Reading · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Psychotherapy for Reading
Psychotherapy suits you if the same difficulties keep coming back, however many times you think you've dealt with them. It is slower, deeper work, often over months. From Reading, where the Hove room is 100 minutes' drive away, we would meet weekly on secure video, with an occasional longer session in person if you'd find that useful.
The practical facts for Reading
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Reading by car
- About 100 minutes with clear roads (81.3 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- NHS Berkshire Talking Therapies, 0300 365 2000 (press option 2)
- 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.
Settling in a town that draws people in
Reading draws people from elsewhere. The University of Reading says more than 27,000 students from 147 countries study with it across its campuses, and its main Whiteknights campus is here. The station, a western terminus of the Elizabeth line and one of the busiest interchanges outside London, carries people in and out every day, and the IT and insurance offices at Green Park and Thames Valley Park recruit widely. The council describes the population as very diverse. That variety is part of what makes Reading what it is. It can also mean living between two places: the family and culture you came from, and the life you've built where the Kennet meets the Thames. Old patterns travel with us wherever we settle, and a move, a promotion or a new relationship in a new town can be exactly what brings them back to the surface.
What longer work looks like at a distance
Shorter counselling usually centres on one problem. Psychotherapy goes after the patterns underneath: why you keep choosing partners who leave, why success at work never feels like enough, why anger or shame arrives out of all proportion to the moment. We take time to understand where those patterns began, often in childhood or in a family where feelings had to be managed carefully, and how they still play out in your life now. The pace is yours. Some weeks we'll stay close to something that happened at work that week, other weeks we'll follow a memory a long way back. Work like this tends to run for months rather than weeks, and we review it together regularly so you always know why we're continuing. On credentials: I hold BACP registration, I'm a student member of UKCP rather than a registered one, and I've practised for over 25 years, with recovery of my own in the background. Among the integrative methods I use, Internal Family Systems offers a way to meet the competing parts of you, the striving one and the frightened one alike.
Patterns a Reading life can stir up
Between two cultures
In a town as diverse as Reading, carrying one family's expectations while building a different life of your own can stir up loyalty, guilt and old conflicts.
Came to study, stayed on
If you came to the University of Reading and never left, patterns from home may resurface once the structure of student life falls away.
Careers that reward over-effort
Roles in the information technology and insurance firms around Green Park can reward the drive to over-perform, while quietly feeding a perfectionism that began long before.
Short-term help first, then deeper
NHS Berkshire Talking Therapies offers shorter, structured help for anxiety and low mood, and longer psychotherapy can follow it or run alongside, depending on what you need.
Public health figures for the area
These are local authority figures from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. The figures describe a whole population over a period, not any one person.
Free and low-cost support for Reading
Psychotherapy can sit beside the free help in Reading. NHS Berkshire Talking Therapies provides shorter structured support for anxiety and low mood, on 0300 365 2000. No5 Young People offers low-cost weekly counselling for adults, and Hope Counselling Service sees adults at affordable rates. Mind in Berkshire runs services across Berkshire West that can connect you with local groups and activities between sessions.
- Free NHS talking therapyNHS Berkshire Talking Therapies0300 365 2000 (press option 2)Free 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 itDrug & Alcohol Service Reading (Change Grow Live)0118 955 7333Free and confidential.
- Local organisationReading Samaritans
- Local organisationReading Men's Mental Wellbeing Service (Together for Mental Wellbeing)Community mental wellbeing service for men in Reading.
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.
Locally, the Berkshire Healthcare Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team is on 0800 129 9999.
What people in Reading ask before starting
How long does psychotherapy usually take if I start from Reading?
There's no fixed length. Deeper work on long-standing patterns often runs for several months and sometimes longer, and we review it together regularly so it never drifts. Because sessions from Reading are by video, travel won't decide when we stop; the work will. You're free to pause or end whenever you choose.
Should I try NHS Berkshire Talking Therapies before private psychotherapy in Reading?
That comes down to what you're hoping for. NHS Berkshire Talking Therapies costs nothing and takes calls on 0300 365 2000, option 2, about anxiety or low mood; its help is usually shorter and more structured. If difficulties keep returning, or you want to understand where they began, longer psychotherapy may suit you better. You can also use one after the other.
Is deep psychotherapy possible over video from Reading?
Video asks something slightly different of us, but the essentials stay the same: a regular time, a private space and a steady relationship. Being at home can even make it easier to talk about home. If you'd find it grounding, we can meet in Hove occasionally, roughly 100 minutes' drive from Reading, and carry on by video in between.
What if old memories come up in sessions and I feel unsafe at home in Reading?
We'd go at a pace you can manage and agree ways to steady yourself between sessions. If you ever feel unsafe, Berkshire Healthcare's Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team takes calls at any hour on 0800 129 9999, and Berkshire West Breathing Space offers a calm space for adults in distress. You'll find both of those Berkshire contacts repeated in the urgent help box on this page.
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.
Start with a short conversation about the work
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.