Isleworth · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Counselling and therapy for Isleworth
Living in Isleworth with something on your mind, named or not yet named, you can talk it over with me one to one. I'm a BACP-registered counsellor whose only room is in Hove, 85 minutes' drive south, so from Isleworth our sessions would usually be on secure video, with a visit to Hove whenever you want one.
The practical facts for Isleworth
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Isleworth by car
- About 85 minutes with clear roads (69.0 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- Hounslow Talking Therapies, 0300 123 0739
- 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.
Planes overhead, the Thames below, the hospital up the road
Isleworth sits between the river and the runway.
Old Isleworth still gathers round All Saints' Church and the view across to Isleworth Ait, Syon Park opens out beside it, and Heathrow arrivals pass low over the rooftops all day. On Twickenham Road, West Middlesex University Hospital serves Hounslow, Richmond upon Thames and Ealing, so plenty of people here either work there or know its corridors from visiting someone they love. Others head into Sky's campus each morning or study at West Thames College, and Isleworth Crown Court on Ridgeway Road brings its own kind of waiting to anyone caught up in a case. None of that makes Isleworth an unhappy place. It does mean that plenty of residents spend their days looking after others, meeting deadlines or waiting for news, and go a long time without anyone asking how they themselves are holding up.
Looking after everyone else, then looking at yourself
This page is for the moment before you've worked out what kind of help you need. You might be a nurse or porter at West Middlesex finishing a run of long days, someone sitting beside a parent's bed on one of its wards, a Sky employee whose deadlines have started following you home, or a West Thames College student far from family for the first time. Equally you may have no tidy story at all, only poor sleep, a short temper, a drink that has crept from Friday into the rest of the week, or a sadness that arrived without warning. Bring whichever of those fits, or something else entirely. Our first few hours find what presses hardest, what has held it there and what you hope will change, and we settle a focus from that. Where your GP or a specialist service in Hounslow would add something, I'll say so, and you can keep seeing me alongside it. I bring over 25 years as a counsellor, a recovery of my own, and an integrative method that includes Brainspotting; the how I work page explains more.
Pressures that come home to TW7
Shifts on Twickenham Road
Working at West Middlesex University Hospital can mean long days caring for other people, then coming home too tired to notice what the job is costing you.
Visiting someone on the wards
When a partner or parent is a patient at West Middlesex, the hours of visiting and waiting wear you down. Hounslow Council's Carers Service keeps a drop-in table in the hospital atrium.
Deadlines at the Sky campus
With Sky's headquarters in Isleworth, broadcasting work is part of local life, and its pressure can keep running in your head long after you leave the campus.
Help in Isleworth after dark
Hounslow's Safe Space, run by Hestia at the Bridgelink Centre on Summerwood Road, opens from 2pm to 10pm every day, with no appointment needed, if things feel like too much.
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 Isleworth
Private sessions with me can sit beside free help in the borough. Hounslow Talking Therapies (NHS Talking Therapies, West London NHS Trust) takes self-referrals when worry or low mood is the main concern. West London Mind and the Hounslow Wellbeing Network offer community support, and Mulberry Cancer Support, based at West Middlesex University Hospital, helps people living with cancer and those bereaved by illness.
- Free NHS talking therapyHounslow Talking Therapies0300 123 0739Free 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 itARC Hounslow (Addiction Recovery Community)01895 488675Run by Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL). Free and confidential.
- Local organisationHounslow Council Carers Service
- Local organisationSamaritans Ealing branch (covers Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow)
- Local organisationAllkind suicide bereavement support
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 West London NHS Trust 24-hour mental health helpline (Mental Health Single Point of Access) is on 0800 328 4444.
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 Isleworth ask before starting
Is face-to-face counselling possible for someone living in Isleworth?
In person, I'm in Hove, about 85 minutes by road from Isleworth, or by train via a change at Clapham Junction. Week to week, secure video from home spares you that trip, and you talk with me from your own chair rather than mine. You can book a Hove session now and again, perhaps right at the start, if in-person contact matters.
What is the wait for counselling from Isleworth?
You won't be put on a waiting list. Once the free consultation is done and we've agreed to carry on, I'll show you which weekly slots are actually free, and you pick one that fits around your shifts or studies. Should low mood or anxiety be the main thing, you are free to ring Hounslow Talking Therapies on 0300 123 0739 yourself and use it before, during or after our work.
I work at West Middlesex University Hospital. Would it feel awkward talking to someone local?
My room is in Hove and sessions from Isleworth are usually by video, so you would be speaking with someone outside the hospital and outside the borough, which can make it easier to speak freely. What you say stays confidential apart from a few safety exceptions I explain at the outset, and we'll find an hour that fits around nights and long days.
Where can I go in Isleworth tonight if I'm struggling?
Right in Isleworth, Hounslow's Safe Space at the Bridgelink Centre, 373 Summerwood Road, takes drop-ins daily from 2pm to 10pm, all year. West London NHS Trust's mental health helpline runs 24 hours on 0800 328 4444; Samaritans are on 116 123 day and night. If a life is in immediate danger, call 999.
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 from Isleworth to begin
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.