Lewisham · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Depression counselling for Lewisham
If you're in Lewisham and your days have narrowed to the same few streets, with very little that feels worth the effort, depression counselling offers one steady hour a week to talk about it honestly. We'd meet by secure video, so on a bad day all it asks of you is to open a laptop.
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 Lewisham
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Lewisham by car
- About 85 minutes with clear roads (65.5 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Lewisham, change at London Bridge for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- Lewisham Talking Therapies, 020 3228 1350
- 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 your world shrinks to a short loop
Depression often makes life smaller before anyone notices.
The circuit gets shorter: home, the shops in the town centre for whatever's needed, back again. The things that used to stretch the week fall away without a decision being made. You stop going to Glass Mill. The Saturday wander round the market becomes a quick dash, then a delivery. Friends on the other side of London get a text instead of a visit, and then not even that. If you work from home, whole days can pass without you speaking to anyone. If you came to the borough to study at Goldsmiths and stayed, the people who made it feel like home may have moved away. Sometimes the low follows a death, a break-up or losing work. Sometimes there's no reason at all, which can be harder to explain to anyone. People in this state often call themselves lazy, and that verdict is one of the first things worth questioning together.
Small, real steps, and honesty about the dark parts
When you're depressed, even replying to an email can feel like too much, so we keep the start light. I'll want to know what an ordinary day looks like now: when you wake, whether you eat, who you still speak to, and what the voice in your head says when something goes wrong. From there we look for what is holding the low in place. It might be grief that never got room, a job lost, years of looking after someone, or a flatness with no obvious cause. Steps stay small and specific, perhaps one walk as far as Ladywell or one message back to a friend, and if a step doesn't happen, we look at what got in the way without treating it as a failure. If antidepressants are part of your life, or you're wondering about them, your GP is the person to talk to, and counselling can sit alongside. Early on I'll also ask you directly about thoughts of self-harm or suicide, because those thoughts are safer spoken about than kept to yourself. If they are, we agree a safety plan between us, and the urgent help section lower on this page lists who to contact in the hours between sessions.
Ways low mood can take hold in Lewisham
Flattened by caring for family
If caring for a relative has left you flat and cut off, Carers Lewisham supports carers in the borough, and in our sessions your own low mood gets attention too.
A death you haven't mourned
Months on, the numbness hasn't lifted. Cruse Bereavement Support's national helpline is free to call between our sessions, and here the loss gets proper time.
Support that comes to you
The Lewisham Outreach Service, run by Together for Mental Wellbeing within the Lewisham VCSE Cooperative, offers mental health support out in the community, closer to everyday life.
A network for service users
The SUN Project, Lewisham's Service User Network, appears in South London and Maudsley's crisis leaflet for the borough, and is worth asking about if you already use mental health services.
Free and low-cost support for Lewisham
For free NHS help with low mood, Lewisham Talking Therapies takes self-referrals, and your GP is the person to see about medication. If cost matters, the Quaggy Community Counselling Service offers low-cost counselling to Lewisham and Greenwich adults. You're free to use either while we work together.
- Free NHS talking therapyLewisham Talking Therapies020 3228 1350Free 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 itNew Direction drug and alcohol recovery service (Lewisham)020 8314 5566Run by Change Grow Live (CGL). Free and confidential.
- Local organisationCarers Lewisham
- Local organisationLewisham Outreach Service (Together for Mental Wellbeing), Lewisham VCSE Cooperative
- Local organisationSEL Mind Connect (Lewisham)South East London Mind team working inside South London and.
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.
The South London NHS Mental Health Crisis Text Service (SLaM) is another option: WhatsApp 0303 330 1511 or text 80991.
What people in Lewisham ask before starting
Can I get help for depression in Lewisham without waiting to see my GP?
Yes. Lewisham Talking Therapies is a free NHS service operated by South London and Maudsley, and it accepts self-referrals for low mood on 020 3228 1350, though there may be a wait. You can also book a free call with me, with no referral, and on that call you'll hear when a regular weekly slot could start. If you've been low for weeks, it's still worth letting your GP know.
I lost someone last year and I'm in Lewisham. Is this depression or grief?
It can be either, or both, and you don't need to settle which before you begin. Grief can turn into a flatness that lasts well beyond the funeral. Your GP can talk with you about whether it has become depression. Cruse Bereavement Support has a free national helpline, and in counselling we can give the loss, and the low that came with it, the time they need.
Can depression counselling from Lewisham work over video, or should we meet in person?
It can work over video, and from Lewisham that's how we'd meet, since the room in Hove is about 85 minutes' drive away. On low weeks what matters most is that the session actually happens, and not having to travel makes that far more likely. If you'd like a session in Hove one day, it can be arranged.
Where can I turn tonight in Lewisham if I'm having thoughts of ending my life?
Don't hold this until a session is booked. If you feel you could act on them, call 999 now. Otherwise, the NHS crisis text service for South London is reachable on WhatsApp at 0303 330 1511 or by text to 80991, NHS 111 can help by phone, and Samaritans answer free on 116 123 at any hour. When you can, tell your GP too.
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.
Saying you've been low is enough to begin
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.