Greenwich · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Couples therapy and relationship counselling for Greenwich
This page is for couples in Greenwich who keep missing each other, or keep having the same argument in different words. It's also for one of you alone, if the other isn't ready. Because my only room is in Hove, we'd meet by secure video, side by side on one screen at home or logged in from two different places. A 90-minute session gives each of you room to finish a thought.
The practical facts for Greenwich
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Greenwich by car
- About 87 minutes with clear roads (67.7 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Greenwich, change at London Bridge for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free NHS talking therapy (for one of you)
- Greenwich Time to Talk, 020 3260 1100
- 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 people, two timetables, one Greenwich flat
A Greenwich household can easily end up running on two separate timetables.
One of you might be on the DLR towards Bank or Canary Wharf while the other is still asleep, and back long after the light has gone. The other might work around the visitors who come for the Cutty Sark, Greenwich Market and the Old Royal Naval College, where a weekend off can be rare, or finish late after an event night at The O2 on the Peninsula. The days one of you has free are the ones the other spends at a desk. Messages stand in for conversation, and the talking you do manage is about rotas, rent and whose turn it is. Nothing dramatic has to happen for two people to drift like this. The distance can build out of sheer timing, until a small remark at the wrong moment sets off a row that has been waiting for weeks.
What happens once the two of you are in the session
The first session gives each of you equal time to say why you've come, what you'd want to change and what makes you uneasy about being here. I won't take sides or deliver a verdict. What I listen for is the sequence that keeps repeating: one of you raises something in the only free half hour, the other is exhausted and hears an accusation, and both of you fall back into lines you could recite. Once the sequence has a name, we can slow it down while it's actually happening in the session, and find out what each of you was really asking for. For couples whose hours never meet, part of the work is practical too. We might look at how you greet each other after a late shift, how to raise something hard by message without it landing as an attack, and whether one evening a week can stay free of logistics. If illness or a parent's needs have turned one of you into a carer, that gets its own time, because tiredness and resentment rarely get said out loud. After an affair or money kept hidden, rebuilding trust is slower, and I'll keep the pace bearable for both of you. Couples of every gender and arrangement are welcome, married or not.
Pressures a Greenwich couple might bring
Shifts that never overlap
One of you working evenings and weekends around the market, the museums or event nights at The O2, the other on weekday office hours, and almost no time left that belongs to both.
Joining from two places
When one of you is still near Bank or Canary Wharf at session time, each of you can log in from a separate private room, so the hour happens instead of being cancelled again.
When a partner becomes the carer
Illness or disability can make one partner the other's carer without anyone choosing it. Greenwich Carers Centre supports the person doing the caring, and joint sessions make room for you both.
Drinking at the centre of the rows
When the arguments keep starting from one partner's drinking or drug use, Via Greenwich supports family, friends and carers, and that help can run beside our sessions.
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 Greenwich
Free help in the borough is built for individuals rather than couples, so it's most useful when one of you wants a space of your own. South East London Mind offers free counselling from Ormiston Road in Westcombe Park. Quaggy Community Counselling Service, based at Orchard Hill, is a low-cost option for adults living in Greenwich or Lewisham. Either can run alongside couples sessions with me.
- Free NHS talking therapy (for one of you)Greenwich Time to Talk020 3260 1100Free 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 itVia Greenwich0300 303 4552Free and confidential.
- Local organisationGreenwich Carers Centre
- Local organisationSouth East London Mind Greenwich - Monday Social Group (peer support)
- Local organisationWoman's TrustFree counselling charity for women affected by domestic.
- Local organisationCruse Bereavement Support - GreenwichBereavement support.
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 WhatsApp Service is another option: WhatsApp 0303 330 1511.
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 Greenwich ask before starting
Does any free service in Greenwich see couples together?
Not one I can name in the borough. The free routes here see people individually. Should either of you be struggling with anxiety or low mood on your own account, Greenwich Time to Talk, the NHS service run by Oxleas, accepts self-referrals on 020 3260 1100. Where a partner's drinking is the strain, Via Greenwich supports the family as well as the person drinking. Couples work with me is private and happens by video.
One of us in Greenwich works late or at weekends. Can couples sessions still fit, and how soon could we start?
Usually, if we can find one regular time you can both protect. Either of you can book the free call, and I'll say honestly which slots I have open and how soon. On weeks when your hours clash, one of you can join from a different private room. If the rota keeps changing, we review the arrangement together instead of letting sessions quietly lapse.
Is it worth the two of us coming down to Hove from Greenwich?
Now and then it can be. At about 87 minutes by car, weekly visits aren't practical, but a 120-minute session in the room every so often gives you neutral ground that neither of you owns, and more time to stay with something difficult. You might treat the trip as time together, or you might prefer never to leave home. Both are fine.
My partner won't come. Can I have relationship counselling on my own in Greenwich?
Yes. On your own, the sessions focus on the part of the pattern you carry: what you do when the old argument starts, what you need and haven't said, and what you're no longer willing to carry. When one person responds differently, the pattern between you has to shift a little. If your partner decides to join later, we'd talk first about making that fair to them.
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.
One call to see whether this could help you both
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.