Camberwell · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Couples therapy and relationship counselling for Camberwell
When the two of you share a flat off Coldharbour Lane or a house near Camberwell Grove but rarely share an unhurried evening, couples counselling sets aside one protected hour for what passes between you. With the Hove room 88 minutes' drive from SE5, our sessions run on a secure link, whether you share a sofa near Camberwell Green or join from two rooms.
The practical facts for Camberwell
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Camberwell by car
- About 88 minutes with clear roads (51.4 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free NHS talking therapy (for one of you)
- Talking Therapies Southwark, 020 3228 2194
- 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.
Two rotas, one small flat, and very little quiet
On Denmark Hill, King's College Hospital and the Maudsley run around the clock, and a partner working nights up there can spend whole weeks asleep while the other is out at work.
If both of you work shifts, the household handover happens on the stairs or by text. Down the hill, Camberwell College of Arts and the South London Gallery draw people whose money arrives in bursts, and one partner's degree show or unpaid project can stretch a shared budget thin. Space is tight as well. More than half the homes in Camberwell Green ward are socially rented, and in a compact flat a difficult conversation can wake a child or travel through a party wall. Add a spell of unemployment for one of you, and the questions of who pays for what and who is trying hard enough can turn into the argument hiding underneath every other one.
What the shared hour is for
Each of you gets the same room to say what has brought you here, and I take neither side. We trace the circuit you keep repeating as a couple: maybe a Denmark Hill shift runs late and the evening you planned falls apart, or one of you needs it resolved tonight while the other is desperate for sleep. If you both work in care, at King's or the Maudsley, you may be well practised at listening to strangers and too spent to listen to each other, and we can notice that without blame. When one of you looks after the other, or after a parent, we make space for what the caring has done to the couple, not only to the person being cared for. Should one partner's drinking be what the rows keep circling, the worried partner can find company at the Al-Anon Camberwell Saturday group while our hour stays with the relationship. Either of you can also begin alone, looking at your own side of the loop. Working as a pair only makes sense when neither of you is afraid behind your own front door, so if you are frightened of your partner, turn first to this page's safety section. Solution-focused questions about what a slightly better week would look like often give us a practical first foothold.
Strains on couples around Camberwell Green
Nights on Denmark Hill
With one of you on a King's College Hospital or Maudsley rota, whole weeks can go by with hardly an hour awake together, and minor hurts stack up unspoken.
Art school, uneven income
A partner studying or making work through Camberwell College of Arts may bring irregular money and long solitary hours, which can unsettle plans you once made side by side.
Nowhere private to talk
In a small socially rented flat off Coldharbour Lane, a hard conversation can carry through the walls. Joining the video call from separate rooms can give each of you more privacy.
When caring takes over
Caring for a parent, or for each other, can crowd out the partnership. Southwark Carers on Camberwell Road gives carers short breaks and counselling, and our hour keeps the relationship in view.
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 Camberwell
Free help in Southwark can sit beside couples sessions. Southwark Carers, whose office is on Camberwell Road, supports carers with advice, short breaks and counselling of its own, and Mobilise runs an online hub for adult unpaid carers. If either of you is weighed down by low mood or anxiety, Talking Therapies Southwark accepts self-referrals. Al-Anon Camberwell Saturday welcomes anyone affected by a partner's drinking.
- Free NHS talking therapy (for one of you)Talking Therapies Southwark020 3228 2194Free 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 itCGL Southwark020 3404 7699Run by Change Grow Live (CGL). Free and confidential.
- Local organisationSouthwark Service User Network (SUN) - Camberwell Wednesday group
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 Text Service (SLaM) is another option: WhatsApp 0303 330 1511 or text 80991.
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 Camberwell ask before starting
What free support is there in Southwark while we see a couples counsellor?
Several services can run alongside our sessions. Talking Therapies Southwark takes self-referrals from either of you for low mood or anxiety, on 020 3228 2194. The Southwark Wellbeing Hub, run by South East London Mind, is open to either of you, and Southwark Carers steps in when one partner has become a carer. None of these needs anything from me, and using them doesn't change the couples work.
One of us works nights at King's. How can couples sessions fit around a hospital rota?
We choose a regular slot inside whatever overlap your two weeks actually have, and if the rota changes month by month we can look at moving it. Because sessions are by video, the partner coming off a shift needs to travel nowhere, and the other can join from home. Bring both diaries to the first short call and we can compare them there.
My partner isn't ready to come. Could I begin couples work by myself from Camberwell?
Yes. Coming solo, you can examine what you bring to the loop, what you hope the relationship becomes, and how to raise a sore subject over the kitchen table without the familiar argument kicking off. If your partner joins later, we talk openly about the sessions you have already had, so nobody feels ambushed. Everything runs by video from your home in SE5 or anywhere private.
Can we have couples counselling by video if we are in two different places around Camberwell?
Yes. Each of you joins the same secure call from your own device, which suits a couple where one is at a studio at the College of Arts or on shift at the Maudsley and the other is at home. Separate rooms can make it easier to speak frankly in a small flat. The Hove room, 88 minutes' drive away, is there for an occasional longer session together.
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.
Find one hour the two of you can both keep
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.