Andover · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Psychotherapy for Andover
Psychotherapy suits you if you live in Andover and keep meeting the same knot, in relationships, at work or late at night, and want to understand it rather than only steady it. Andover is nearly two hours from Hove by road, so this deeper weekly work runs over secure video, with an occasional longer meeting in the room whenever you want one.
The practical facts for Andover
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Andover by car
- About 117 minutes with clear roads (89.1 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire, 023 8038 3920
- 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 town of postings, overspill and fresh starts
Andover has been remade more than once. It grew as a market town of grain milling and wool, took in families moving out of London from the 1950s, and since 2012 has been home to Army Headquarters at Marlborough Lines, with the Ministry of Defence now its largest employer. That history leaves a mark on how people live here. Families have arrived in waves, first in the overspill years and then with each posting, and in service households a move can mean packing up a whole life every few years. Newer estates such as Augusta Park, Saxon Fields and Picket Twenty sit a short drive from older streets in the centre and north, some of which rank among England's 30% most deprived areas, while parts of the south-east are among the 10% least deprived. A fresh start in a new house can quietly carry old habits of feeling along with the furniture. Psychotherapy is a place to notice what keeps travelling with you.
When the same pattern keeps finding you
Shorter counselling often takes one difficulty at a time. Psychotherapy with me is for what recurs: choosing the same kind of partner, a temper that arrives out of all proportion, a flatness that returns each winter, or a habit of keeping everyone at arm's length because you learned early that people leave. In an army town that last one can run deep. If you grew up moving between postings, or you now hold a home together through a partner's absences, closeness may have learned to be brief. The work is weekly, open-ended and unhurried. We look at where a pattern began, what it once protected you from, and what it costs you now, at home in Andover, on a shift or at a desk. Some sessions are quiet and some stir things up, and we set the pace together. I draw on several approaches, Internal Family Systems among them, which can help when one part of you longs to settle and another is already packing for the next move. I am a BACP registered member and a student member of UKCP, and the 25-plus years I have spent in practice sit alongside my own experience of recovery. A 90-minute session at £100 can give slower work more room.
Old patterns, Andover circumstances
Moving with every posting
When Army Headquarters at Marlborough Lines decides where your family lives, the knack of never quite settling can follow you long after the boxes are unpacked.
Growing up in an overspill town
Families who left London for Andover from the 1950s onwards brought their own histories with them, and what went unsaid in one generation can surface in the next.
An old loss that still colours things
The Countess of Brecknock Hospice at Andover War Memorial Hospital runs bereavement support, and psychotherapy can look at why a loss from years ago still shapes the present.
Becoming a parent here
With 25.9% of Andover residents aged 19 or under, young families are a big part of town life, and raising a child can wake memories of your own childhood that ask to be understood.
Public health figures for the area
These are local authority figures from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. "Similar to England" means the difference is not statistically significant. The figures describe a whole population over a period, not any one person.
Free and low-cost support for Andover
Psychotherapy can sit beside the free and low-cost routes in Andover. For anxiety or low mood, NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire takes self-referrals from Andover residents on 023 8038 3920. Andover Mind offers low-cost counselling and runs a mental health service from GP surgeries in the town, reached through your GP. On difficult evenings, the Safe Haven that Andover Mind runs for North and Mid Hampshire takes phone and video calls from 6pm to 10pm.
- Free NHS talking therapyNHS Talking Therapies Hampshire023 8038 3920Free 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 itInclusion Recovery Hampshire0300 124 0103Free and confidential.
- Local organisationAndover Mind counselling
- Local organisationThe Countess of Brecknock Hospice bereavement support
- Local organisationThe Princess Royal Trust for Carers in Hampshire
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.
In this area you can also text HANTS to 85258. Local drop-in crisis support: Aldershot Safe Haven; North and Mid Hampshire Safe Haven (Andover Mind) (check opening times before you go).
What people in Andover ask before starting
Can I start psychotherapy from Andover while waiting for NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire?
Yes. A self-referral to NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire on 023 8038 3920 for anxiety or low mood can run in parallel with private work, or you can come to me afterwards if you want to go further. Starting here takes a free 15-minute call. Should we both agree to continue, you pick a weekly video hour from my open times, one that fits around shifts at Marlborough Lines or school runs in Picket Twenty.
Is psychotherapy by video from Andover as deep as sitting in a room together?
It can be. Depth comes from a steady hour, the same person and a private space, and video keeps all three in place from Andover even when shifts change or a posting moves you. Saying difficult things from your own chair can even feel easier. Where sharing a room feels important, an extended Hove session, around 117 minutes away by car, can be booked now and then.
How long would psychotherapy go on if I start from Andover?
Your Andover sessions have no set number at the outset. Work that starts in Andover may last many months, with regular check-ins where we ask together whether it still helps and where you want it to go. Ending is always your decision, and we can plan it together. If a set course suits you better, Andover Mind's counselling offers 20 sessions at low cost, and we can think through which fits you.
I grew up in a service family and came to Andover with a posting. Can psychotherapy look at that?
Yes. Childhoods spent moving between postings, and adult lives arranged around Army Headquarters, can shape how you trust, get close and say goodbye. We can explore that history at your pace, without assuming it was all hard or all fine. You need not be serving now, and partners and grown-up children of service personnel are just as welcome to bring it.
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.
Begin a longer conversation from the Test Valley
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.