Communication and conflict
Breaking the cycle of the same argument.
Relationship Counselling · Hassocks
Relationship Counselling for Hassocks and the surrounding area, in person or online. Hassocks is a village at the foot of the Downs, beneath the Clayton windmills known as Jack and Jill. From my room in nearby Hove I offer a calm, confidential space to do this work.

In and around Hassocks
Life in Hassocks
Many couples chose Hassocks for the reasons anybody would: space, a park in the middle, the windmills on the ridge, somewhere the children could have a garden. The trade was the commute, and the commute is paid for daily by one or both of you. By the time the second person is back through the door, the evening has already been spent on the practical business of the house. Weekends go on catching up rather than on each other. Around Keymer and Ockley Lane there are partnerships that made a good decision and then quietly lost the thread of themselves inside it. Nobody chose that part. It simply accumulated, one ordinary week at a time.
Areas covered
Wherever you are in Hassocks, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
Official figures for Hassocks, for context rather than as a description of you.
the rate of emergency hospital admissions for self-harm was 127.2 per 100,000 in 2023/24, above the England average of 117 per 100,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Emergency Hospital Admissions for Intentional Self-Harm (2023/24).
recorded depression on GP registers stood at 14.5% of patients aged 18+ in 2024/25, above the England average of 14.3%. Source: OHID Fingertips – Depression: QOF prevalence (2024/25).
24.5% of adults reported a high anxiety score in 2022/23, above the England average of 23.8%. Source: OHID Fingertips – Self-reported wellbeing: high anxiety score (2022/23).
Reviewed June 2026.
Relationship counselling here, for couples or individuals, slows down the pattern you are caught in and builds healthier ways of hearing and being heard.
Because the work itself is the same wherever you live, the detail sits in one place rather than all of them: relationship counselling in detail sets out the methods, how I work covers the practicalities, and my BACP registration covers accountability.
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.
Trains from Hassocks Station reach Hove in about fifteen minutes, and the drive south takes fifteen to twenty. That makes an appointment on the way home from work realistic rather than theoretical. Some couples travel down together, some meet outside and go in as they arrive. Where the diary refuses to cooperate, or one of you is delayed again, the same session can be held online by secure video, whether you are in one room or two.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
Breaking the cycle of the same argument.
Rebuilding safety after betrayal or addiction.
Finding your way back to closeness.
Sessions you can join from different places.
Working with people-pleasing and the need for control.
You do not need to come as a couple to change the dynamic.
Relationship Counselling in Hassocks
The commonest reason couples get in touch from a village like this is not conflict but erosion. You are perfectly polite. You are also two people delivering a household rather than sharing a life, and one of you has been quietly counting the months. Other times it is more pointed: a betrayal confessed and then buried, a partner whose drinking has stopped being sociable, or a depression that leaves the other doing the emotional work for two. In sessions we slow down the exchanges that always go wrong, so each of you hears the request underneath the complaint. Where trust is broken, rebuilding is treated as a process with stages rather than a single apology. You may come alone; changing one person's part in a pattern is genuinely enough to shift it. Depression appeared on GP registers for 14.5% of West Sussex patients aged 18 and over in 2024/25, a fraction above the 14.3% England average. NHS West Sussex Talking Therapies is the free local route and takes self-referrals.
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 callMy counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Hassocks, you can refer yourself directly to NHS West Sussex Talking Therapies 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:
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.
Hassocks questions
In a private room at Intergen House on Western Road in central Hove. From Hassocks a short train ride or a fifteen to twenty minute drive over the Downs brings you to Hove. Every service is also available by secure video across the UK, so you can meet from any private space in Hassocks or blend the two.
Often, yes, though later slots are the ones that go first. Bring it up during the free 15-minute call and we will look at what is actually available. A fifteen-minute train down means you do not have to leave work especially early to make an early evening hour.
The charge is for the appointment: £80 for sixty minutes, £100 for ninety, £120 for two hours, whether one of you attends or both. Ninety minutes suits many couples because an hour disappears fast when two people have things to say. Your first 15 minutes cost nothing.
NHS West Sussex Talking Therapies takes self-referrals and is free, but waiting times vary and it works mainly with individuals rather than couples. If things ever feel unsafe rather than just difficult, the Sussex Mental Healthline is answered day and night on 0800 0309 500.
Both work. Video suits weeks when one of you is held up, since you can join from wherever you are. The room in Hove suits couples who want an hour with no household in the background. Alternating between the two across the months is completely normal.
It is one of the most frequent reasons couples come. A good decision about where to live can quietly cost you the time you used to spend on each other. Sessions look at what got squeezed out, whether both of you actually want it back, and what has to give.
Yes. Trains on the main line reach Hove in around fifteen minutes from Hassocks Station, then a short walk to Western Road. Driving over the Downs takes a similar time. When the trip is inconvenient, online video sessions are just as private and effective, and you can mix the two.
Start with a free fifteen-minute call, then come over for your session. From Hassocks a short train on the main line reaches Hove and Brighton in around fifteen minutes, a short walk to Western Road, or it is a fifteen to twenty minute drive south over the Downs.
Sessions are £80 for sixty minutes, £100 for ninety and £120 for two hours, after a free fifteen-minute consultation. The NHS rarely funds couples work, so most Hassocks clients choose private sessions, valuing a quick train from the village and starting without a waiting list.
Yes. Couples can come to the Hove room, a short train ride away, or share a secure video call from home in the village. Individuals are welcome alone. Evening slots help around commuting and family, and you can mix the train in with online sessions to suit your week.
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: Ditchling, Burgess Hill, Patcham. See all areas I cover.
Also available in Hassocks: counselling and therapy, trauma counselling and addiction counselling.
If you would like to read more first, I have written about the Imago dialogue for couples.
Prefer to meet remotely? The same relationship counselling is available online by secure video across the UK, or see online counselling by region.