Maidstone · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Depression counselling for Maidstone
Low mood can sit quietly behind a busy working life in Maidstone, whether your days are spent at a desk in County Hall or your nights in the town's bars. Depression counselling with me happens by secure video, at a weekly time we fix around your energy and your hours, and it can begin while you wait for NHS help.
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 Maidstone
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Maidstone by car
- About 78 minutes with clear roads (64.4 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Maidstone East, change at London Victoria for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- NHS Talking Therapies Kent and Medway, 0333 091 0414
- 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 county town by day, a night-time town after dark
Maidstone keeps two clocks. By day it is Kent's county town, with County Hall on Sandling Road as the headquarters of Kent County Council and public administration a major local employer. After dark the leisure trade takes over, and the night-time economy here is worth about 75 million pounds a year. Low mood can hide on either clock. Someone who runs meetings capably all week can get home to an evening they have no wish to fill and no idea why. Someone working late shifts in the bars and restaurants can sleep through most of the daylight and go weeks without a proper conversation outside work. A student at University Centre Maidstone on Tonbridge Road, living away from home for the first time, may put months of flatness down to deadlines. From outside, each of these lives looks as if it's working, which is exactly why the low can go unspoken for so long.
Finding where the low lives in your week
A good deal of depression counselling is careful noticing. We start by finding where the low lives in your week: whether mornings are worst, whether Sunday evenings bring dread about the office or the next shift, whether it lifts at all with certain people. We look at what you've stopped doing and what you keep going purely out of duty, because both say a lot. If you work nights, we consider what the upside-down hours are doing to your sleep and your contact with others, without pretending you can simply change jobs. Underneath there is often something that hasn't been said aloud, such as a loss, a disappointment, years of looking after everyone else, or a voice that has called you not enough for as long as you remember. We go at a pace you can bear. NHS Talking Therapies Kent and Medway also works with low mood and takes self-referrals, and your GP stays the person for anything medical. If you have thoughts of harming yourself or not wanting to be alive, please tell me, and use the urgent contacts on this page, including NHS 111's mental health option and Release the Pressure on 0800 107 0160, without waiting for our next session.
Maidstone lives where low mood can hide
Capable at County Hall, empty at home
Holding a responsible job together all week while feeling nothing outside it can go unnoticed for a long time, including by you.
Living on night-time hours
Working late in the town's bars and restaurants can mean sleeping through daylight and missing the people you're closest to. Video sessions can be booked around the rota.
Away from home on Tonbridge Road
Studying at University Centre Maidstone, a flatness you put down to deadlines may have been there for months. It deserves a proper conversation, sooner rather than later.
Someone sleeping rough in town
If someone you care about in Maidstone town centre is facing homelessness and isolation, Kenward Street Reach, run by the Kenward Trust, goes out to people there.
Public health figures for the area
These are local authority figures from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. The figures describe a whole population over a period, not any one person.
Free and low-cost support for Maidstone
NHS Talking Therapies Kent and Medway is the free NHS route for low mood, and you can refer yourself. Mid Kent Mind runs weekday drop-ins and groups at its Wellbeing Centre on College Road, and Mid Kent Mind Affordable Counselling is a lower-cost option for adults with low to medium need who aren't already seeing a counsellor. Cruse Bereavement Support's helpline is there after a death, and Imago supports carers across West Kent.
- Free NHS talking therapyNHS Talking Therapies Kent and Medway0333 091 0414Free 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 Kent community drug and alcohol service (Change, Grow, Live)0330 128 1113Run by Change Grow Live (CGL). Free and confidential.
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 Release the Pressure Helpline - Kent is on 0800 107 0160. Local drop-in crisis support: Kent and Medway Safe Havens (Mental Health Matters) (check opening times before you go).
What people in Maidstone ask before starting
Can I have Mid Kent Mind's Affordable Counselling and depression counselling with you at the same time?
Probably not. Mid Kent Mind says its Affordable Counselling is for adults registered with a GP who need a low to medium level of support and aren't already seeing another counsellor, so it makes sense to choose one. Theirs is lower cost, with a telephone assessment first, and runs in Maidstone, online or by phone. Mine is a weekly video session arranged directly after a free call. Either is a reasonable choice.
I work nights in Maidstone and sleep through the day. Can depression counselling fit around that?
Yes. Because we'd meet by video, there's no travel to fit in, so we look for a regular slot after you've slept and before your shift. Living out of step with everyone else can add to the isolation that comes with low mood, so we'd give that some attention too, without assuming you can change your hours. Bring your rota to the free call.
I've stopped seeing anyone. Is there somewhere in Maidstone I can just go and be around people?
Mid Kent Mind holds wellbeing drop-ins and groups at its Wellbeing Centre, 23 College Road, on weekdays during office hours. It isn't a crisis service, so if you feel unsafe, ring NHS 111 and choose option 2, or go to A and E. Being around people won't lift depression on its own, but it can make the week less empty while we work on what's underneath it.
Can I start depression counselling with you while I wait for NHS Talking Therapies Kent and Medway?
Yes. There's no referral needed to start with me, and on the free 15-minute call I'll tell you honestly how soon a weekly time is free. Let the NHS service know you're seeing someone privately, and tell me too, so the two don't end up working against each other. If they offer you a place, we can talk together about pausing, carrying on or finishing.
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.
Tell someone outside Maidstone how it has really been
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.