Salisbury · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Couples therapy and relationship counselling for Salisbury
When conversations at home in Salisbury keep circling the same sore point, or have stopped altogether, couples counselling gives you both an hour to slow down and listen. Hove is close to two hours' drive away, so from Salisbury we meet on secure video, with the same counsellor each week and no long drive for either of you. One of you can also start alone.
The practical facts for Salisbury
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Salisbury by car
- About 111 minutes with clear roads (84.6 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free NHS talking therapy (for one of you)
- NHS Wiltshire Talking Therapies, 01380 715150
- 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.
Rotas, postings and parents who need more help
Plenty of Salisbury households run on someone else's timetable.
If one of you works at Salisbury District Hospital, rotas can mean passing each other at the door for days at a time. Couples with ties to the military communities around Salisbury Plain may know postings, exercises and the strange readjustment when someone comes home. One of you might work for Dstl at Porton Down while the other catches the half-hourly train to London Waterloo, and the hours rarely line up. Wiltshire Council's 2024 assessment of the Salisbury community area notes comparatively high levels of dementia and an ageing population, and for a couple that can mean a parent who needs a little more help each month. Add the cost of running a home, and a relationship can shrink into a list of handovers. Weeks go by without a real conversation, and the things that matter get raised only when you're both exhausted.
Hearing each other again, without a referee
Neither partner's view outweighs the other's here, and the hour and my attention are split evenly between you. I'm not there to judge which of you has the better case; the aim is to spot the cycle you keep repeating together. Perhaps one of you presses for a talk while the other goes quiet, or every disagreement finds its way back to money or to whose family needs you more. Where caring for an older relative has changed the balance at home, we can look at what each of you has given up and what has gone unsaid. If one of you has served on Salisbury Plain, or still does, we can think about how absence reshapes a household and why a homecoming can be harder than expected. If a partner's drinking now runs the household, Connect Wiltshire handles the alcohol side across the county, and our sessions stay with how the two of you are getting on. Should your partner be hesitant, you are welcome to start solo and explore the half of the pattern that belongs to you. Joint sessions rest on both of you being safe at home, so if fear of your partner is part of the picture, the safety section lower on this page comes before anything else.
Pressures Salisbury couples bring to sessions
Hospital rotas that never match
When one of you works shifts at Salisbury District Hospital, nights and weekends can leave you living alongside each other rather than together.
Postings and homecomings
Families linked to Salisbury Plain may face long absences, then a return that unsettles the routines the partner at home built in the meantime.
A parent who needs more each month
The Salisbury community area has comparatively high rates of dementia, and looking after a parent can quietly take over a couple's time, money and patience.
Waterloo trains and long days
One of you on the half-hourly service to London Waterloo and the other working in the city can leave a single tired hour of overlap each evening.
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 Salisbury
Alongside couples sessions, each of you can draw on free support around Salisbury. NHS Wiltshire Talking Therapies accepts self-referrals from either partner for anxiety or low mood. Relationship and Family Therapy (RAFT) is another local option for families. If drinking or drugs sit at the heart of things, Connect Wiltshire is the county's substance use service, and Wiltshire Mind offers wider support.
- Free NHS talking therapy (for one of you)NHS Wiltshire Talking Therapies01380 715150Free 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 itConnect Wiltshire0300 555 0157Free and confidential.
- Local organisationSamaritans of Salisbury and District
- Local organisationSalisbury Hospice bereavement support service
- Local organisationSalisbury District Hospital Bereavement Team
If you need urgent help now
If you need help right now, please don't wait for a session.
Local drop-in crisis support: Riverside Sanctuary, Place of Calm (ALABARÉ) (check opening times before you go).
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 Salisbury ask before starting
Is meeting you in one room possible for a couple travelling from Salisbury?
The only room I work from is in Hove, around 111 minutes' drive from Salisbury, with no direct train. For weekly couples work, secure video from home is far more realistic, and neither of you loses half a day to travel. Should you both want a session in one room, a longer appointment at Intergen House can be booked a few times a year.
One of us is often away on Salisbury Plain or on nights at the hospital, so can we still join by video?
Yes. You each log in from a private room, wherever that happens to be, and we all share one screen. Headphones and a reliable connection help. If hospital rotas or military commitments make your diaries unpredictable, we can find a regular time you can both keep, and move it when a posting or a shift change comes up.
What free help is there for Salisbury couples and families?
Relationship and Family Therapy (RAFT) is listed among the local services for Salisbury families. For anxiety or low mood of your own, either partner may phone NHS Wiltshire Talking Therapies directly on 01380 715150. If one partner's drinking is the worry, Connect Wiltshire on 0300 555 0157 is the place to ask, and private couples sessions can run alongside any of these.
My partner won't come. Is there any point starting on my own from Salisbury?
There can be. Coming alone, we'd explore your side of the dynamic: what you do when tension rises, the things you've gone quiet about, and what you hope this relationship can still become. When one person responds differently, the pattern at home can shift too, and a partner sometimes joins later. Where a partner's behaviour frightens you, please read the safety section before booking anything.
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 short call, together or on your own
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.