Wandsworth · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Counselling and therapy for Wandsworth
If you're in Wandsworth Town, Southfields or Earlsfield and have started looking for a therapist, here is how it would work with me. We'd meet by secure video, on your own or as a couple, at the same time each week. My only room is in Hove, a long way south, so the screen is where our work would mostly happen.
The practical facts for Wandsworth
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Wandsworth by car
- About 81 minutes with clear roads (58.7 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Wandsworth Town, change at Clapham Junction for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- Wandsworth Talking Therapies, 0203 513 6264
- 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 Wandle, the Thames and the Waterloo line
Wandsworth is the borough's administrative centre and one of 35 major centres named in the London Plan.
South Western Railway runs the trains from Wandsworth Town on the Waterloo lines, the Southside shopping centre dominates the High Street, and the old Ram Brewery site between the town centre and the river has been redeveloped, with a little brewing still going on there. Behind all that sit the quieter streets of the Toast Rack and the Tonsleys, and the open space of Wandsworth Common and King George's Park. HMP Wandsworth, a men's prison on Heathfield Road, is here too. For a family supporting someone inside or newly released, that can mean visiting times and a long wait for someone to come home, and it can be hard to talk about with neighbours or colleagues. Talking to a counsellor from outside your circle, on a screen in your own front room, may feel easier.
Weekly psychotherapy, or a few focused sessions
You might want a handful of sessions for one specific knot, such as a decision, a bereavement or panic on the platform before work. Or you might be looking for psychotherapy in the longer sense, a steady weekly space to understand patterns that have followed you for years. We can decide which together as we go. Part of choosing well in Wandsworth is knowing what else exists. The Wandsworth Emotional Wellbeing Service offers six one-to-one sessions of support, and Wandsworth Talking Therapies is free for anxiety and low mood. Private work is for when you want to pick the person yourself and keep going for as long as it helps. If your week runs on the train through Clapham Junction to Waterloo, sessions can sit before you leave or after you're back. If you work shifts at St George's in Tooting or at Queen Mary's in Roehampton, we can set a weekly time around the rota. Across the borough in 2023/24, admissions to hospital with alcohol-specific conditions ran at 733.9 per 100,000, above the England figure of 611.7 per 100,000. That counts admissions across Wandsworth and describes nobody in particular. If your own drinking worries you, you can say so here without being judged. My own recovery, and over 25 years of working with people, sit behind what I offer in Wandsworth.
What might be weighing on you
Someone you love is inside
A partner, son or brother in HMP Wandsworth or newly released, and the worry and practical strain you may be carrying with nobody to share it.
The commute, then the crash
Holding it together all day in town, then getting home through Clapham Junction with nothing left for the people you live with, or for yourself.
Six sessions weren't quite enough
You've had the six one-to-one sessions from the Wandsworth Emotional Wellbeing Service, found them useful, and want somewhere to keep working on the longer patterns underneath.
Living with someone's drinking
A partner, parent or grown-up child whose drinking or drug use runs the house. Wandsworth Carers' Centre offers Substance Misuse Carer Support for the people around them.
Free and low-cost support for Wandsworth
Counselling with me can run alongside free support in the borough: you can contact Wandsworth Talking Therapies yourself about anxiety or low mood, Wandsworth Bereavement Service supports people after a death, and Wandsworth Carers' Centre is there for anyone looking after a relative or friend. Allkind, the local charity formerly known as West Central London Mind, is another place to start.
- Free NHS talking therapyWandsworth Talking Therapies0203 513 6264Free 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 itWandsworth Community Drug and Alcohol Service (WCDAS)020 3228 1777Free and confidential.
- Local organisationWandsworth Carers' Centre
- Local organisationSubstance Misuse Carer Support (Wandsworth Carers' Centre), for family and friends of people who drink or use drugs
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.
The South London NHS Mental Health Crisis Text Service is another option: text 80991 or WhatsApp 0303 330 1511. Local drop-in crisis support: Tooting Recovery Café (Hestia) (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 Wandsworth ask before starting
Can I see you face to face somewhere in SW18?
Not with me in Wandsworth. I work from a single room in Hove, roughly an 81-minute drive or a rail trip via Clapham Junction, so from Wandsworth we'd nearly always meet by secure video. For anyone who wants to sit in the room once or twice, we can book a longer session at Intergen House.
How soon could I start therapy if I live in Wandsworth?
Before anything is booked, we'd have a free 15-minute call. If we both think it could work, we agree a weekly video slot, perhaps early before your train from Wandsworth Town or in the evening once you're home. There's no GP letter to wait for. If you'd prefer the free NHS route for anxiety or low mood, Wandsworth Talking Therapies takes self-referrals on 0203 513 6264.
My partner is in HMP Wandsworth. Can I talk to you about that?
Yes. Having someone you love in prison can bring shame, anger and a great deal of practical worry, and it can feel impossible to explain to the people around you. Counselling is a place to say all of it. I'm independent of the prison and of any agency, and what you share stays confidential within the usual safety limits.
Is the Wandsworth Emotional Wellbeing Service the same as counselling?
Not quite. The Wandsworth Emotional Wellbeing Service, run by Together for Mental Wellbeing, offers six one-to-one sessions of emotional support, workshops and signposting, and it isn't a counselling or crisis service. Private counselling is for when you want an ongoing space with a qualified counsellor you've chosen yourself.
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 call, wherever in the borough you are
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.