Godalming · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Depression counselling for Godalming
If you're in Godalming or Farncombe and everything has gone muted, food tastes of little, messages sit unanswered and the things you used to love feel like chores, we can meet over secure video and begin there. You don't need a label or a GP letter before getting in touch, and the opening 15-minute conversation costs nothing.
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 Godalming
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Godalming by car
- About 68 minutes with clear roads (43.5 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Godalming, change at Havant 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.
A bench in Phillips Memorial Park
In April 2026 a suicide prevention bench was installed in Phillips Memorial Park, by the charity Legend on the Bench with support from Waverley Borough Council.
It was made for anyone who needs it, a quiet sign that despair can be spoken about here. From the outside, depression often looks undramatic. It can be a parent keeping the household running on autopilot, or a carer whose own life has shrunk to a list of appointments. In Surrey, GPs had recorded depression for 13.0% of their adult patients in 2024/25 (England: 14.3% in 2024/25). That figure shows how often depression gets written into GP records, which is different from how many people live with it, and it tells you nothing about yourself.
Slow, steady work when everything feels heavy
Depression drains the very energy you'd need to ask for help, so there's no expectation that you arrive with anything worked out. We begin with the plain facts of your days: how you're sleeping, whether you're eating, what has quietly fallen away, and what the critical voice in your head says about all of it. Over time we look at what the low mood is bound up with. For some people that's a loss that never had room to be grieved, for others years spent meeting everyone else's needs, a retirement or redundancy that took away the structure of the week, or anger that was never safe to show. Sometimes there's no obvious cause, and that deserves just as much care. We may agree one small, realistic step between sessions, though some weeks the work is simply being heard without being hurried. I'll ask directly, and kindly, about self-harm and thoughts of ending your life, and if they're there we'll plan for your safety together, with the urgent help on this page available at any hour. Medication is for your GP to guide, and counselling with me can sit beside it.
What low mood can grow out of here
Going through the motions
The same Waterloo train, the same inbox, and nothing felt at either end. Low mood can hide for a long time inside a working routine that never pauses.
Worn down by caring
Looking after a partner or parent until little of your own life is left. Action for Carers Surrey exists for people in exactly that position.
When it's more than counselling
If the low has become severe or won't lift, a GP can refer adults aged 18 to 65 to the Waverley community mental health team, and our sessions can carry on beside theirs.
Walking past the bench
If the bench in Phillips Memorial Park speaks to how you feel, please tell someone today. The crisis help on this page answers day and night.
Free and low-cost support for Godalming
For low mood and depression, the free NHS option is Mind Matters Surrey, and self-referral is open to Godalming residents. When grief sits underneath the heaviness, Cruse's South West Surrey branch offers bereavement support. Action for Carers Surrey helps people worn down by looking after someone. Any of these can sit next to private sessions with me.
- 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 organisationCatalyst Counselling: families, friends and carers (Catalyst Support)
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 Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS FT Mental Health Crisis Helpline is on 0800 915 4644.
What people in Godalming ask before starting
Can I get NHS counselling for low mood in Godalming without seeing my GP?
Yes. Mind Matters Surrey accepts self-referrals for depression and low mood on 0300 330 5450, at no cost, though there may be a wait. You can also book a free call with me directly. If you're barely eating or sleeping, can't get through the day, or are having thoughts of ending your life, please don't wait: ring the Surrey crisis line on 0800 915 4644 or NHS 111 today, and 999 if you're in immediate danger.
Since a death in the family I feel nothing. Can counselling in Godalming help?
It can. Numbness after a loss may be grief, depression or both, and only a doctor can say whether it's depression, but we don't need a label to begin. We can make room for the loss and look at the low mood together. Cruse also has a South West Surrey service, another place to turn for the bereavement itself.
Will video counselling from Godalming feel too distant when I'm this low?
It can feel easier, because leaving the house is often the hardest part of depression. You can join from bed or a chair at home, with no 68-minute drive to talk yourself out of. If a screen ever feels like too much distance, tell me, and we can think together about an occasional session in Hove.
How soon could depression counselling begin once I get in touch from Godalming?
Book the free 15-minute call, and you only need to say a little: that things have been low, and roughly for how long. You'll get a plain answer about when a weekly time opens up. The first session is mostly listening, there's no fixed number of sessions, and we check every few weeks that it's helping.
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.
On a day you can manage it, one short call
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.