Ringwood · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Couples therapy and relationship counselling for Ringwood
For couples in Ringwood who keep circling the same quarrel, or who have drifted into polite silence, relationship counselling offers a protected hour to look at what is happening between you. With Hove well over an hour and a half away, we would meet by video, sitting side by side at home or logging in apart. Starting on your own, while the other partner thinks about it, is fine too.
The practical facts for Ringwood
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Ringwood by car
- About 103 minutes with clear roads (83.3 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free NHS talking therapy (for one of you)
- NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire, 023 8038 3920
- 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.
Retirement, caring and a car you both depend on
Across the New Forest district the median age climbed from 47 to 51 between the 2011 and 2021 censuses, and for a long Ringwood partnership that can mean a whole new stage arriving at once.
Retirement can put two people in the same kitchen all day for the first time in decades. A parent moving in, or one partner's health failing, can turn a wife or husband into a carer almost overnight, and the marriage gets squeezed out by appointments and medication rotas. Younger couples face something different: children at Ringwood School, two jobs, and a town with no railway since 1964, where one car and one driver can decide who gets to go where. Money adds its own heat. When bills outrun income, a couple can stop talking about anything except the overdraft, or stop talking about the overdraft at all.
Untangling the pattern rather than refereeing the row
In a couples session the hour is split fairly between you, and what I try to do is help the pair of you notice the loop you keep falling into rather than decide who was right on Tuesday. It might be that one of you chases and the other retreats, that every argument ends up about money, or that one partner feels like the unpaid nurse while the other feels like a patient. Where caring has taken over, we can look at what each of you has quietly given up and what you still want from each other. Where retirement has upended the routine, we can work out how much togetherness suits you both. Sometimes a teenager's drinking or drug use is the thing tearing a couple apart, and Parent Support Link exists for exactly those parents. When only one partner wants to try, coming solo still gives that person real room to change their part. Couples work assumes each of you is safe at home. Fear of a partner changes everything, and in that case the domestic abuse safety information on this page is the right starting place.
What tends to come between partners in Ringwood
Suddenly home together all day
In a district with a median age of 51, retirement can bring two people into the same rooms full time, and old habits start to grate.
Partner, carer, or both
When one of you is looking after the other, or a parent, love can get buried under lists. Hampshire's carers support service can help the carer directly.
One car, two lives
With no Ringwood station since 1964, who drives, who waits and who stays home can become a running source of resentment between you.
A worry about your teenager
When a son or daughter's drug or alcohol use is splitting you as parents, Parent Support Link supports families while we work on the two of you.
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 Ringwood
Each of you can lean on free local help alongside couples sessions. Where caring has crept into the relationship, the partner doing it can find support at The Princess Royal Trust for Carers in Hampshire, and Ringwood Carers' Group gathers once a month. Citizens Advice New Forest, at Ringwood Library by appointment, helps with debt that is straining a household. For a partner's drinking or drug use, Inclusion Recovery Hampshire is on 0300 124 0103, and Parent Support Link helps parents of a struggling child.
- Free NHS talking therapy (for one of you)NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire023 8038 3920Free 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 itInclusion Recovery Hampshire0300 124 0103Free and confidential.
- Local organisationRingwood Carers' Group
If you need urgent help now
If you need help right now, please don't wait for a session.
In this area you can also text HANTS to 85258.
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 Ringwood ask before starting
Can we see a couples counsellor together near Ringwood?
Sitting together with me means a trip to Intergen House in Hove, around 103 minutes by car from Ringwood or longer by bus and train via Southampton. Week to week, video is far more manageable for two people coming from Ringwood. An occasional longer meeting in Hove can be arranged if you'd both value being in one room, perhaps every few months.
Does relationship counselling over video work if we're in different places?
It does. Each of you joins from a private space, say one at home in Poulner and the other at a parent's house or away for work, and I bring you both into one video call. Headphones and a door that closes help a great deal. We pick a regular time that fits both of your weeks, including around caring commitments.
Is there free support in Ringwood for couples under strain?
The free local services help each of you as individuals. On 023 8038 3920, NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire hears from either partner about their own anxiety or low mood. The partner who has become the carer has The Princess Royal Trust for Carers in Hampshire to call on, while Citizens Advice New Forest at Ringwood Library helps sort out money worries and debt. These can all run beside our sessions.
My partner won't come. Is it worth coming to relationship counselling by myself from Ringwood?
Yes. On your own with me, we explore the moves you make within the pattern: how you react when tension rises in the house, what has gone unsaid between you, and what you hope for now. Changing your own steps often changes the pattern at home, and a reluctant partner sometimes joins later. Where fear of your partner is part of it, the safety information on this page 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.
Talking it over first, together or one at a time
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.