Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Substance Use Counselling · Saltdean
Substance Use Counselling for Saltdean and the surrounding area, in person or online. Saltdean, known for its restored Art Deco Lido and clifftop coast, sits east along the seafront. From my room in nearby Hove I offer a calm, confidential space to do this work.

In and around Saltdean
Life in Saltdean
Drug use up on the Vale and the streets around Saltdean Park has no scene attached to it whatsoever. There is nowhere to go and nobody to meet, so it happens indoors and usually alone. Cannabis every night because sleep stopped arriving on its own. Cocaine that used to be for occasions and now attaches itself to any evening free of obligations. Tablets prescribed once and continued long after. The Undercliff Walk is full of people clearing their heads in the morning and some of them barely slept. It stays hidden easily here, and staying hidden is a large part of why it lasts.
Areas covered
Wherever you are in Saltdean, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
Official figures for Saltdean, for context rather than as a description of you.
7.6 adults per 1,000 were in treatment at specialist drug-misuse services in 2020/21, above 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 11.1 per 100,000 in 2022 - 24, above 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: substance use counselling in detail sets out the methods, the practical side 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.
Hove is twenty to twenty-five minutes west by road for a session in a private room, which suits people who want the appointment kept well away from the house. Where the journey is impractical, or where a run of bad nights makes the morning uncertain, secure video runs the identical hour from wherever you are. Switching between the two does not interrupt the work.
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 Saltdean
There is no entry condition about having stopped, and none about intending to. Being told to sort yourself out before you can be helped is a good way of never being helped, so that is not how this starts. What we do is take the substance seriously as something that works, at least in the short term, and then get accurate about the terms. What it settles, what it delays, what the next day costs, how much of your money and week it now holds. For people who use alone that outside view is often the missing piece, since there is nobody else present to notice the drift. None of this includes instructions about reducing or coming off, which sits with medical services. Across the city, deaths from drug misuse were 11.1 per 100,000 in 2022 - 24, above England's 5.8. The NHS find a service directory shows where those are, and the Sussex Mental Healthline is answerable at any hour.
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. You can find your nearest free NHS-funded drug and alcohol service via the NHS “find a service” directory (search “Saltdean”).
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.
Saltdean questions
In a private room at Intergen House on Western Road in central Hove. From Saltdean the coast road brings you west through Rottingdean and Brighton to the Hove office in around twenty to twenty-five minutes. Every service is also available by secure video across the UK, so you can meet from any private space in Saltdean or blend the two.
Yes, that is the usual situation. Sessions are not conditional on abstinence and you will not be asked to prove anything. What helps most is describing your week as it genuinely is, because a tidied-up version is not something anyone can work with.
Sixty minutes costs £80. If you want more time, 90 minutes is £100 and two hours is £120. There is no charge for the 15-minute consultation at the start, and no expectation that you book anything afterwards. Nothing is paid up front and there is no minimum run of weeks.
There is no referral needed here and nobody sits on a waiting list. You get in touch directly, have the free consultation, and start when a slot suits. Your GP is not told unless you decide to tell them, though for anything medical they remain the right people.
Usually, with headphones and a door that shuts. If it is not, the drive west along the coast gives you an hour nobody can walk in on, and some people book in-person for that reason alone rather than for anything to do with therapy itself.
It is, and it is one of the most common reasons people come. Something that starts as a sleep solution can become the only route to sleep, at which point stopping feels impossible for reasons that have little to do with wanting to get high.
That is common and workable. We look with care at what the medication or substance has come to do for you, without judgement, and you can involve your GP where that helps; it stays led by you.
By car the coast road west through Rottingdean and Brighton takes twenty to twenty-five minutes; the 12 bus along the seafront runs towards Brighton with a change for Hove. Start with a free fifteen-minute call on 07914 681995 or through the contact page.
Both. Pavilions offers free NHS-commissioned substance help across Brighton and Hove with self-referral. Privately, fees are £80 for sixty minutes, £100 for ninety and £120 for two hours after a free call, and the two can run alongside each other.
Yes. With the clifftop a fair way from the centre, many Saltdean clients choose secure video, which is just as private, though the room is a scenic drive away. Evening appointments are available, and mixing in-person and online is entirely fine.
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: Rottingdean, Peacehaven, Woodingdean. See all areas I cover.
Close to this in Saltdean, there is addiction counselling, counselling for drinking problems and anxiety counselling.
There is more on this in my writing: three ways to handle a craving and calming a craving as it rises.
Prefer to meet remotely? The same substance use counselling is available online by secure video across the UK, or see online counselling by region.