Paddington · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Counselling and therapy for Paddington
If you live or work around Paddington and something has been weighing on you for a while, even without a name for it yet, you can start here. I work one to one as a BACP-registered counsellor and psychotherapist. My only room is in Hove, 99 minutes' drive south, so from W2 or W9 our sessions would normally run over a secure video link, with a trip to Hove whenever you'd value one.
The practical facts for Paddington
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Paddington by car
- About 99 minutes with clear roads (54.6 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- Westminster Talking Therapies, 030 3333 0000
- 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 terminus, a hospital and a canal on one doorstep
Paddington rarely stops moving. The station was the third busiest in Great Britain in the year to March 2025, with an estimated 69.9 million entries and exits, and Brunel's terminus spills people onto Praed Street at every hour. More than 29,700 people worked in the Paddington Opportunity Area in 2023, many in offices around Merchant Square and Sheldon Square, in the life-sciences cluster, or on shifts at St Mary's Hospital. Close by, the water at Browning's Pool in Little Venice is calmer. The contrasts go deeper than scenery. Church Street was one of the most deprived wards in London in 2019, with 31.3% of residents living in income deprivation, while regeneration carries on around the basin. Whether you are stretched thin by a demanding job, anxious about rent, or simply feel unseen in a place everyone else seems to be hurrying through, that pressure can build quietly until it surfaces in your sleep, your temper or your health.
When you are unsure what kind of help you need
A tidy explanation can wait until after you get in touch. You might arrive with something specific: a relationship ending, a parent unwell at St Mary's, or a role in the life-sciences cluster that has started to swallow every evening. Or all you know is that life has gone grey, you snap at people you love, and the after-work drink near the station has crept from one to several. Each of those is a reasonable place to begin. Early on, the two of us sort through what is bearing down on you and why it keeps returning, whether that is long hours, money worries in a corner of London where wealth and hardship sit side by side, the loneliness of a neighbourhood built around arrivals and departures, or something older that has come back. From there we settle on where the work should go. Should a different service fit better, for example Westminster Talking Therapies for low mood or anxiety, I will tell you honestly. My way of working is integrative, with Human Givens among its roots, and there is more about it on the how I work page. Over 25 years in practice and my own recovery mean drinking, shame or anything else can be said aloud here.
What a W2 week can put on your shoulders
Living beside a major terminus
Crowds, announcements and constant arrivals around the station can leave you wired by evening, with nowhere nearby that feels properly still.
Long shifts at St Mary's
Working in a major trauma centre with a 24/7 A and E can mean carrying other people's hardest days home, with little space to set them down.
Wealth and hardship side by side
Around Church Street, one of London's most deprived wards in 2019, money worries sit close to great affluence, and the contrast can sharpen shame or isolation.
Peer support close to home
Community Living Well Peer Support from Allkind runs groups and one-to-one peer support for anyone aged 16 or over who is registered with a GP in the Queen's Park and Paddington areas.
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 Paddington
Our work can sit beside free support in Westminster. Westminster Talking Therapies takes direct calls about anxiety or low mood on 030 3333 0000. The CCPE Low-Cost Clinic at Beauchamp Lodge in Little Venice offers reduced-fee counselling with student practitioners. Carers Network backs unpaid carers, and Community Health and Wellbeing Workers from Paddington Development Trust link households to help. When drinking or drugs are the main worry, the Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service run by Turning Point is the local route.
- Free NHS talking therapyWestminster Talking Therapies030 3333 0000Free 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 itTurning Point Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea (Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service, DAWS)0330 303 8080Free and confidential.
- Local organisationCentral London Samaritans
- Local organisationCCPE Low-Cost ClinicLow-cost or fee-paying.
- Local organisationChurch Street Community Health and Wellbeing Workers (Paddington Development Trust)
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 CNWL Mental Health Single Point of Access is on 0800 0234 650.
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 Paddington ask before starting
Can I see a counsellor in person if I live in Paddington?
In person means the room at Intergen House in Hove, 99 minutes' drive away, or a train trip with a change at Farringdon or Victoria. Most weeks, a secure video session from home in W2 or W9 saves all of that, and it is still one to one with me. An occasional longer session in Hove can be planned for when in-person contact matters.
Where else can I find counselling support near Paddington while I decide?
Westminster Talking Therapies is the local NHS option for anxiety or low mood; a call to 030 3333 0000 is enough to self-refer. In Little Venice, the CCPE Low-Cost Clinic offers cheaper sessions with student counsellors. With me there is no long queue: after a short free call I'll list the slots I can genuinely offer, and you choose whether to book one.
Will video sessions feel too distant from Paddington?
The miles on the map stay out of the session itself. You see and hear me clearly, we talk at the same pace we would in a room, and you skip the crowds at the station on either side. You need a private space, a steady connection and ideally headphones. You may even find it easier to open up from your own sofa than in an unfamiliar office.
Who can I call in Westminster if I feel unable to keep myself safe tonight?
Call CNWL's round-the-clock crisis line, its Single Point of Access, on 0800 0234 650. Samaritans, including the Central London branch, answer 116 123 at any hour. St Mary's Hospital on Praed Street has a 24/7 A and E, and if life is at immediate risk, call 999. The urgent help box on this page gathers these contacts in one place.
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.
Start with a short call from W2 or W9
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.