Drugs and substances
Confidential support for any kind of substance use.
Substance Use Counselling · Woodingdean
Substance Use Counselling for Woodingdean and the surrounding area, in person or online. Woodingdean sits high on the Downs to the east of Brighton, one of the city's highest and breeziest neighbourhoods. From my room in nearby Hove I offer a calm, confidential space to do this work.

In and around Woodingdean
Life in Woodingdean
Drug use up here is a private business conducted indoors. There is no scene to be part of on Bexhill Road or around the Nuffield estate, and the walk out to Happy Valley is not where anything happens. So it is cannabis at night because sleep will not come, or cocaine that used to belong to weekends and has spread across the week, or tablets that outlasted the prescription that started them. The height and the distance make it easy to keep to yourself. They also mean almost nobody asks, and being unasked for a long time is its own kind of difficulty.
Areas covered
Wherever you are in Woodingdean, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.
The local picture
Official figures for Woodingdean, 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.
What actually happens in the room is the same everywhere, so it is written up once: see everything on substance use counselling for the methods, how I work for fees and session lengths, and qualifications, registration and ethics if you want to check who you would be working with.
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.
In-person sessions mean roughly twenty minutes down into the city and west to the Hove room. That is far enough to feel genuinely separate from home, which some people want badly. Others need an appointment that leaves no trace and no journey, and secure video provides exactly that. Both formats run weekly at the same times, and you can move between them.
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 Woodingdean
You are not required to stop first, and you are not required to know whether you want to. That uncertainty is where most people genuinely are. The conversation looks at what the substance does for you, and then at the bill: sleep, money, memory, and the way the list of people you can be straight with keeps getting shorter. For anyone using alone, an outside view is often the missing piece. Brighton and Hove has a heavier drug picture than much of the country, with 11.1 deaths from drug misuse per 100,000 in 2022 - 24 against 5.8 nationally, which is a reason for support rather than alarm. Advice on reducing or stopping is medical and sits with the NHS find a service directory, alongside the Sussex Mental Healthline overnight.
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 “Woodingdean”).
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.
Woodingdean questions
In a private room at Intergen House on Western Road in central Hove. From Woodingdean the journey down into the city and across to Hove takes around twenty minutes by car or bus. Every service is also available by secure video across the UK, so you can meet from any private space in Woodingdean or blend the two.
You can. Working out what the use is actually doing for you tends to come before any decision about changing it, and pushing that decision early usually just ends the conversation. Nothing is conditional on you arriving with a plan.
An hour is £80, with 90 minutes at £100 and two hours at £120. Payment is per session and there is nothing to sign. The free 15-minute consultation beforehand is genuinely free and there is no follow-up pressure if you decide against it.
Use the NHS find a service directory to locate it, since Brighton and Hove has no single verified council page. It lists free specialist provision. In 2020/21, 7.6 adults per 1,000 in the city were in treatment at drug misuse services, above the England figure of 4.5.
That varies genuinely between people. Some find the physical distance from home makes hard things sayable; others find their own front room the only place they can relax enough to speak. Trying both across a few weeks answers the question better than guessing.
It does, and it is one of the most frequent reasons people get in touch. When something becomes the only route into sleep, stopping feels impossible for reasons that have very little to do with enjoying it, and that is workable material.
Either works. Online removes the twenty-minute journey down the hill entirely and suits many Woodingdean clients; if you would rather meet in person, the Hove room is there whenever you want it.
Start with a free fifteen-minute call on 07914 681995 or online. From Woodingdean the road runs down past the racecourse into Brighton and west to Hove, around twenty minutes by car, with buses down the hill and parking near Western Road.
Both. Pavilions provides free NHS-commissioned substance help across Brighton and Hove, self-referral only. Privately, I charge £80 for sixty minutes, £100 for ninety and £120 for two hours after a free call, and the two can run together as needed.
Yes. Set high on the Downs and a little apart, Woodingdean clients often value secure video, especially on difficult days, though the twenty-minute trip to Hove is fine. Evening appointments are available, and blending in-person and online is entirely welcome.
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: Kemp Town, Rottingdean, Brighton. See all areas I cover.
Related work in Woodingdean: addiction counselling, counselling for drinking problems and anxiety counselling.
There is more on this in my writing: 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.