Psychotherapy · Peacehaven

Psychotherapy in Peacehaven

Psychotherapy for Peacehaven and the surrounding area, in person or online. Peacehaven sits on the clifftops where the Greenwich Meridian meets the sea, between Brighton and Newhaven. From my room in nearby Hove I offer a calm, confidential space to do this work.

In person in HoveOnline tooFree 15-min consultation
BACP registered member25+ years of experienceLived experience
Bradley Riddell, BACP-registered counsellor near Peacehaven at his Hove room, introducing his approach to psychotherapy
ConfidentialA safe, private space
Person-centredThe therapy fits you

In and around Peacehaven

Psychotherapy for Peacehaven, at a glance

Known for
The Meridian Monument, the clifftop walk and Centenary Park
Area
Coast: Brighton to Newhaven, East/West Sussex
Getting to the Hove room
From Peacehaven the coast road runs west through Saltdean and Brighton to the Hove office in around twenty to twenty-five minutes.
Local NHS / support route
Health in Mind, the East Sussex NHS Talking Therapies service
Format
In person at my private Hove room, or by secure video UK-wide.

Life in Peacehaven

What is going on for people in Peacehaven?

A fair number of people moved out to this stretch of clifftop for a fresh start: cheaper than the city, sea air, room to breathe near the Meridian Monument and the open water. What surprises them is how much came with them. The same difficulty in trusting anyone, the same collapse when someone is disappointed in them, the same sense of being on the outside of every group. A new address does not touch that, because it was never about the address. Peacehaven can be a good life and still be the place where you notice, finally, that the pattern is yours and it has been running a very long time.

the Meridian Monumentthe clifftop walkCentenary ParkTelscombe Cliffs

Areas covered

Neighbourhoods in and around Peacehaven

Telscombe CliffsSouth Coast RoadRoderick AvenueDorothy AvenueSutton AvenueSteyning AvenueCentenary Park area

Wherever you are in Peacehaven, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.

The local picture

The local picture in Peacehaven

Official figures for Peacehaven, for context rather than as a description of you.

Reviewed June 2026.

What would we do together in psychotherapy?

Psychotherapy here goes a little deeper and usually a little longer than counselling, into the patterns, beliefs and early relationships that shape how you feel now, so change is understood at the root and holds.

The method travels; only the geography changes. everything on psychotherapy explains it properly, how I work, sessions and fees answers the practical questions, and qualifications, registration and ethics shows how the practice is held to account.

What does a session actually involve?

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.

Long-term work needs a slot you can rely on, so most people take the same hour each week in Hove and keep it through the year. Twenty-five minutes along the coast becomes ordinary rather than an event, and the drive back gives the session somewhere to land. Secure video covers the weeks when weather, illness or work makes the journey impossible, which matters more in a long piece of work than in a short one.

Book a free 15-minute call

What I help with

Which difficulties does psychotherapy address?

Recurring patterns

When the same difficulty keeps returning in different forms.

Attachment and relationships

How early bonds still shape the way you connect now.

Identity and self-worth

Working with a harsh inner voice and a shaky sense of self.

The past in the present

When something unresolved keeps replaying beneath the surface.

Beyond symptom relief

Understanding the root, not just quieting the symptom.

Lasting change

Insight that holds, so change does not slip back.

Psychotherapy in Peacehaven

Why people in Peacehaven come for psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is the deeper and slower end of this work. It is for people who have already tried something shorter, or who can see plainly that the same thing keeps coming round every few years wearing different clothes. Rather than managing the current difficulty, it follows it back: to early relationships, to what you learned about your own worth before you were old enough to argue with it, to the attachments that taught you whether other people can be relied on. That takes time. Sessions can end without resolution and the important material often surfaces months in. What changes is not that you get better at coping, but that the old arrangement loosens its hold. Emergency admissions for self-harm here reached 192.7 per 100,000 in 2023/24, well above the England average of 117. Health in Mind offers briefer NHS courses of therapy alongside, and STAR, the East Sussex drug and alcohol recovery service, is there if substance use is part of the picture.

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 call

Finding support in Peacehaven

My counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Peacehaven, you can refer yourself directly to Health in Mind, the East Sussex NHS Talking Therapies service for free NHS talking therapy, with no GP referral needed.

Seeing me privately usually means you can start sooner and stay with the same counsellor throughout, working at greater depth and pace; the two can run side by side, and I am glad to work alongside any NHS or GP support you already have.

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.

Peacehaven questions

Psychotherapy in Peacehaven: common questions

Where do Peacehaven sessions take place, and can I meet online instead?

In a private room at Intergen House on Western Road in central Hove. From Peacehaven the coast road runs west through Saltdean and Brighton to the Hove office in around twenty to twenty-five minutes. Every service is also available by secure video across the UK, so you can meet from any private space in Peacehaven or blend the two.

I moved here for a fresh start and nothing feels different. What does that mean?

Usually that the difficulty travelled with you, because it lives in how you relate to yourself and other people rather than in a postcode. That is not a failure of the move. It is a fairly reliable sign that the thing worth working on is older and deeper than the last few years.

How long would I be coming for?

Longer than short-term counselling. Many people work for a year or two, some for longer, and it is reviewed as you go rather than fixed at the start. There is no set endpoint imposed on you. You would decide, in conversation, when the work has done what it needed to.

Is the fee different for open-ended work?

No. It stays at £80 / 60 min whatever the length of the course, with £100 / 90 min and £120 / 120 min available when a longer session is useful. Payment is per session rather than in advance, and a free 15-minute consultation comes first.

Would Health in Mind be able to do this kind of work instead?

It is not really built for it. NHS Talking Therapies runs shorter structured courses aimed at anxiety and depression, which it does well. Open-ended work on attachment, identity and long-standing patterns falls outside that remit, which is where private psychotherapy has its place.

Can I keep this going through a winter of bad weather on the coast road?

Yes, because the session moves online rather than being cancelled when the road west is grim. Continuity is one of the things that makes deep work possible, so a fixed weekly hour is protected wherever you happen to attend it from.

Can I do longer-term psychotherapy mainly online from Peacehaven?

Yes. With the coast road taking twenty to twenty-five minutes, many Peacehaven clients do most of their deeper work by secure video, visiting the Hove room occasionally. Online sessions are equally private and effective, and a steady weekly rhythm is easier to sustain that way.

How do I start regular psychotherapy, and how do I get to Hove from Peacehaven?

We begin with a free fifteen-minute call to see if deeper, ongoing work suits you, then set a weekly time. From Peacehaven the coast road west takes twenty to twenty-five minutes by car, or the 12 and 14 buses with a change, though many keep continuity more easily online.

What does ongoing psychotherapy cost, and would the NHS fund it in Peacehaven?

Each session is £80 for sixty minutes, with £100 and £120 options for longer work, after a free consultation. The NHS rarely funds open-ended depth work, favouring short courses, so Peacehaven clients seeking sustained psychotherapy with a consistent therapist usually choose private sessions.

For weekly psychotherapy, can I mix in person and online from Peacehaven, and are evenings possible?

Yes. Given the clifftop distance, many Peacehaven clients keep a fixed weekly slot mostly by secure video, coming into the Hove room when convenient, which keeps deeper work steady without a long trip each week. Evening appointments help fit that rhythm around work and family.

Psychotherapy in Peacehaven, 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: Saltdean, Newhaven, Rottingdean. See all areas I cover.

Also available in Peacehaven: counselling and therapy, depression counselling and trauma counselling.

You may also find it useful to read about dislocation and the modern world.

Prefer to meet remotely? The same psychotherapy is available online by secure video across the UK, or see online counselling by region.