Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Substance Use Counselling · Haywards Heath
Substance Use Counselling for Haywards Heath and the surrounding area, in person or online. Haywards Heath is a well-connected Mid Sussex town surrounded by countryside and commuter villages. From my room in nearby Hove I offer a calm, confidential space to do this work.

In and around Haywards Heath
Life in Haywards Heath
There is a version of drug use that fits neatly around a professional life, and a fair amount of it happens in towns like this one. Cocaine at a dinner in Lindfield, something to lift a Thursday when the week has been relentless, cannabis every night to stop the mind still working at midnight, tablets that were prescribed once and have carried on since. It does not interfere with the job, which is exactly why it goes unexamined for so long. Nobody near Muster Green is discussing it, and there is no local sign that anyone else does the same. The private question, asked repeatedly and never out loud, is whether this counts as a problem yet.
Areas covered
Wherever you are in Haywards Heath, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
Official figures for Haywards Heath, for context rather than as a description of you.
3 adults per 1,000 were in treatment at specialist drug-misuse services in 2020/21, below the England average of 4.5 per 1,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Adults in treatment at specialist drug misuse services (2020/21).
the rate of deaths from drug misuse was 3.9 per 100,000 in 2022 - 24, below the England average of 5.8 per 100,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Deaths from drug misuse (2022 - 24).
Reviewed June 2026.
Substance use counselling here is non-judgemental and one-to-one, working with the pain, fear or loneliness the substance has been managing, at a pace that protects your sense of safety.
Because the work itself is the same wherever you live, the detail sits in one place rather than all of them: the main substance use counselling page sets out the methods, how I work covers the practicalities, and how to check my 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.
The Hove room is roughly twenty-five minutes by direct train, and there are plenty of them, or a drive down the A23 if that suits your day better. You do not have to have stopped, cut back, or prepared anything in advance. Video sessions are available for weeks when the travel is unworkable or when you would rather not be away from home for the round trip.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Letting go of the protective self that no longer serves you.
One-to-one sessions shaped entirely around you.
Rediscovering the authentic self beneath the coping.
Treating what the substance has been masking.
Growing into recovery rather than forcing it.
Substance Use Counselling in Haywards Heath
The focus here is drugs, and the starting position is straightforward: you are not being asked to justify your use or to promise to end it. Whether the pattern is occasional, weekly or nightly, the useful question is what it does for you and what would have to change before you could do without it. Sleep, pressure, social nerves, physical pain and old memories are the usual answers, and they respond to being worked on directly. Nothing is passed to an employer, a family member or a local service. Specialist drug-misuse treatment reached about 3 adults per 1,000 across the county in 2020/21, under the England average of 4.5, which reflects how few people in a town like this ever ask. For anything medical, including prescribing, testing or a structured programme, West Sussex County Council's drug and alcohol support leads to DAWN, which is free. Counselling deals with the reasons rather than the pharmacology, and the two together tend to hold better than either alone.
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 Haywards Heath, free local drug and alcohol support is available through West Sussex County Council's drug and alcohol support.
For confidential information and advice, FRANK (on 0300 123 6600) and Drinkline on 0300 123 1110 are free, and Alcoholics Anonymous and SMART Recovery run peer-support meetings you can find online.
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.
If you drink heavily or use drugs daily, do not stop suddenly on your own. Withdrawal can cause seizures and can be dangerous. Speak to your GP or a local drug and alcohol service first, and they can arrange a safe, medically supported withdrawal. Counselling works alongside that, not instead of it.
Haywards Heath questions
In a private room at Intergen House on Western Road in central Hove. From Haywards Heath frequent direct trains reach Hove and Brighton in around twenty-five minutes, with the A23 close by for driving. Every service is also available by secure video across the UK, so you can meet from any private space in Haywards Heath or blend the two.
No, it is usually a reason it has gone unquestioned. Functioning well and using regularly are perfectly compatible for a long time, which is why so many people arrive years later than they might have. Nothing needs to have collapsed for the hour to be worthwhile.
Not through me. There is no report to an employer or regulator, and nothing enters your GP record without your explicit agreement. The narrow limits of confidentiality, which concern serious risk to life, are explained before you decide whether to start.
You do not. The first appointment is mostly about what has brought you and what you want from it, at whatever level of detail feels bearable. Things left out early tend to arrive later on their own. Nothing is dragged out of anyone.
DAWN provides free structured drug and alcohol treatment across the county, including medical assessment, and you reach it through West Sussex County Council's drug and alcohol support. Some people use it for the practical side while keeping counselling for the rest. Both can run at the same time.
You can start with a free 15-minute consultation by phone or video. After that fees are £80 / 60 min, £100 / 90 min and £120 / 120 min, paid one session at a time. Longer appointments are there for weeks when an hour would not be enough.
Functioning well and struggling privately often go together. If the substance has become something you rely on to keep going, it is worth talking through, confidentially and without judgement, at your pace.
Around twenty-five minutes on frequent direct services on the main line, with a short walk to Western Road at the Hove end; by car the A23 takes roughly forty minutes. Start with a free fifteen-minute call on 07914 681995 or through the contact page.
Both. In West Sussex you can self-refer to Change Grow Live for free substance help with no GP needed. Privately, fees are £80 for sixty minutes, £100 for ninety and £120 for two hours after a free call, and the two can run side by side.
Yes. A direct train brings you to the Hove room, with evening appointments to fit around work, but given the distance many find secure video the easier choice. It is equally confidential, and you can move between in-person and online freely.
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: Burgess Hill, Hassocks. See all areas I cover.
Related work in Haywards Heath: addiction counselling, counselling for drinking problems and anxiety counselling.
You may also find it useful to read about once an addict, always an addict? and three ways to handle a craving.
Prefer to meet remotely? The same substance use counselling is available online by secure video across the UK, or see online counselling by region.