Croydon · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Depression counselling for Croydon
If you're in Croydon and the colour has drained out of things, after a loss or for no reason you can name, depression counselling gives you an hour each week to talk about it honestly. We'd meet by secure video, so a session never depends on a day when you can face leaving the house.
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 Croydon
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Croydon by car
- About 63 minutes with clear roads (44.0 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- Direct trains from East Croydon to Brighton; change there for Hove, one stop.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- Croydon NHS Talking Therapies, 0203 228 4040
- 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.
Lonely weekends in a crowded Croydon
You can be surrounded by people in Croydon and still go a whole weekend without a real conversation.
The Whitgift Centre and Centrale fill up, the trams keep running, and none of it reaches the flatness you take home. If you moved here for work, your friends may be spread across London or further. If you're retired in Purley or Sanderstead, the shape your job gave the week may have gone with it, while a parent in Norbury or Addiscombe can be so taken up with other people's needs that they barely notice their own interest in things has faded. Sometimes the low follows a death, a separation or losing work. Sometimes there's no obvious cause, which can leave you feeling you have no right to complain. Depression can also show up as irritability, exhaustion or sleeping too much, especially in people who learned early to keep going and say nothing.
Finding a foothold when the weeks feel heavy
We start with what's true now, without you having to justify it: how you're sleeping and eating, what you've stopped doing, who you still see, and whether anything still brings even a flicker of interest. After that, we try to find what is holding the heaviness where it is. For one person it's a harsh inner voice that treats every setback as proof. For another it's a loss that was never mourned because life didn't pause for it, or weeks with no shape except work and screens. Steps stay realistic and small: answering one message, a walk through Park Hill at lunchtime, going once to Mind in Croydon's social networking Hub. If you take antidepressants or are wondering about them, that's a conversation for your GP, and counselling can run alongside it. If thoughts of ending your life or harming yourself are part of this, please tell me. I'll take them seriously and talk about them openly, and the crisis numbers in the box on this page can be used at any hour of the day or night.
Where the flatness comes from, here in Croydon
Grief that stopped moving
A death that left you numb instead of tearful. Cruse Bereavement Support has a national helpline for the days between sessions, and here the loss gets the time it needs.
New to Croydon, few friends
You moved here for an office or retail job and the evenings are empty. Mind in Croydon's social networking Hub is a low-key way to be around people again.
Caring has emptied you
Looking after a parent or partner can wear you down by degrees. Mind in Croydon's carers' counselling and Carers First Croydon on George Street support carers in their own right.
Never asked for help before
The Croydon Health and Wellbeing Space was designed for people who haven't used support before. It's in the Whitgift Centre, for adults registered with a Croydon GP.
Free and low-cost support for Croydon
For free NHS help with low mood, Croydon NHS Talking Therapies takes self-referrals on 0203 228 4040, and your GP is the person to see about medication. Mind in Croydon offers one-to-one counselling as well as its Hub; ask them about any charge. Video sessions with me can carry on beside any of them, and starting one doesn't close the door on the others.
- Free NHS talking therapyCroydon NHS Talking Therapies0203 228 4040Free 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 itCroydon Integrated Recovery Service (Drug and Alcohol Service - Croydon)0300 123 9288Run by Change Grow Live (CGL). Free and confidential.
- Local organisationMind in Croydon carers' services
- Local organisationCarers First Croydon
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 (SLaM) is another option: WhatsApp 0303 330 1511 or text 80991.
What people in Croydon ask before starting
Can I get free help for depression in Croydon without going through my GP?
Yes. Croydon NHS Talking Therapies, run by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, is free and accepts self-referrals for low mood on 0203 228 4040. Mind in Croydon's one-to-one counselling is a charity service you can arrange yourself by phone, so ask them about any charge. Either may have a wait. Private counselling lets you choose who you see and when you start.
I'm not sad, just flat and tired all the time. Is depression counselling in Croydon right for me?
It may well be. Depression doesn't always feel like sadness. It can feel like numbness, tiredness that sleep doesn't fix, or a loss of interest in things you used to enjoy. You don't need a label or a GP letter to begin. Booking the free 15-minute call and describing how the last few weeks have been is enough.
Will I ever need to come to Hove for depression counselling from Croydon?
No. With the room about 63 minutes away by car, video is the sensible arrangement from Croydon, and the work is the same. On heavy days that means no travel and no getting ready. Should you want to sit in the room together one day, a session in Hove can be arranged, but nothing depends on it.
What should I do in Croydon if I'm having thoughts of suicide before we've started?
Don't hold on until we've met. Call 999 if you might act on them. Otherwise call 111 and choose the mental health option, or message the South London crisis text service on WhatsApp 0303 330 1511 or by text to 80991. Samaritans answer 116 123 free at any hour, and your GP can refer you to the Recovery Space in East Croydon.
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.
You only need to say you've been struggling
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.