Daily or binge drinking
Support whatever your pattern looks like.
Counselling for Drinking Problems · Hassocks
Counselling for Drinking Problems in Hassocks
Counselling for Drinking Problems for Hassocks and the surrounding area, in person or online. Hassocks is a village at the foot of the Downs, beneath the Clayton windmills known as Jack and Jill. From my room in nearby Hove I offer a calm, confidential space to do this work.
BACP registered member25+ years of experienceLived experience
ConfidentialA safe, private space
Person-centredThe therapy fits you
In and around Hassocks
Counselling for Drinking Problems for Hassocks, at a glance
- Known for
- The Jack and Jill windmills, Adastra Park and the South Downs
- Area
- Lewes & Mid Sussex, East/West Sussex
- Getting to the Hove room
- From Hassocks a short train ride or a fifteen to twenty minute drive over the Downs brings you to Hove.
- Local NHS / support route
- West Sussex County Council's drug and alcohol support
- Format
- In person at my private Hove room, or by secure video UK-wide.
Life in Hassocks
Why do people in Hassocks reach out?
The walk home from the station past a lit pub is a small daily decision, and in a village that decision repeats often enough to become a pattern before anyone calls it one. Drinking in Hassocks is unremarkable and mostly domestic: a glass while the dinner cooks, a bottle shared on a Friday, a nightcap that has crept earlier. There is no scene to blame it on. What tends to change first is not the amount but the relationship to it, so the evening starts being planned around the drink rather than the drink fitting round the evening. By the time that becomes obvious to you, it may still be completely invisible to everyone else.
Areas covered
Neighbourhoods in and around Hassocks
KeymerAdastra ParkStonepoundLodge LaneKeymer RoadClaytonOckley LaneFriars Oak
Wherever you are in Hassocks, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
The local picture in Hassocks
Official figures for Hassocks, for context rather than as a description of you.
the rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions was 479.9 per 100,000 in 2023/24, below the England average of 611.7 per 100,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Admission episodes for alcohol-specific conditions (2023/24).
the alcohol-specific death rate was 11.4 per 100,000 in 2024, below the England average of 13.8 per 100,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Alcohol-specific mortality (2024).
Reviewed June 2026.
What would we do together in counselling for drinking problems?
Counselling for drinking problems here looks beneath the habit at what drives it, you do not need to have hit rock bottom to begin, and signposts medical, detox and peer support where useful.
The approach does not change with the postcode, so rather than repeat it on every page you can read it in full, the methods and what each session covers, on counselling for drinking problems in detail, alongside the practical side and my credentials and registration.
How do sessions work, in person or online?
Sessions take place in a private, comfortable room at Intergen House on Western Road in central Hove, held to the strict BACP confidentiality you would expect. We begin with a free fifteen-minute call to check we are a good fit, and the same sessions are available by secure video if travelling is difficult or you would simply prefer it.
Hove is a short train ride away, or fifteen to twenty minutes by car, and an appointment in the late afternoon can neatly occupy the hour when the first drink usually appears. The room is on Western Road, a few minutes from the station end. Where an evening cannot be spared, secure video sessions run at the same times and to the same length, and many people use both across a few months.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
What sort of things do people bring?
The cause, not the habit
Looking beneath the drinking to what drives it.
Anxiety and low mood
Working with what the alcohol has been managing.
Privacy at home
Sensitive support without anyone needing to know.
Signposting
Links to medical, detox and peer support where useful.
Without the anaesthetic
Reconnecting with the person beneath the drinking.
Counselling for Drinking Problems in Hassocks
Why people in Hassocks come for counselling for drinking problems
There is no threshold to cross before this is allowed. You do not need a diagnosis, a disaster, or a firm intention to give up alcohol, and being unsure whether you have a problem at all is an ordinary way to begin. The work concentrates on what drinking is doing rather than counting units at you. Winding down after a commute, taking the edge off a quiet house, blunting an old grief, easing the awkwardness of village sociability: alcohol does real jobs, and stopping only sticks when those jobs are covered another way. Hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions across the county stood at 479.9 per 100,000 in 2023/24, under the England average of 611.7. If you are drinking heavily every day, talk to your GP before changing anything, and West Sussex County Council's drug and alcohol support through DAWN is the free medical route.
A free, unhurried first step
Not sure if it is right for you? A free fifteen-minute call is a no-obligation way to talk it through.
Book a free 15-minute callDrug, alcohol & addiction support in Hassocks
My counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Hassocks, free local drug and alcohol support is available through West Sussex County Council's drug and alcohol support.
For confidential information and advice, FRANK (on 0300 123 6600) and Drinkline on 0300 123 1110 are free, and Alcoholics Anonymous and SMART Recovery run peer-support meetings you can find online.
Other local and national support verified for this area includes:
If you need urgent help now
This is not a crisis service. If anyone is in immediate danger call 999. For urgent mental health support, call NHS 111 and choose the mental health option. The Samaritans are free, day or night, on 116 123, or text SHOUT to 85258.
If you drink heavily or use drugs daily, do not stop suddenly on your own. Withdrawal can cause seizures and can be dangerous. Speak to your GP or a local drug and alcohol service first, and they can arrange a safe, medically supported withdrawal. Counselling works alongside that, not instead of it.
Hassocks questions
Counselling for Drinking Problems in Hassocks: common questions
Where do Hassocks sessions take place, and can I meet online instead?
In a private room at Intergen House on Western Road in central Hove. From Hassocks a short train ride or a fifteen to twenty minute drive over the Downs brings you to Hove. Every service is also available by secure video across the UK, so you can meet from any private space in Hassocks or blend the two.
I have never missed work or embarrassed myself. Is this still for me?
It is. Most people who come about drinking have an unblemished record and a growing private unease, which is precisely the point at which change is easiest. Waiting for something to go wrong in order to qualify is a poor use of the time in between.
Would I have to stop going to the pub?
Nothing is dictated. We would look at what you actually want from those evenings and at what would make them workable, rather than starting with a list of places to avoid. Giving up your social life is rarely the thing that helps, and often the thing that fails.
Can you tell me how to reduce what I drink each day?
That guidance has to come from a doctor, not a counsellor, because cutting down or stopping heavy daily drinking can carry genuine medical risk. Your GP or DAWN, reached via West Sussex County Council's drug and alcohol support, will handle it. Sessions cover everything else.
How would I explain a weekly trip to Hove?
An appointment is an appointment, and you owe no one a fuller account. In practice the round trip takes a couple of hours at most by train. Some people simply attach it to a work day rather than carving out a separate evening.
What am I committing to financially, and can I stop after one session?
Fees are £80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min and £120 / 120 min, following a free 15-minute consultation. Appointments are booked individually, so stopping needs no notice period and no explanation. Most people begin weekly and space them out as things improve.
Do I have to stop drinking altogether before I come?
No. We start wherever you are and look honestly at the part alcohol plays; whether the goal is cutting down or stopping is something we work out together, at your own pace.
How do I book drinking problem counselling from Hassocks?
Book a free fifteen-minute consultation on 07914 681995 or via the contact page. From Hassocks a short train reaches Hove in around fifteen minutes with a walk to Western Road, or it is a fifteen to twenty minute drive over the Downs.
What does drinking counselling cost, and what free help serves Hassocks?
Fees are £80 for an hour, £100 for ninety minutes and £120 for two hours, after a free call. In West Sussex you can self-refer to Change Grow Live for free alcohol support, and to Time to Talk, the NHS Talking Therapies service, for related low mood.
In person or online for drinking in Hassocks, and are evenings possible?
Both. The Hove room offers a private break from the commuter timetable, with evening slots to fit a busy week. When the trip is inconvenient, secure video is just as confidential, and many Hassocks clients blend the two as recovery settles.
Counselling for Drinking Problems in Hassocks, whenever you are ready
A free fifteen-minute call is the simplest place to start, no obligation, just a chance to see if we are the right fit.
Also available nearby: Ditchling, Burgess Hill, Patcham. See all areas I cover.
Also available in Hassocks: addiction counselling, substance use counselling and depression counselling.
If you would like to read more first, I have written about questioning “once an addict” and riding out an urge.
Prefer to meet remotely? The same counselling for drinking problems is available online by secure video across the UK, or see online counselling by region.