Sutton · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Depression counselling for Sutton
If you're in Sutton and life has gone flat, nothing quite lands, sleep doesn't refresh you and you can't remember the last time you looked forward to anything, depression counselling offers a weekly hour to say so honestly. We meet by secure video, so a session never depends on finding the energy to travel.
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 Sutton
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Sutton by car
- About 61 minutes with clear roads (43.3 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- Sutton Talking Therapies, 0800 032 1411
- 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 busy part ends and the heaviness stays
Low mood can arrive once the busy part of life is over.
Someone who took the train to Victoria or London Bridge for most of a working life may retire to a quiet house in Belmont or Christchurch Park and find the weekdays have lost their edges, with nobody expecting them anywhere. Someone who spent years as a parent's carer may lose that parent and, with them, the role that filled every day, until grief settles into a long grey numbness. Someone else may walk the length of the High Street on a Tuesday morning among the shoppers and realise they haven't had a real conversation all week. And sometimes there's no clear reason at all, and that can feel like having no right to struggle. Depression can look like tiredness, irritability, staying in bed or saying yes to nothing, with no tears at all, and it's easy to miss in people who learned early to keep going and not make a fuss.
Small, honest steps on heavy weeks
There's no need to arrive with an explanation. We start with how things are: sleep, appetite, who you still see, what has dropped out of your week, and whether anything still gives you a flicker of interest. Then we look at what is keeping the heaviness in place. It might be a critical inner voice, a loss that was never mourned because life didn't pause for it, the end of a role that gave your days a purpose, or simply weeks without any structure. Any changes we agree are small and yours to pick, such as a slow walk round Manor Park or returning one phone call you've been avoiding. On days when words are hard, we can go slowly and let silence be part of the hour. Decisions about antidepressants belong with your GP, and our weekly hour carries on alongside whatever the two of you decide. Please tell me if you've had thoughts of ending your life or hurting yourself. I'll talk about them openly and without alarm, and if things feel unsafe between our sessions, the urgent help panel on this page lists people who will answer at any hour.
The shapes low mood can take in Sutton
After the last Marsden appointment
Treatment at the Royal Marsden on Downs Road is over and everyone around you is relieved, yet the weeks since feel flatter and emptier than the treatment itself did.
Grief gone quiet
A death that left numbness instead of tears. Cruse Bereavement Support, Sutton, offers bereavement help, and our sessions can give the loss the room it never had.
Another night at St Helier
A parent or partner back in the 24-hour A and E at St Helier in Carshalton, and each drive home from Wrythe Lane leaves you a little greyer and more worn.
Alone in a busy town
A High Street full of shoppers and not one real conversation all week. Peer support at Belmont Connect, run by Sutton Mental Health Foundation, is a gentle way back towards people.
Free and low-cost support for Sutton
Sutton Talking Therapies is the free NHS service for low mood and accepts referrals straight from you, though your GP remains the person to ask about medication. Sutton Mental Health Foundation offers peer support at Belmont Connect, and Cruse Bereavement Support, Sutton, helps after a death. On the hardest evenings, Sutton Crisis Café on Downs Road is open in person from 6.30pm to 11pm.
- Free NHS talking therapySutton Talking Therapies0800 032 1411Free 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 itInspire (Cranstoun Inspire), Sutton's Adult Drug & Alcohol Service020 8773 9393Free and confidential.
- Local organisationCranstoun Inspire Family and Carer Support (Sutton)
- Local organisationSutton Carers Centre
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 is another option: text 80991 or WhatsApp 0303 330 1511. Local drop-in crisis support: Sutton Crisis Café (check opening times before you go).
What people in Sutton ask before starting
Is there free NHS support for depression in Sutton that I can contact myself?
Yes. Sutton Talking Therapies, run by South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust, accepts self-referrals for low mood on 0800 032 1411. There's no charge, but expect a waiting list. Your GP is still the right person for questions about medication. Seeing someone privately puts the choice of counsellor and start date in your hands, and you can use both.
I retired after years of commuting from Sutton into London, and now I feel flat. Is that depression?
It might be, and it's worth talking about whatever we call it. Losing the routine, the colleagues and the sense of being needed all at once can drain the colour from your days, even when you'd looked forward to retiring. Nothing official is needed before we start. Describing the last few weeks on the free call is enough.
Is video counselling enough for depression if I'm in Sutton?
Yes. The Hove room is about an hour's drive from Sutton, so video is the practical arrangement, and the work is the same. It also means that on days when getting dressed feels impossible, you can still turn up. If you'd like to meet in the room one day, that can be arranged, but nothing depends on it.
What should I do in Sutton if I feel unsafe before we've started?
Don't sit it out until we've met. If you think you could act on suicidal thoughts, call 999. For urgent support, text 80991 or WhatsApp 0303 330 1511 to reach the South London NHS crisis text service, or use the Samaritans number in the urgent help box above. In the evening, Sutton Crisis Café in Belmont is open in person until 11pm, every day of the week.
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.
When you have energy for 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.