New Malden · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Counselling and therapy for New Malden
If something in your New Malden life has started to weigh on you and you'd like one person to talk it through with, you can begin here. I see adults individually, and the room I use is in Hove, a 70-minute drive south of KT3. That's why New Malden clients mostly see me on a secure video link: one counsellor throughout, from your own sofa, and no train to catch.
The practical facts for New Malden
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From New Malden by car
- About 70 minutes with clear roads (52.6 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From New Malden, change at Clapham Junction for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- Kingston Talking Therapies, 020 3513 4440
- 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.
Between the High Street and the Waterloo line
New Malden grew up around a station that opened in 1846, and the railway still sets the rhythm.
Six trains an hour leave off-peak for Waterloo via Wimbledon, and in 2024-25 the station counted about 3.1 million entries and exits. Kingston Council describes the New and Old Malden neighbourhood as home to the largest Korean population in Europe, with an estimated 10,000 Koreans in New Malden itself, and some residents are here on postings with Korean companies, a long way from parents and old friends. Along Burlington Road you'll find the Northrop Grumman offices and a Hindu temple with a Sri Lankan Tamil community around it. It's the most ethnically diverse area in the borough. Living between two cultures, or holding a family together far from where you grew up, can bring pressures that are hard to explain to anyone who hasn't lived them.
A first step when you're unsure what you need
Some people write to me with a clear problem; others have only a sense that things have slipped. It may be a posting that was meant to last two years and now feels open-ended, a gap between what your parents expect and how you live in KT3, or a work week on Burlington Road or in central London that leaves nothing in reserve. It may be a loss, a relationship under strain, or drinking that has crept up without anyone saying a word. A South West London Integrated Care System story from 2022 noted that the Korean community often has a greater need for access to mental health support, and described a designated health coach for the community at the New Malden and Worcester Park Primary Care Network. The first few weeks are for sorting the threads: which strains belong to the move, which to the family, which go back further, and which one to pull on first. Should a different service fit your situation more closely, you'll hear that from me straight away, along with where to find it. Over 25 years of practice, and recovery of my own, mean that shame, family secrets and drinking can all be spoken about without you needing to soften them for my sake.
Pressures that sit behind a KT3 front door
Far from family on a posting
A posting with a Korean employer can leave you settled in New Malden while parents, siblings and old friends are asleep when you most need to call them.
Two cultures under one roof
In the borough's most ethnically diverse area, parents and grown children may hold different ideas about duty, marriage, work and when to ask for help.
The 6 trains an hour
A commute from New Malden station through Wimbledon to Waterloo can frame the whole day, so there's little time left to notice how you're really feeling.
Free support in Kingston
Kingston Talking Therapies takes self-referrals for worry and low mood, and Mind in Kingston offers local community support, both of which can run alongside our work.
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 New Malden
Free help in the borough of Kingston can run next to our sessions. Kingston Talking Therapies, run by South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust, accepts referrals directly from residents for anxiety and low mood. Mind in Kingston offers community support, and Kingston Carers' Network helps people looking after a relative. Connect: North Korea, a New Malden charity, gives one-to-one casework and wellbeing sessions to North Korean escapees.
- Free NHS talking therapyKingston Talking Therapies020 3513 4440Free 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 itKingston Wellbeing Service (KWS)0300 303 4614Run by Via. Free and confidential.
- Local organisationKingston Bereavement Support
- Local organisationKingston Carers' Network
- Local organisationNew Malden Bereavement CafeMonthly bereavement support cafe.
- Local organisationOld Malden Bereavement Cafe (St John the Baptist, Old Malden)
For gambling, the National Gambling Helpline is free, day or night, on 0808 8020 133 (NHS gambling support).
Private counselling with me can run alongside any of these; you do not have to choose one or the other.
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 Text Service is another option: text 80991.
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 New Malden ask before starting
Could I meet you face to face rather than on a screen from New Malden?
Face to face means Hove, about 70 minutes by car from New Malden, or SWR to Clapham Junction and then Southern trains onward. Weekly work from KT3 therefore tends to happen by secure video, and a Hove session every so often can be booked whenever being in the same room would help you.
Do I have to wait long to begin counselling if I live in New Malden?
Everything begins with a free 15-minute conversation by phone or video. If we agree to go on, you take whichever of my open weekly times fits around the rest of your week. Alongside that, Kingston Talking Therapies offers NHS help with anxiety or low mood, and 020 3513 4440 puts you straight through to it.
I'm Korean and my family would rather I kept this private. Can I still talk to someone?
Yes. Counselling is confidential, and video means nobody on New Malden High Street sees you walk into a building. You choose what to share, at a pace that feels right, including the tension between what your family expects and what you need. The usual limits on confidentiality, such as a serious risk to life, are explained in our first session.
What if I need help tonight rather than next week?
When things feel unsafe, texting 80991 connects you with the NHS crisis text line serving south London. Samaritans answer on 116 123 at any hour, and where someone's life is at risk right now, dial 999. The urgent help box on this page lists further contacts.
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 free minutes, from Old Malden to Motspur Park
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.