Brentwood · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Couples therapy and relationship counselling for Brentwood
When conversations in your Brentwood home keep ending in the same argument, or have stopped happening at all, couples counselling gives you both a regular hour to look at what's going on. The Hove room is 89 minutes' drive from Brentwood, so our weekly hour normally happens on secure video, whether you sit side by side or log on from two places. Starting on your own, while your partner decides, is fine too.
The practical facts for Brentwood
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Brentwood by car
- About 89 minutes with clear roads (72.9 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Brentwood, change at Farringdon: Elizabeth line from Brentwood to Farringdon for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free NHS talking therapy (for one of you)
- Mid Essex Talking Therapies
- 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.
Shenfield trains, Brentwood trains and an older parent to visit
Couples in Brentwood often live by train times.
One of you might take the Elizabeth line from Brentwood station towards Farringdon and Paddington, while the other catches a Greater Anglia service from Shenfield to Liverpool Street, or works locally in the town centre. The overlap can shrink to a tired half hour before bed. Then there are parents. Between the last two censuses the number of people aged 65 and over in the borough grew by 10.3%, so a couple in Warley or Ingrave may well be supporting an older mother or father across town while raising children of their own. Decisions about who drives to the appointment, who takes the call, and whose parent gets the weekend can quietly become the main thing you argue about. A walk round Thorndon Country Park on Sunday might be the only time you talk properly all week, and even then it can drift back to logistics.
What changes when you both sit down with someone
Neither partner is put on trial here: each of you has the same share of the hour, and together we trace the cycle that keeps catching you both. For one Brentwood couple that might be a partner who comes home from the City and withdraws while the other pushes to talk. For another it might be caring for an ageing parent, which can leave one person exhausted and the other feeling shut out. Money, children, sex and trust after an affair all belong in the room too. We look at what each of you needs and has stopped asking for, and practise saying hard things in a way the other can hear. Sometimes drinking or gambling is at the centre of the strain, and then the partner affected can also get support of their own through Blossome while we carry on with the relationship. Should just one of you feel ready, starting alone lets you explore what you bring to the cycle. Joint sessions rely on both partners feeling safe, and anyone frightened of their partner should turn to this page's safety section before anything else.
Where the strain shows for couples in the borough
Different lines, different hours
One partner on the Elizabeth line, the other on Greater Anglia from Shenfield or working in town, leaving little shared time except weekends.
Looking after older parents
With over-65s in the borough up 10.3% in ten years, caring for a parent can stretch a couple thin. Carers First supports adult carers across Essex.
When a drink or bet is central
If one partner's drinking or gambling dominates home life, Blossome offers peer support to the person affected, alongside the work we do together.
Separate screens, one session
Video lets each of you join from a private space, at home in Brentwood or away for work, so sessions keep going when diaries clash.
If you are afraid of your partner
Couples counselling is not safe or suitable where one partner is afraid of the other. You can book the free call on your own. What you tell me on your own is not passed to your partner without your agreement, except where someone's safety is at serious risk; I explain those limits on the free call. In your message, tell me the safest way and time to contact you. Video sessions from a shared home are not private if you could be overheard or your devices are checked. If you are in immediate danger, call 999.
If there is violence, threats or controlling behaviour, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline is free, day or night, on 0808 2000 247. The Men's Advice Line is on 0808 801 0327. If you are worried about your own behaviour towards a partner, the Respect Phoneline is on 0808 802 4040 (Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm).
Free and low-cost support for Brentwood
Free services in and around Brentwood can support each of you as individuals while couples sessions continue. Carers First helps adult carers across Essex, and Blossome supports anyone affected by a partner's addiction. Either of you can contact Mid Essex Talking Therapies directly about anxiety or low mood, and Thurrock and Brentwood Mind runs a drop-in hub in Great Warley on weekdays.
- Free NHS talking therapy (for one of you)Mid Essex Talking TherapiesFree 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 itOpen Road Adult Drug and Alcohol Service (Essex)Chelmsford centre 01245 284772; Basildon centre 01268 531435Free and confidential.
- Local organisationOpen Road family support
- Local organisationSaint Francis HospiceIndependent hospice charity at The Hall.
- Local organisationBrentwood CVS, Merrymeade House Community and Wellbeing HubBrentwood's local voluntary-sector support charity.
Private counselling with me can run alongside any of these; you do not have to choose one or the other.
If you need urgent help now
If you need help right now, please don't wait for a session.
If you, or someone you live with, drink heavily every day, or take drugs such as benzodiazepines or GHB daily, do not stop suddenly without medical advice. Withdrawal can cause seizures and can be dangerous. Your GP or the local drug and alcohol service can arrange medically assisted withdrawal. Call 999 or go to A&E if someone in withdrawal is shaking visibly, unusually restless or agitated, confused, seeing or hearing things that are not there, or has a fit. For milder symptoms, such as a slight tremor or sweating, contact your GP or NHS 111 the same day (NHS guidance). Counselling works alongside medical support, not instead of it.
What people in Brentwood ask before starting
Is it possible for us both to meet you face to face instead of logging on from Brentwood?
Meeting in person means travelling to Intergen House in Hove, about 89 minutes by car from Brentwood or a train with two changes. For weekly couples work that's a big ask, so most sessions happen by secure video. If you'd both value being in the same room as me, an occasional 120-minute session in Hove can be planned.
Can we have relationship counselling on video if one of us commutes into London?
Yes. If one partner is still in the City or on a late Elizabeth line train, each of you can log on from a private space with headphones, and the session runs as usual. We pick a regular time you can both protect, and adjust it if work or caring for a parent changes your week.
Are there free services in Brentwood that could support us while we have couples counselling?
The free local services support each of you individually rather than as a couple. Either partner can refer themselves to Mid Essex Talking Therapies if worry or a heavy mood is wearing them down, Carers First supports adult carers, and Blossome helps someone affected by a partner's addiction. The Essex Community Tree Network also lists Brentwood organisations by type of need.
My partner won't come to counselling. Can I go alone from Brentwood?
You can. Alone, we look at your share of the dynamic: what you do as tempers rise, which things have gone unspoken, and what you hope for from the two of you. When one person changes, the dynamic at home often shifts, and your partner may join later. Any fear of your partner means the safety section here comes first.
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.
Talk it through first, as a Brentwood couple
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.