Woking · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Depression counselling for Woking
When nothing in a Woking week seems worth the effort any more, when you're sleeping too much or hardly at all, or grief has gone numb instead of sad, depression counselling is somewhere to say so honestly. We meet by secure video, from whichever corner of home is easiest, and before anything is agreed we talk for 15 minutes, free of charge.
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 Woking
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Woking by car
- About 73 minutes with clear roads (57.5 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Woking, change at Clapham Junction 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.
When a busy town goes quiet around you
Depression often settles in after something has ended.
It might be a bereavement that left you blank rather than tearful. It might be the close of a long career, when the emails stop and the days lose their edges. For some it grows out of years spent caring for a parent or partner, and for others it follows no reason anyone can name. Once the morning rush to the station is over, a weekday at home in Horsell or Westfield can be very quiet, and that quiet can sit heavily on a low mood. You may still be getting the school forms and the shopping done. What has gone is the sense that any of it matters. GP records across Surrey noted depression for 13.0% of the adults on their lists in 2024/25. That figure measures what GPs have recorded rather than how widespread depression truly is, and it can't describe your own situation.
Starting with how your days actually go
Depression takes away the energy you'd need to tackle it, so we begin by asking very little of you. In early sessions we look at what your days are like now: when you wake, what you eat, which hours are hardest, and what you've quietly stopped doing. Then we look for what may be holding the low in place. That could be a grief that never had room because there was a funeral to arrange and a house to clear, a role that ended, anger turned inwards, or simply too much for too long. Any changes are deliberately modest, perhaps ten minutes outside or a reply to one text, and we notice what each one does without marking you on it. If you've had thoughts of hurting yourself, or of not wanting to wake up, I'd want to know. I'll ask about them plainly and without alarm, and we'll work out together what keeps you safe; the urgent help section further down lists numbers that answer at any hour. Decisions about medication are for you and your GP to make, and our sessions continue whatever you decide.
What can lie underneath a Woking low
Grief that went numb
Months on, the tears have stopped but so has everything else. Cruse Bereavement Support has Surrey North Area and South West Surrey services that can sit beside our sessions.
Caring, year after year
Years of caring for a parent or partner can drain you while everyone praises how well you cope. Action for Carers Surrey supports carers; our hour is about you.
A week with no shape
After redundancy or retirement, Catalyst Community Connections runs regular wellbeing groups in Woking that can give the days a fixed point between sessions.
Holding it together until home
Fast trains reach Waterloo in about 26 minutes, so it's possible to keep the commute and the meetings going and only sink once the front door shuts. That gap deserves attention.
Free and low-cost support for Woking
Where low mood is concerned, Mind Matters Surrey offers free help, with self-referral open on 0300 330 5450. SearchLight Counselling and Therapy is a counselling charity in Woking itself, and Catalyst Support, a Surrey mental health and wellbeing charity, runs the Community Connections groups. In the evenings, Woking Safe Haven is a drop-in for adults in emotional distress, and the county's 24/7 crisis helpline answers on 0800 915 4644. Any of these can sit beside 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)
- Local organisationAction for Carers Surrey
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.
Locally, the Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS FT Mental Health Crisis Helpline is on 0800 915 4644. Local drop-in crisis support: Woking Safe Haven (check opening times before you go).
What people in Woking ask before starting
Is there free NHS help for low mood in Woking before I try private counselling?
Yes. Low mood sits squarely within what Mind Matters Surrey deals with, it costs nothing as part of NHS Talking Therapies, and you can refer yourself with no GP appointment. Private sessions are the other route if picking your counsellor, or starting while you wait for them, matters to you, and nothing stops you using both at once.
Since a funeral at Brookwood Cemetery I've felt numb rather than sad. Could that be depression?
Numbness is a common shape for grief, and whether it has tipped into depression is a question for a doctor, so raise it with your GP if the flatness has gone on for weeks. In counselling we make room for the loss at your pace, without pushing you to move on, and we look at what the flatness may be protecting you from feeling all at once.
I barely leave my flat in Woking at the moment. Is video counselling for depression realistic?
Yes, and from Woking it's the usual way. There's no 73-minute drive to manage and no need to look presentable; you can join from bed or the sofa, with the camera angled however you like. On a heavy week we might talk less and simply look at how things are, which is still useful work. A Hove session is possible later, but never expected.
What if I have thoughts of ending my life while I'm waiting to start, in Woking?
Reach out now, rather than waiting for our first session. The county's 24/7 mental health crisis helpline is on 0800 915 4644, and Samaritans answer on 116 123. Between 6pm and 11pm, Woking Safe Haven at the Moorcroft Community Centre in Westfield takes adults 18 and over without an appointment. If you feel you could act on those thoughts, ring 999 or go straight to the emergency department at St Peter's Hospital in Chertsey.
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.
Get in touch on a day you have a little to spare
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.