mentions any more, a relationship that has gone quiet, or drinking that grew without you deciding it should. If you work front of house at the museums, the market or the Old Royal Naval College, we might look at what it costs to be warm to strangers for a whole shift and then go home with nothing left. If you study at the University of Greenwich or Trinity Laban, sessions can sit between lectures or rehearsals, and we can talk about the pressure of the course or how lonely a new city can be. If your day starts on the DLR to Bank or Canary Wharf, we'd find a regular hour you can keep from home and look at what the long days are doing to your sleep and your temper. The first sessions are mostly listening, and then we agree in plain terms what you'd like to be different. If you'd rather begin somewhere free, South East London Mind offers counselling at Ormiston Road in Westcombe Park, and the Quaggy service at Orchard Hill is low-cost. I've practised for more than 25 years, I have lived experience of recovery, and questions about medication stay with your GP.
Where a Greenwich conversation might start
Front-of-house exhaustion
Hours of being pleasant to visitors at the museums, the market or the Old Royal Naval College, and nothing left over by the time you get home.
Pressure on the course
Deadlines at the University of Greenwich, rehearsals and performances at Trinity Laban, or a sense that everyone else on the course is coping better than you.
The late train back
Long days in the City or at Canary Wharf, sleep that never quite catches up, and a mind that keeps working at night.
Looking after someone you love
Caring for a partner, parent or child alongside work, and wondering whether you're allowed to need support too. Greenwich Carers Centre is there for carers in the borough.
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 Greenwich
Private counselling can run alongside the borough's free help instead of replacing it. If drink or drugs are the main worry, Via Greenwich is the local service, and it supports family and friends as well. Cruse Bereavement Support - Greenwich is there after a death. Woman's Trust is a free counselling charity for women affected by domestic abuse and currently lists availability in SE7 and SE10, and South East London Mind runs a Monday Social Group at The Forum on Trafalgar Road.
- Free NHS talking therapyGreenwich Time to Talk020 3260 1100Free 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 itVia Greenwich0300 303 4552Free and confidential.
- Local organisationGreenwich Carers Centre
- Local organisationLewisham, Greenwich and Southwark SamaritansLocal Samaritans branch.
- Local organisationSouth East London Mind Greenwich - Monday Social Group (peer support)
- Local organisationWoman's TrustFree counselling charity for women affected by domestic.
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.
The South London NHS Mental Health Crisis WhatsApp Service is another option: WhatsApp 0303 330 1511.
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 Greenwich ask before starting
Could I use Greenwich Time to Talk instead of private counselling?
Quite possibly. It's free, it's run by Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, and you can refer yourself on 020 3260 1100 if anxiety or depression is the main thing. Where drinking or drugs sit at the centre of it, Via Greenwich on 0300 303 4552 is the better first call. Private sessions with me can come before, after or alongside either of them.
Is it realistic to see you in person from Greenwich?
Only now and then. Hove is roughly 87 minutes from Greenwich by road, and the rail trip means changing at London Bridge, so weekly visits would eat most of a day. Video is how most of the work would happen. For a single in-person meeting, booking a longer session in Hove makes the trip more worthwhile.
How quickly could I start counselling from Greenwich?
The free 15-minute call comes first, and you can book it whenever you feel ready. We talk briefly about what's going on and what you'd like from therapy. If we both feel it fits, I'll tell you honestly what regular times I have free and whether one of them works around your commute or your shifts, and we agree a first session from there.
I study at Trinity Laban or the University of Greenwich. Can counselling fit around my timetable?
Yes. Sessions are by video, so you can join from your own room without crossing London. We'd pick a regular time that works around lectures, rehearsals or performances, and look at it again when the timetable changes from one term to the next. Nobody on your course needs to know you're coming unless you choose to tell them.
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 short call before deciding anything
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.