Twickenham · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Couples therapy and relationship counselling for Twickenham
If you and your partner in Twickenham have become good at running a household and bad at talking to each other, relationship counselling gives you a regular hour to change that. We meet by secure video, the two of you at one screen or each from a private place of your own, and either of you can make the first approach.
The practical facts for Twickenham
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Twickenham by car
- About 83 minutes with clear roads (56.9 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- From Twickenham, change at Clapham Junction for trains towards Brighton and Hove.
- Free NHS talking therapy (for one of you)
- Richmond Talking Therapies (NHS Richmond Wellbeing Service), 020 3513 4455
- 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.
Six trains an hour, and still no time together
Off-peak, South Western Railway runs six trains an hour from Twickenham to London Waterloo via Richmond.
Perhaps one of you catches an early one while the other's working day stays in the borough, on the school run in Whitton or at a desk at home in St Margarets. By evening you have lived two separate days, and neither of you has much left to give the other. Weekends bring their own squeeze. If one of you works events at Twickenham Stadium or the Stoop, Saturdays can belong to the fixture list, and the free day you were counting on goes on recovering. Caring adds weight too. A parent who needs more help each month, or a child who needs more than usual, can quietly turn two partners into a rota. Distance between a couple often builds through logistics, a little each week, until most of what you say to each other is about who is collecting whom.
What a first couples session is actually like
A first session is mostly listening. I ask each of you what brought you here and what you would want to keep, and I make sure neither of you ends up doing all the talking. I'm listening for the loop you both get caught in, for instance one of you raising the same worry on the walk back from the station and the other going quiet because the day has already taken everything. Seen from outside, each move usually makes sense, and that is a kinder place to begin than blame. From Twickenham the practical side matters as much as the talking. If one of you is still in central London when the session starts, they can join from a private room there while the other joins from home, and the hour works in the same way. A 90-minute session gives two people room to finish their thoughts, and it can suit a Saturday morning that no match has claimed. If your partner won't take part, you can come alone, because changing your own side of a pattern can shift the whole of it. Where fear of a partner is part of the picture, joint sessions are not safe or suitable, and the safety section further down sets out where to turn instead.
Where Twickenham relationships get stretched thin
Fixture lists and family weekends
When one of you works match days at Twickenham Stadium or the Stoop, the calendar decides your weekends, and resentment can build up on both sides of it.
One commuting, one holding the fort
Early departures for Waterloo via Richmond, a partner holding the house together in St Margarets or Whitton, and two very different ideas of what counts as a hard day.
Partners who became carers
Looking after a parent, or each other, can push closeness to the edges. Richmond Carers Centre supports the carer, and joint sessions look at what caring has done to you both.
When drinking is part of it
Weekend drinking, on match days or otherwise, that one of you worries about and the other plays down. WithYou Richmond supports family and friends, and that help can sit 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 Twickenham
Free local help can support each of you on your own terms. Either partner can refer themselves to Richmond Talking Therapies when anxiety or a low patch is weighing on them. Richmond Borough Mind's ARC service gives free short-term emotional support from Twickenham, and Richmond Carers Centre helps a partner who has become a carer. Couples sessions can run alongside any of them.
- Free NHS talking therapy (for one of you)Richmond Talking Therapies (NHS Richmond Wellbeing Service)020 3513 4455Free 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 itWithYou Richmond020 3228 3020Run by We Are With You (WithYou). Free and confidential.
- Local organisationARC – Active Resilience in the Community (Richmond Borough Mind)Free short-term emotional wellbeing support, self-referral,.
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 is another option: text 80991 or WhatsApp 0303 330 1511. Local drop-in crisis support: Journey Recovery Hub, Twickenham (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 Twickenham ask before starting
With both of us working long hours, can couples counselling from Twickenham fit in?
Usually, yes. On the free call we look for a regular time you can both protect, which might be early in the week or a weekend morning when neither of you is working. If you can't be in the same place, each of you joins on your own device from somewhere private. I'll tell you honestly how soon a regular slot is free.
Is there free relationship support for couples in Richmond upon Thames?
Not for couples that I can name. Each of you can use Richmond Talking Therapies free of charge, on 020 3513 4455, if anxiety or a low patch is adding to the strain. If one partner's drinking is behind the arguments, WithYou Richmond supports family and friends too.
Do we need to travel from Twickenham to Hove to see you together?
No. Sessions run by secure video, which from 83 minutes away is the realistic choice for weekly couples work. If you would both like to meet me in person at some point, a longer session in Hove can be arranged, but it is entirely optional and the work does not depend on it.
My partner won't come. Is it worth starting relationship counselling on my own in Twickenham?
Yes. On your own you can look at your part in the pattern, what you need, what you have stopped saying and what you would like to try differently at home. A relationship often shifts when one person does something new. If your partner later wants to join, we can talk about whether that would work or whether they would do better with someone of their own.
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, from either of you
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.