Anxiety and worry
When your mind will not settle and everything feels urgent.
Counselling and Therapy · Saltdean
Counselling and Therapy in Saltdean
Counselling and Therapy for Saltdean and the surrounding area, in person or online. Saltdean, known for its restored Art Deco Lido and clifftop coast, sits east along the seafront. From my room in nearby Hove I offer a calm, confidential space to do this work.
BACP registered member25+ years of experienceLived experience
ConfidentialA safe, private space
Person-centredThe therapy fits you
In and around Saltdean
Counselling and Therapy for Saltdean, at a glance
- Known for
- Saltdean Lido, the Undercliff Walk and the white cliffs
- Area
- Coast: Brighton to Newhaven, East/West Sussex
- Getting to the Hove room
- From Saltdean the coast road brings you west through Rottingdean and Brighton to the Hove office in around twenty to twenty-five minutes.
- Local NHS / support route
- the Brighton and Hove Wellbeing Service
- Format
- In person at my private Hove room, or by secure video UK-wide.
Life in Saltdean
What brings people in Saltdean to counselling?
Some people get to fifty having never told anybody anything. You walk the Undercliff Walk most mornings, you keep the house going, you would be embarrassed to describe yourself as struggling, and you have never once sat down opposite someone whose only job was to listen. Then a run of months goes wrong, quietly, and there is no vocabulary for it. Saltdean is full of capable people in exactly that position, holding it together in the avenues above the sea. Counselling and therapy is the door built for that: no diagnosis needed, no history required, and no expectation that you can explain yourself before you arrive.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Saltdean
Longridge AvenueSaltdean ParkSaltdean ValeThe OvalMarine DriveCoombe ValeChichester Drive
Wherever you are in Saltdean, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Saltdean
Official figures for Saltdean, for context rather than as a description of you.
26.7% of adults reported a high anxiety score in 2022/23, above the England average of 23.8%. Source: OHID Fingertips – Self-reported wellbeing: high anxiety score (2022/23).
recorded depression on GP registers stood at 14.1% of patients aged 18+ in 2024/25, below the England average of 14.3%. Source: OHID Fingertips – Depression: QOF prevalence (2024/25).
the rate of emergency hospital admissions for self-harm was 161.8 per 100,000 in 2023/24, above the England average of 117 per 100,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Emergency Hospital Admissions for Intentional Self-Harm (2023/24).
Reviewed June 2026.
What is counselling and therapy, in practice?
Counselling and therapy here is one steady starting point for whatever you are carrying, anxiety, low mood, addiction, relationships or the past, integrative and led by you, so we begin with what matters most and shape the work around you.
What actually happens in the room is the same everywhere, so it is written up once: see the full counselling and therapy page for the methods, session lengths and fees for fees and session lengths, and my credentials and registration if you want to check who you would be working with.
What does a session actually involve?
Sessions take place in a private, comfortable room at Intergen House on Western Road in central Hove, held to the strict BACP confidentiality you would expect. We begin with a free fifteen-minute call to check we are a good fit, and the same sessions are available by secure video if travelling is difficult or you would simply prefer it.
Sessions happen in person in the Hove room, roughly twenty to twenty-five minutes west along the coast, or online by secure video. A weekly appointment at a consistent time is the usual pattern, and it gives the week a shape. Where the coast road in winter, a hospital appointment or the cost of the fuel makes travel a nuisance, video sessions carry exactly the same work without the round trip.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What can counselling and therapy in Saltdean help with?
Low mood and depression
For the flatness, exhaustion and loss of interest that drain the colour from things.
Addiction and habits
Alcohol, drugs, gambling or behaviours that have stopped feeling like a choice.
Relationships
Conflict, distance and trust, as a couple or on your own.
Trauma and the past
When something you have been through still shapes your present.
Life feeling stuck
For the big transitions, losses and crossroads that leave you unsure which way to turn.
Counselling and Therapy in Saltdean
Why people in Saltdean come for counselling and therapy
The intention here is to make starting easy. This is present-focused work, generally shorter to medium term, often something like six to twenty sessions, and it begins wherever you are rather than with a formal assessment of what is wrong with you. What people bring is ordinary and important: sleeping badly, feeling nothing, drinking a bit more each evening, dreading the phone, carrying a grief they thought they had put down. We work out together what is going on and what can be done about it. Plenty of people finish satisfied within a few months. Others find that something older is underneath and decide to go further, which is a choice for later. Around a quarter of adults in the city, 26.7% in 2022/23, reported a high anxiety score, against an England average of 23.8%. Free NHS therapy can be arranged by self-referral through the Brighton and Hove Wellbeing Service, and Sussex Mental Healthline is answered day and night if you reach a bad hour.
A free, unhurried first step
Not sure if it is right for you? A free fifteen-minute call is a no-obligation way to talk it through.
Book a free 15-minute callFinding support in Saltdean
My counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Saltdean, you can refer yourself directly to the Brighton and Hove Wellbeing Service for free NHS talking therapy, with no GP referral needed.
Seeing me privately usually means you can start sooner and stay with the same counsellor throughout, working at greater depth and pace; the two can run side by side, and I am glad to work alongside any NHS or GP support you already have.
Other local and national support verified for this area includes:
If you need urgent help now
This is not a crisis service. If anyone is in immediate danger call 999. For urgent mental health support, call NHS 111 and choose the mental health option. The Samaritans are free, day or night, on 116 123, or text SHOUT to 85258.
Saltdean questions
Counselling and Therapy in Saltdean: common questions
Where do Saltdean sessions take place, and can I meet online instead?
In a private room at Intergen House on Western Road in central Hove. From Saltdean the coast road brings you west through Rottingdean and Brighton to the Hove office in around twenty to twenty-five minutes. Every service is also available by secure video across the UK, so you can meet from any private space in Saltdean or blend the two.
I have never sat down with a counsellor. Where would I even begin?
Wherever you like. Most first sessions start with the last few weeks rather than the last few decades, and there is no script to follow. Silences are fine. Nobody expects you to be articulate about something you have kept to yourself for years.
Do you need to know a diagnosis before I book?
No. You need no label, no referral letter and no explanation ready. A good many people arrive saying only that things are not right. Working out what the difficulty actually is forms part of the sessions rather than a hurdle before them.
What is the cost per session?
Sixty minutes is £80 / 60 min. If you want longer, ninety minutes is £100 / 90 min and two hours is £120 / 120 min. You settle up one session at a time. The 15-minute consultation at the start is free and there is no obligation attached.
Would the Brighton and Hove Wellbeing Service be quicker?
Sometimes it is and sometimes it is not, as waits move about. It is free, you refer yourself, and no GP is involved. It is best suited to defined anxiety or depression in a set course. Private sessions offer more flexibility on timing and content.
Is it normal to feel this low without anything having happened?
It is very common, and the absence of an obvious cause is not evidence that nothing is wrong. Low mood often builds from accumulated small pressures rather than one event. Part of the work is finding what has been quietly stacking up.
Is it far from Saltdean to your Hove counselling room?
It is around twenty to twenty-five minutes west by car along the coast road through Rottingdean and Brighton. The 12 bus is the main public route towards Brighton, with a change for Hove. Because of the distance, many Saltdean clients choose online video sessions from home.
How do I reach your Hove counselling room from Saltdean?
Book a free fifteen-minute call, then travel west along the coast. The road through Rottingdean and Brighton to Hove takes twenty to twenty-five minutes by car, with the 12 bus the main public route and a change for Hove. Given the distance, many Saltdean clients meet online instead.
How much is counselling, and can I get free NHS talking therapy in Saltdean?
Fees are £80 for an hour, £100 for ninety minutes and £120 for two hours, with a free fifteen-minute consultation. The NHS offers free talking therapies via your GP or self-referral, though waits can be long, so many Saltdean clients prefer to begin privately without a delay.
Is online counselling as good as coming in, and do you work evenings for Saltdean?
Yes. Out on the clifftops, many Saltdean clients find online sessions by secure video the easier choice, and they are just as confidential and effective. Others enjoy the coastal drive to a calm room. Evening appointments are available, and you can blend both to suit your week.
Counselling and Therapy in Saltdean, whenever you are ready
A free fifteen-minute call is the simplest place to start, no obligation, just a chance to see if we are the right fit.
Also available nearby: Rottingdean, Peacehaven, Woodingdean. See all areas I cover.
If counselling and therapy is not quite what you are looking for, anxiety counselling, depression counselling and psychotherapy may fit better in Saltdean.
You may also find it useful to read about how change actually sticks and where to start when you cannot name it.
Prefer to meet remotely? The same counselling and therapy is available online by secure video across the UK, or see online counselling by region.