Margate · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Counselling and therapy for Margate
Maybe life in Margate or Cliftonville has felt heavy lately and you haven't found the words for why. I'm a BACP-registered counsellor and my only room is in Hove, about 125 minutes' drive away, so from Margate our regular sessions happen over secure video. You keep one fixed weekly slot with me from a front room near the Thanet coast, and a trip to Hove remains possible whenever you'd value it.
The practical facts for Margate
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Margate by car
- About 125 minutes with clear roads (105.6 miles); longer at busy times.
- 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.
Off-season streets, long-term caring and a changing seafront
Margate has lived through more than one version of itself.
It was a holiday resort from the 18th century, slid into decline in the late 20th century, and since 2011 the Turner Contemporary beside the harbour has drawn over 5 million visitors as part of the effort to revive it. Summer brings crowds to Main Sands and Dreamland, while winter can leave Cliftonville and Westbrook very quiet. Thanet is also older than average, with a median age of 45 in the 2021 Census against 40 for England, and 3.7% of its residents give at least 50 hours of unpaid care every week. Put together, that can mean a town where newcomers and lifelong residents live side by side, where plenty of people are looking after a parent or partner, and where the slower months can feel isolating. Things don't have to reach a crisis to be worth talking about.
Bringing whatever the Margate year has left you with
This is a general first step, so you don't need a label before you get in touch. You might be grieving someone you looked after at home for years, or finding that later life by the sea feels emptier than you pictured. You might have moved to Margate during its regeneration and still not feel settled, or you might have grown up here and watched the town change around you. Perhaps evenings have started to revolve around a bottle, or your sleep, temper or confidence has quietly slipped away. Our opening sessions sort out what has been grinding you down and why it hangs on, and then we settle on where to put our attention. Where a Thanet service such as East Kent Mind or Carers' Support East Kent looks like the closer match, I'll name it and explain how to reach it. Human Givens is one strand of the integrative way I practise, and the fuller picture waits on the how I work page. I've practised for 25+ years and know recovery from the inside, so whatever you say about drink, grief or anything else won't shock me.
What a Thanet week can put on your shoulders
A parent or partner to look after
Long-term caring can leave you exhausted and guilty for wanting a break. Carers' Support East Kent takes self-referrals from unpaid carers in Thanet, and our hour together is only about you.
Quiet months after the season
When the summer crowds leave Main Sands and Dreamland, a quieter town can make loneliness sharper, especially if you live alone in Cliftonville or Palm Bay.
A town that keeps reinventing itself
Regeneration around the Turner Contemporary has brought newcomers and change, and settling in, or feeling left behind by it, can unsettle people on both sides.
Someone to talk to between sessions
Age UK Thanet offers free weekly telephone befriending for people over 50, matched with a volunteer or staff member, from Millmead Community Centre in Dane Valley.
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 Margate
Private counselling can sit beside Margate's free support. Thanet adults facing anxiety or low mood may self-refer, unaided and without a GP, into NHS Talking Therapies Kent and Medway. East Kent Mind runs wellbeing activities across Thanet, including a Friday walking group in Margate. Live Well Kent and Medway offers another free door, while Thanet Safe Haven, which Mental Health Matters runs from the Thanet Mental Health Unit on Ramsgate Road, welcomes adults at any hour.
- 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 itEast Kent community drug and alcohol service (The Forward Trust)0300 123 1186Free and confidential.
- Local organisationAge UK Thanet - Wellbeing Telephone BefriendingMargate-based independent charity.
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: Thanet 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 Margate ask before starting
Could I ever meet you in person rather than on screen from Margate?
Sitting face to face means the Hove room, around 125 minutes by road from Margate, or three trains via St Pancras and Brighton. So the weekly hour from Margate runs over secure video, keeping you with one counsellor in one regular slot and sparing you those trains. When being in the same room feels important, we can plan the odd extended appointment at Intergen House.
If I get in touch from Margate this week, how soon could we start?
You begin with the free consultation call, by phone or video, from wherever suits you in Margate. Once we both want to carry on, I'll show you the genuinely free slots in my diary, you choose, and nobody puts you in a queue. While you weigh things up, the self-referral line into NHS Talking Therapies Kent and Medway, 0333 091 0414, handles anxiety or low mood with no GP letter needed.
Where can I go in Margate if I need to talk to someone tonight?
Any adult can walk into Thanet Safe Haven at the Thanet Mental Health Unit, 164 Ramsgate Road, day or night without a referral, and Mental Health Matters runs it. It is meant for emotional support rather than urgent medical care, such as after self-harm; for that, or if life is at risk, call 999. Release the Pressure, the free Kent helpline from Rethink Mental Illness, answers on 0800 107 0160, and the urgent help box on this page gathers further numbers.
I'm older and not used to video calls. Can I still have counselling from Margate?
Yes. You need only a phone, tablet or computer with a camera, and a quiet room. We can test the link together during the consultation call, so nothing is new on the day. If a family member helps you set it up, they can leave once we begin, and the hour stays private between the two of us, as it would in the room in Hove.
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 from the Margate coast
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.