Chichester · in person in Hove or online
Depression counselling for Chichester
If life in Chichester has gone grey, and the people and plans that used to matter no longer reach you, depression counselling lets you say so plainly, with no need to perk up first. I see adults in a private room in Hove or by secure video. It opens with a free 15-minute call, and a few words from you are plenty.
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 Chichester
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Chichester by car
- About 48 minutes with clear roads (30.0 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- Direct trains from Chichester to Hove.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- NHS West Sussex Talking Therapies – West Team, 01273 265967
- 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 the city's beauty stops reaching you
Chichester has plenty to enjoy: the cathedral, a walk beside Chichester Canal, the South Downs just to the north and the coast and harbour close by.
Depression can sit right in the middle of all that, which is part of what makes it so confusing. You might pass the Festival Theatre and feel nothing about a show you'd once have booked straight away, or stop going up onto the Downs because it no longer seems worth the effort. Sometimes there's a clear cause, such as a death or years of caring for someone. At other times nothing obvious happened, which can be harder still. In 2024/25 the depression figure on West Sussex GP registers stood at 14.5% of adults (England: 14.3% in 2024/25). That counts only what practices have on record, not everyone who feels this way, and it says nothing about you.
Starting small when everything feels heavy
Depression takes away the energy and hope that change seems to need, so I won't ask you for either at the start. In the first sessions I'll want to know what an ordinary day is like now: what time you get up, what you manage to eat, which people you still see, and what you've let go. We look for the smallest things that still give a flicker of something, and protect them. Then, at a pace that suits you, we turn to what the low mood might be about. For some, it's grief that never got its turn because everyone needed you to cope. For others it's caring for a parent or partner until there's nothing left over, or public-sector work that slowly emptied you. It might be anger turned inward, or the sense of living a life that stopped fitting years ago. If you take antidepressants, decisions about them sit with your GP, and our sessions, in Hove or by video, carry on in step with that care. And if you've had thoughts of ending your life, you can tell me. I'll ask about it plainly and calmly, and we'll make a safety plan together.
Where the flatness comes from in Chichester lives
Grief in a small city
After a death, familiar streets inside the walls can hold the loss wherever you turn. Counselling gives grief that has flattened into numbness somewhere to go.
Caring until you're empty
Looking after a parent or partner for years can leave you flat and cut off. Carers Support West Sussex helps the carer, alongside our sessions.
Missing lectures, missing yourself
At the University of Chichester or Chichester College, no longer turning up, not replying and sleeping through the day may be signs of depression, even if you've been calling it laziness.
When nights become unsafe
If low mood turns to thoughts of harming yourself, you can text SUSSEX to 85258 for crisis support, and the crisis section further down lists other numbers.
Public health figures for the area
These are local authority figures from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. "Similar to England" means the difference is not statistically significant. The figures describe a whole population over a period, not any one person.
Free and low-cost support for Chichester
NHS West Sussex Talking Therapies is the free option when low mood is the trouble, and its West Team, which serves Chichester, can be contacted without seeing a GP first. West Sussex Mind offers wider mental health support across the county. If caring for someone is part of what's wearing you down, Carers Support West Sussex is there for you in your own right.
- Free NHS talking therapyNHS West Sussex Talking Therapies – West Team01273 265967Free 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 Sussex Drug & Alcohol Wellbeing Network (DAWN)0330 128 1113Run by Change Grow Live. Free and confidential.
- Local organisationChichester Counselling Services
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.
In this area you can also text SUSSEX to 85258.
What people in Chichester ask before starting
How do I start depression counselling in Chichester when I can barely get out of bed?
Keep it as small as you can. A one-line message asking for the free call is enough, and the call can happen from bed. I'll ask a few gentle questions about how long you've felt like this and whether you're safe, then we'll find a time that's realistic for you. You don't need a GP referral or a label before we talk.
Is free NHS talking therapy in Chichester only for anxiety, or for depression too?
Depression is very much part of it. Helping with low mood is a core part of the work of NHS West Sussex Talking Therapies, whose West Team covers Chichester, and you can refer yourself on 01273 265967. If your depression feels severe, or you've thought about ending your life, please see your GP as well, so the wider picture is looked at. Private counselling with me can come before the NHS offer, follow it, or run alongside it.
Is video counselling from Chichester as useful as coming to Hove when I'm depressed?
It can be. Video sessions cover the same ground, and they stop a morning when the drive feels beyond you from costing you the hour. Coming in person has its own value: a reason to leave the house and a change of scene. You don't have to decide for good. We can agree a usual pattern and switch without you needing to explain.
Sometimes I don't want to be here any more. Who can I turn to in Chichester if that gets worse?
You can bring that to sessions, and I'll respond calmly, without judging you. Together we'll write down what helps on the hardest nights and who you can contact. If you feel you might act on the thoughts, ring 999. For urgent help short of an emergency, NHS 111 has a mental health option, and texting SUSSEX to 85258 reaches crisis text support.
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.
Reach out with as few words as you have
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.