Southampton · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Depression counselling for Southampton
Depression in Southampton can look like a season at St Mary's Stadium you stopped going to, a Mayflower Theatre booking you cancel, or a phone you let ring out. If you've felt flat, heavy or empty for weeks, we can meet once a week by secure video, because the room in Hove is an 86-minute drive, and the pace will follow your energy.
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 Southampton
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Southampton by car
- About 86 minutes with clear roads (61.2 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- Direct trains from Southampton Central to Hove.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- NHS Talking Therapies Southampton, 0800 612 7000
- 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 noise stops reaching you
Southampton seldom goes still. Match days fill the streets around St Mary's Stadium, shoppers crowd Westquay, and cruise ships keep arriving and leaving. Depression has a way of muting all of it. Things you once looked forward to, a show at the Mayflower or a Saturday at the football, start to feel like obligations and then quietly stop. For some it begins with a loss and settles, months later, into a flatness that friends no longer connect with the death. For others it follows retirement, redundancy, a long illness, or years of caring in a house in Thornhill or Weston that hardly anyone visits. Older residents can find the afternoons long once a partner has died or friends have moved away. Southampton surgeries had depression on record for 13.3% of the adults on their lists in 2024/25 (England: 14.3% in 2024/25). That figure reflects what surgeries have written down, which differs from how many people actually live with low mood, and it says nothing at all about you.
Working with how heavy each day actually feels
We start with an honest account of an ordinary day as it is now: when you get up, whether you eat properly, who you still speak to, and which pleasures have slipped away without comment. From there we look at what holds the heaviness in place. It might be a harsh inner voice that has grown louder, a grief that never had room, anger turned inwards, or a long habit of putting everyone else first. Any change starts small and is your choice: answering one message, ten minutes outside in daylight, a coffee morning instead of another afternoon indoors. Some sessions will be quiet, and silence is allowed. Questions about antidepressants belong with your GP, and our sessions can run alongside whatever you decide together. I will ask plainly about thoughts of self-harm or of ending your life, because they deserve to be spoken about rather than hidden, and if they press in between sessions, please use the urgent help contacts on this page straight away. With more than 25 years of counselling behind me, and my own recovery, I know heaviness and shame as familiar ground.
Ways low mood settles into Southampton lives
Pleasures that quietly stopped
Match days at St Mary's Stadium, nights at the Mayflower Theatre or an afternoon in Westquay once lifted you, and now they feel like chores you keep putting off.
Older age and empty afternoons
After a partner dies or friends move away, days can stretch out. Caraway offers wellbeing calls and Memory Cafés for older people in Southampton, alongside anything we do together.
Grief that has gone flat
Long after a death, sadness can harden into numbness. The White Lily Centre in Bitterne runs coffee mornings and grief programmes for bereaved people across the city.
Evenings that feel longest
If nights are the hardest part, The Lighthouse in Shirley and Bitterne is open to adults from 4:30pm, with video, chat and call support as well.
Free and low-cost support for Southampton
For low mood, you can contact NHS Talking Therapies Southampton yourself on 0800 612 7000, and it can work alongside private sessions with me. Solent Mind supports mental health across the city. If you are under 26, the No Limits Advice Centre at 13 High Street offers free help, including counselling, and if caring for someone has worn you down, Unpaid Carers Support Southampton provides carers assessments.
- Free NHS talking therapyNHS Talking Therapies Southampton0800 612 7000Free 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 itSSJ&IRun by The Society of St James, in partnership with Inclusion. Free and confidential.
- Local organisationMountbatten Hampshire counselling and bereavement support
- Local organisationThe White Lily CentreBereavement support centre in Bitterne, low-cost or fee-paying.
- Local organisationCaraway
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.
Local drop-in crisis support: Safe Haven Southampton (No Limits, young people 11-25) (check opening times before you go).
What people in Southampton ask before starting
Can I refer myself for depression support in Southampton without seeing my GP?
Yes. You can ring NHS Talking Therapies Southampton yourself on 0800 612 7000 for low mood; once called Steps2Wellbeing, the service now sits with Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and can have a waiting list. Private counselling with me is a separate route, where you choose your counsellor and a regular weekly time, and the two can overlap. Your GP remains the person for medication and physical checks.
I've felt flat ever since leaving my job at the port in Southampton. Is that depression?
It may be, or it may be the loss of the structure, people and purpose the job gave you, and the two often overlap. A GP visit is sensible to rule out a physical cause. If the flatness has lasted weeks and things you enjoyed now feel like effort, that is reason enough to talk, whatever name it ends up with. We can look at what the work held for you and what might fill that space.
Do I have to travel to Hove for depression counselling from Southampton?
No. An 86-minute drive east to Hove is a lot to face when depression has drained your energy, so sessions run on secure video and you can stay at home in Shirley, Bitterne or wherever you live in the city. A session on screen is every bit as real. The direct Southern train from Southampton Central makes an occasional visit possible later on, though it is never expected of you.
My low mood in Southampton has turned into thoughts of ending my life. Who do I contact tonight?
Please act now rather than waiting for a session. Should you feel close to acting on those thoughts, dial 999. Samaritans answer 116 123 at any hour, and Samaritans Southampton and District is part of that service. The Lighthouse runs evening drop-ins for adults on Shirley Road and Bitterne Road until 10:30pm, alongside video and chat support, and anyone aged 11 to 25 can use Safe Haven Southampton.
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.
A first call, at whatever pace today allows
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.