Sevenoaks · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Counselling and therapy for Sevenoaks
Adults from Sevenoaks, Riverhead and Dunton Green can work with me by secure video. My only room is in Hove, a little over an hour's drive away, so online sessions are usually the practical way in, with an occasional face-to-face meeting if you'd like one. You don't need to know yet whether it is stress, grief, a drinking habit or something that has no name, and there is no referral to wait for.
The practical facts for Sevenoaks
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Sevenoaks by car
- About 63 minutes with clear roads (49.4 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Sevenoaks, change at London Bridge for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- 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.
Charing Cross mornings, Knole Park weekends
Sevenoaks sits below the Greensand Ridge beside Knole Park, and a large share of its working population commutes elsewhere, mostly to central London.
With 26,475 people in the 2021 built-up area, it is small enough that you keep meeting the same faces on the High Street and at The Vine. If you commute, the semi-fast trains to Charing Cross set the hours of your day. It's a town of schools too, from Sevenoaks School, founded in 1432, to Knole Academy, Trinity School and Walthamstow Hall, so plenty of households run on two timetables at once. A town that looks orderly from outside is still a place where you can lose a parent or a job, or notice that the walk through Knole Park is the only time you breathe out all week. In a town this size, finding a counsellor locally can feel exposed, especially if a local counsellor's children might share a classroom with yours. Working online with someone in Hove keeps the sessions apart from the school run and the office.
Fitting counselling around a Sevenoaks week
The first session is a chance to set out what is happening without having to make it sound reasonable. From there we agree a rough focus and review it every few weeks, and you can bring things up in whatever order they come. The rest depends on how your week in Sevenoaks is built. If you catch the semi-fast trains to Charing Cross, the hour before you leave or after you get back may be the only gap, and video lets you use it from home in Riverhead, Kippington or Dunton Green. If you work at one of the town's schools or at the district council offices, term dates and evening meetings may decide which weeks are full, and we can plan around them. If your working life was tied to Fort Halstead, once a major local employer, questions about work and purpose may be part of what you bring. If you work shifts at Sevenoaks Hospital, where the Urgent Treatment Centre is open from 8am to 8pm every day, we can fit sessions around the rota rather than asking the rota to bend. Across Kent the 2022/23 high-anxiety figure stood at 20.0% of adults, below the England figure of 23.8%, though a county figure says nothing about how your own week feels. My own experience of recovery sits alongside more than 25 years of practice.
When it might be time to talk to someone
The Charing Cross commute is winning
Hours on the semi-fast line to Charing Cross, then emails at the kitchen table in Riverhead or Wildernesse, until sleep, patience and family weekends all start to run short.
Parenting in a town of schools
Exams, school choices and teenagers who won't talk, with Sevenoaks School, Trinity School and Walthamstow Hall on the doorstep, and the private worry about whether you're getting it right.
Loss and what follows
Bereavement, redundancy or retirement. West Kent Mind's Sevenoaks Wellbeing Centre offers help with coping with loss, the Cruse national helpline is there for grief, and sessions with me can sit alongside either.
Using something to switch off
A drink or a drug to get through the evening after the train in. We can look at what it is doing for you, and for more support Change, Grow, Live offers the West Kent community drug and alcohol service.
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 Sevenoaks
Sevenoaks Counselling has been a local affordable counselling charity since 1983, seeing individuals, couples, children and families face to face near the station, by phone or online. West Kent Mind runs the Sevenoaks Wellbeing Centre on St Johns Road, open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm, and Sevenoaks Samaritans has had a hub in the town since 2019. Seeing me privately doesn't rule out using any of them. Imago supports adult carers across West Kent if looking after someone is part of the strain.
- 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 itWest Kent community drug and alcohol service (Change, Grow, Live)0330 128 1113Run by Change Grow Live (CGL). Free and confidential.
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.
Locally, the Release the Pressure Helpline - Kent is on 0800 107 0160. Local drop-in crisis support: Kent and Medway Safe Havens (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 Sevenoaks ask before starting
Can I see you in person in Sevenoaks?
No, I don't have a room in Sevenoaks. My only room is in Hove, 63 minutes away by car, so from here we would usually meet by video. If sitting in a room locally matters to you, Sevenoaks Counselling sees people face to face near the station, and it is worth asking them about availability too. The rail trip to Hove needs a change at London Bridge, which is the main reason video is simpler.
Is there free or charity counselling in Sevenoaks?
There is. Sevenoaks Counselling is a local charity offering affordable sessions, and West Kent Mind's Sevenoaks Wellbeing Centre on St Johns Road offers counselling, support groups and befriending. The free NHS option for anxiety or low mood is NHS Talking Therapies Kent and Medway, which accepts self-referrals by phone on 0333 091 0414. Live Well Kent and Medway is a further free route into community support across the county.
How long would I wait to start counselling from Sevenoaks?
It depends on which session times are free when you get in touch, and I'll tell you honestly on the free call how soon we could begin. You can then take as long as you need to think before booking. If the times I have free clash with your train home from Charing Cross, I'll say so rather than squeeze you in. If you decide not to go ahead, that's fine, and you won't be chased.
Will anyone in Sevenoaks know I'm having counselling?
Not from me. Sessions are confidential within the usual safeguarding limits, which I explain at the start. Working by video with someone outside the area also means no car parked outside a local practice and no chance meeting in a waiting room. A closed door at home and a steady internet signal are enough. In a town where families often know each other through Sevenoaks School, Trinity School or Knole Academy, that distance can matter.
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.
Have a first conversation without leaving Sevenoaks
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.