Ashford, Surrey · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Depression counselling for Ashford, Surrey
For some people in Ashford, depression looks like a day off spent in bed, a walk across Shortwood Common you no longer take, or messages from friends left unanswered for weeks. If you've felt flat, heavy or numb for a while, we can meet weekly by secure video, at whatever pace your energy allows.
If you are thinking about ending your life, call 999 or the Samaritans free on 116 123, day or night. More urgent help is on this page.
The practical facts for Ashford, Surrey
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Ashford, Surrey by car
- About 77 minutes with clear roads (64.3 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Ashford (Surrey), change at Clapham Junction for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- Mind Matters Surrey, 0300 330 5450
- 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.
When daylight and company get scarce
Some of what wears mood down in Ashford is built into the working week.
A run of nights tied to Heathrow can mean sleeping through what little daylight a winter offers, then waking in the dark to go back. For those who don't commute, the town can feel very still once the morning trains to Waterloo have gone: a new parent at home, someone signed off sick, a retired person whose working life used to give the days a shape. Grief is another way in. It can arrive as tears and settle, months later, into something flatter, a tiredness that the people around you no longer connect with the loss. Across Surrey, 13.0% of adults on GP registers had depression recorded in 2024/25 (England: 14.3% in 2024/25). That figure reflects what GPs have written down, which is not the same as how many people are living with low mood, and it says nothing about you.
Starting from how your days really go
We begin with an honest picture of an ordinary day as it is now, not a good one or a bad one: the time you get up, whether meals happen, which friends you still hear from, and what has slipped away without anyone noticing. Then we look at what keeps the heaviness in place. It might be a critical inner voice, a loss that never got any room, a shift pattern that has crowded out whatever used to restore you, or years of looking after others while nobody asked about you. Any change we try is small and chosen by you: one reply to a friend, ten minutes outside in daylight before a night shift, an afternoon in Fordbridge Park. Some sessions will be quiet, and that is fine. Medication decisions belong with your GP, and our sessions can sit beside whatever you choose. If you've thought about ending your life, or about hurting yourself, please tell me. I won't flinch from those thoughts, I'll ask about them plainly, and the crisis section below lists who to contact between sessions.
How low mood can settle into an Ashford week
Nights that swallow the daylight
Working nights tied to Heathrow can mean sleeping through the light hours for weeks, and a flatness that creeps in so gradually you barely notice it arriving.
When the trains leave without you
Off sick, on leave or newly retired in a commuter town, and finding the streets of Ashford Town quiet and the hours long once everyone else has gone.
Grief that has gone numb
Months after a death, the tears have turned into flatness. Cruse Bereavement Support for the Surrey North Area offers bereavement help, and you can use it as well as seeing me.
Carrying everyone but yourself
Years of caring for a partner or parent can leave you depleted and unseen. Action for Carers Surrey exists for exactly that, while our sessions keep the attention on you.
Free and low-cost support for Ashford
Mind Matters Surrey will take your call about low mood on 0300 330 5450 without a GP referral; it provides NHS Talking Therapies at no charge, but a waiting list is possible. If depression has made ordinary days unmanageable, ask your GP about a referral to The Grange Day Centre, run by Spelthorne Mental Health Association in Fordbridge Park. After a death, Cruse Bereavement Support covers the Surrey North Area as well as running a national helpline.
- Free NHS talking therapyMind Matters Surrey0300 330 5450Free 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 iti-access0300 222 5932Free and confidential.
- Local organisationAction for Carers Surrey
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 Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS FT Mental Health Crisis Helpline is on 0800 915 4644.
What people in Ashford, Surrey ask before starting
Is there free NHS support for low mood in Ashford that I can contact myself?
Yes. Mind Matters Surrey delivers NHS Talking Therapies across the county, and anyone in Ashford can self-refer about low mood or depression on 0300 330 5450, though waits vary. If choosing your own counsellor matters to you, private counselling with me is an alternative, and the two can overlap.
I work nights near Heathrow and feel flat all the time. Is it depression or just tiredness?
It can be hard to tell, and the two feed each other. It's sensible to let your GP rule out a physical cause. If the flatness stays on your days off as well, and things you used to enjoy now feel like effort, it's worth bringing to counselling whatever name it ends up with. We can look at both the shifts and what sits underneath them.
Would I need to get to Hove for depression counselling from Ashford?
No. Hove is about 77 minutes from Ashford by car, which on a heavy day can feel impossible, so we meet by secure video and you join from home. A session on screen is as real as one in the room. Meeting face to face in Hove remains possible if you want it one day, but it's never expected of you.
Who can I call around Ashford if I feel unsafe while I'm waiting to begin?
Please don't hold on for an appointment. The Surrey and Borders Partnership 24/7 mental health crisis helpline answers on 0800 915 4644 at any hour. Surrey's Safe Havens open from 6pm to 11pm, and with none in Spelthorne, the online Safe Haven may be the nearest. Samaritans answer 116 123, and if you're at risk of acting on thoughts of ending your life, call 999 now.
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 one short conversation, nothing more
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.