Bromley · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Psychotherapy for Bromley
Psychotherapy with me is for Bromley adults who already know a great deal about their own patterns, and still find themselves repeating them: the same retreat when someone gets close, the same overwork, the same verdict on themselves. We'd meet weekly by secure video, with no fixed end date, for as long as the work stays useful. My one room is in Hove.
The practical facts for Bromley
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Bromley by car
- About 75 minutes with clear roads (50.3 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Bromley South, change at London Victoria for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- NHS Bromley Talking Therapies, 0300 003 3000
- 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 you can name the pattern and it still runs
Bromley was chartered as a market town in 1158, when it was still part of Kent, and Bromley Palace was once home to the Bishops of Rochester.
People carry an early history as well, and it can go on shaping the present without asking. You may already know your own pattern well. Perhaps you can name it exactly, whether it's people-pleasing or keeping everyone at arm's length, and trace it back further than anyone at work would guess. Knowing it hasn't stopped it. Psychotherapy is often most useful in that gap between knowing and changing, because the reactions that run our lives were mostly learned before we had words to argue with them. In a Bromley week it might show up as agreeing to a deadline you can't meet, going quiet when someone at home asks what's wrong, or reading a short email from your manager as a verdict on you.
Finding where a reaction first made sense
Counselling often works on the difficulty in front of you. Psychotherapy starts there too, then keeps going, because what we're after is the older logic underneath. Over months we look at when a reaction first made sense: a household where anger was dangerous, or a parent who needed looking after. Those lessons were sensible once. The trouble is that they carry on firing long after the situation that taught them has gone. Some of the most useful material shows up between us, such as the urge to arrive with something interesting to say, or to cancel the week after a session came close to something. We notice those moments without judgement, because they let us see the pattern as it happens. I draw on Internal Family Systems in this kind of work, which treats the inner critic or the people-pleaser as a part of you that has its own reasons for what it does. There is no set number of sessions, and every couple of months we review how it's going. About my training, plainly: I'm a BACP-registered counsellor and a student member of UKCP, which means my psychotherapy training is still under way.
Long-running patterns a Bromley life can hold
Insight that hasn't helped
You can explain your pattern in detail, perhaps from a pile of books borrowed from Bromley Central Library, yet it still decides what you do. Longer work goes beneath the explanation.
After a short NHS course
You've had a shorter course with NHS Bromley Talking Therapies and now want to understand where the difficulty began. Open-ended work can pick up from there.
The same clash, a new employer
Commuting up to Victoria or Blackfriars, moving jobs, and meeting the same kind of difficult boss or the same burnout each time. We look for what travels with you.
Looking after a parent again
Caring for an ageing parent can bring back a role you held as a child. Bromley Well supports unpaid adult carers, and our sessions can look at the older pattern the caring has stirred up.
Free and low-cost support for Bromley
Private open-ended work isn't the only way into longer therapy in the borough. Accessible Counselling and Therapy (ACT) is a local charity offering lower-cost counselling and psychotherapy to adults. South East London Mind runs mental health support across Bromley, and the Bromley Mental Health Hub is a single way into NHS and Mind mental health support for residents aged 18 to 64. Any of these can come before, or alongside, sessions with me.
- Free NHS talking therapyNHS Bromley Talking Therapies0300 003 3000Free 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 itChange Grow Live (CGL) Bromley Drug and Alcohol Service020 8289 1999Free and confidential.
- Local organisationBromley and Orpington SamaritansLocal Samaritans branch.
- Local organisationCruse Bereavement Support, Bexley and Bromley branchBereavement support.
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.
The South London NHS Mental Health Crisis WhatsApp Service () is another option: WhatsApp 0303 330 1511.
What people in Bromley ask before starting
How long would psychotherapy last if I start from Bromley?
There's no fixed length. It might be a few months spent on one pattern, or a year or more. We agree a regular weekly time after the free 15-minute call, review together every couple of months, and you can pause or stop whenever you choose. If my diary is full when you call, I'll say so plainly so you aren't left waiting.
Could ACT in Bromley offer psychotherapy if private sessions aren't realistic for me?
It can be. Accessible Counselling and Therapy (ACT) is a local charity offering counselling and psychotherapy to adults 18 and over at lower cost, so it's worth contacting if open-ended private sessions aren't realistic. Ask them how long their work usually runs and whether there's a wait. Either choice is reasonable, and so is trying one and then the other.
Can deep psychotherapy really happen by video from Bromley?
Yes. Depth comes from trust and regularity, and both build over a screen. With Hove about 75 minutes away by car, video is what makes a steady weekly rhythm possible from Bromley. You'll need a room where you can't be overheard, headphones and a decent connection. Coming to Hove occasionally for a longer session is an option, never a requirement.
Will going back over the past leave me unsettled during a busy Bromley week?
It can stir things up for a day or two, especially early on, so we plan around it. It helps to pick a session time with some space after it, so you aren't heading straight for the train to work. We go only as far as feels manageable, and we check together how you've coped in the days between sessions.
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.
Ask about open-ended work, with nothing signed up to
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.