Hammersmith · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Psychotherapy for Hammersmith
Psychotherapy is for the pattern that keeps coming back however often you think you have dealt with it. My only room is in Hove, about 94 minutes by car from W6, so longer work from Hammersmith normally runs weekly over secure video, with an occasional extended session in Hove when you want one. BACP holds my registration, and UKCP lists me as a student member while I train.
The practical facts for Hammersmith
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Hammersmith by car
- About 94 minutes with clear roads (61.3 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- Hammersmith and Fulham Talking Therapies, 0300 123 1156
- 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.
Where the laptop, the sofa and the past share a flat
Hammersmith Broadway ward has a median age of 31, 30% of its households are single adults under 66, and in 2021 almost half of its residents worked mainly from home.
Put those together and a great deal of life can happen inside one flat off King Street or near Ravenscourt Park: the job, the meals, the evening, and the thoughts that arrive once the laptop is closed. The ward also holds large employers such as L'Oreal, Walt Disney and Hammersmith and Fulham Council. Outside, the town centre rarely stops moving, with the A4 flyover overhead and crowds heading for the Eventim Apollo or the Lyric. Yet it is quite possible to be surrounded by all that and still repeat the same lonely evening, the same kind of relationship or the same argument with yourself, year after year. None of these figures explains any one person. They sketch the setting in which old patterns either get noticed or quietly lived around.
What longer work looks like from W6
Shorter counselling usually stays close to what is happening now. Psychotherapy reaches further back and stays longer, typically meeting weekly over months, because the aim is to understand why the same knot keeps forming: choosing partners who leave, working until you are empty, going silent when you are angry, or feeling like a fraud in a role everyone else thinks you do well. We take time to notice where those reactions first made sense, often in a family or a childhood that asked you to manage too much, and what they are still trying to protect. Among the integrative methods I draw on, Internal Family Systems lets us listen to the parts of you that disagree, say the one pushing for another late night at a King Street desk and the one that is quietly worn out. The pace is yours. Some weeks will be about something that happened on Tuesday, and that is fine, because the old pattern tends to show itself inside the present. There is no fixed end date; we review together how the work is going and when it feels complete. Behind me are more than 25 years of practice, lived experience of recovery, and student membership of UKCP.
Where a Hammersmith life meets old patterns
When home is also the office
With 49% of town-centre residents working mainly from home in 2021, the same four walls can hold the job, the worry and the old habits, with little to break them up.
Big employers, high expectations
Large employers such as L'Oreal and Walt Disney sit in the town-centre ward. Perfectionism or a fear of being found out can follow a demanding role into every evening.
Lower-cost routes close to home
The West London Centre for Counselling runs a low-cost service with closely supervised trainees, and HELP Counselling has sliding-scale rooms in Brackenbury Village, if open-ended private work is out of reach.
A men's group on Mondays
Andy's Man Club Hammersmith meets free on Monday evenings at 30 Blacks Road, near the tube, for men who want peer support before or alongside deeper one-to-one work.
Free and low-cost support for Hammersmith
Longer private work can run beside free and low-cost help in the borough. West London NHS Trust's borough service, Hammersmith and Fulham Talking Therapies, lets you self-refer on 0300 123 1156 when anxiety or low mood is the worry. The West London Centre for Counselling also provides NHS counselling of up to 12 sessions for borough residents, referred through that service, and the Barons Court Project runs a drop-in day centre for people with mental health problems.
- Free NHS talking therapyHammersmith and Fulham Talking Therapies0300 123 1156Free 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 itTurning Point Hammersmith & Fulham020 8740 6815Free and confidential.
- Local organisationWest London MindMental health charity.
- Local organisationEaling, Hammersmith & Hounslow Samaritans
- Local organisationPembridge Hospice bereavement counselling service
- Local organisationCruse Bereavement Support, Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham branchBereavement support.
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.
Locally, the West London NHS Trust 24-hour mental health crisis line is on 0800 328 4444.
What people in Hammersmith ask before starting
Should I choose psychotherapy or counselling in Hammersmith?
Counselling tends to suit a particular problem or a recent change, and it can be shorter. Psychotherapy suits patterns that have repeated for years, and it usually runs weekly for longer. From Hammersmith, either would happen with me over video. The free consultation is a good place to work out which fits, and if a different route would suit you better, I will tell you.
Can long-term psychotherapy work over video from W6?
For a long piece of work, steadiness matters more than the setting, and video makes a regular weekly hour far easier to keep. From W6 it saves a trip of around 94 minutes each way, which would be hard to sustain for months. Join from a private room, even the one you work in, with headphones, and an occasional extended session in Hove can be arranged.
Where can I find free therapy in Hammersmith and Fulham?
Hammersmith and Fulham Talking Therapies is the borough's free NHS service, and you can self-refer on 0300 123 1156. Through it, the West London Centre for Counselling provides NHS counselling of up to 12 sessions for residents. HELP Counselling in Brackenbury Village sets fees on a sliding scale. If you want something longer and open-ended, private psychotherapy with me can follow on or run alongside.
How soon could psychotherapy start if I live near Hammersmith Broadway?
After the free first conversation, which lasts 15 minutes on the phone or a video call, I offer the weekly times that are genuinely open, and you choose one, with no waiting list. For long-term work it is worth picking a slot you can protect for months, perhaps an early morning or a lunchtime if you work from home in the ward.
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.
Starting a longer piece of work from W6
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.