Intrusive memories
Support for flashbacks, nightmares and re-experiencing.
Trauma Counselling · Haywards Heath
Trauma 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
People rarely come for trauma counselling straight after the event. More often it is years later, when the thing that was pushed down starts making itself felt in ways that no longer fit around a working life. In Haywards Heath that might surface as sleep that has never really recovered, irritability that surprises the family, or a physical reaction to a sound or a smell that makes no sense on a normal morning near Muster Green. The original event could have been anywhere and any time: a crash, a hospital stay, something in childhood, an incident at work. The town it happens to catch up with you in is usually incidental.
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.
the rate of emergency hospital admissions for self-harm was 127.2 per 100,000 in 2023/24, above the England average of 117 per 100,000. Source: OHID Fingertips – Emergency Hospital Admissions for Intentional Self-Harm (2023/24).
Reviewed June 2026.
Trauma counselling here is gentle and led by you, drawing on methods designed for trauma including the Human Givens Rewind Technique, so a difficult memory is returned to ordinary recall.
What actually happens in the room is the same everywhere, so it is written up once: see trauma counselling in detail for the methods, session lengths and fees for fees and session lengths, and my BACP registration 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.
Trauma sessions take place in a private room in central Hove, twenty-five minutes by direct train or a straightforward drive, and can equally be held online by secure video. With this work I would rather you chose the format for how safe it feels than for convenience. The train back gives some people a useful transition after a session. For others, not having to be anywhere afterwards is what makes it bearable.
Book a free 15-minute callWhat I help with
Support for flashbacks, nightmares and re-experiencing.
Help when your nervous system is stuck on high alert.
For when you cope by shutting down.
Healing the wound that drives the habit.
Reaching the quieter, accumulated hurts.
Working always at a pace that is led by you.
Trauma Counselling in Haywards Heath
Before anything else: this work does not ask you to retell the event. That single fact keeps a lot of people from getting help, because they assume counselling means describing the worst thing that ever happened to them in detail. It does not. The Human Givens Rewind Technique, which much of this work draws on, deals with how the memory is stored rather than what it contains. Ahead of that we spend time on the present, settling sleep and building ways to manage when something sets you off. You choose the pace, you choose what to say, and you can stop whenever you want to. NHS West Sussex Talking Therapies offers free trauma-focused help by self-referral, and the Sussex Mental Healthline is answered at any time of day or night. Emergency admissions for self-harm in West Sussex were running at 127.2 per 100,000 in 2023/24, compared with 117 per 100,000 nationally.
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, you can refer yourself directly to NHS West Sussex Talking Therapies for free NHS talking therapy, with no GP referral needed.
Seeing me privately usually means you can start sooner and stay with the same counsellor throughout, working at greater depth and pace; the two can run side by side, and I am glad to work alongside any NHS or GP support you already have.
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.
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.
Then we stop, or slow down, and that is a normal part of the process rather than a failure. The pacing exists precisely so this does not run away with you. Nothing happens in a session without your agreement, and you can end an hour early if you need to.
There is a single fee structure: £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120. Given the travelling involved, some people prefer a 90-minute session less often rather than a shorter one weekly. The first 15-minute consultation carries no charge.
NHS West Sussex Talking Therapies takes self-referrals and includes trauma-focused therapy at no charge. It is a genuinely useful route. Waits are hard to predict in a county where 24.5% of adults reported a high anxiety score in 2022/23, so many people also begin privately in the meantime.
They can be, and a good deal of trauma work is done this way. What matters is privacy, an uninterrupted hour and a plan for what you do afterwards. If at any stage you would rather be in the same space, the room in Hove is there.
Very much so. Neither the distance nor the years make any real difference to how the memory is held or how it can be processed. People frequently come decades later, often because something recent has stirred up what they thought was long settled.
No. The Rewind Technique I often use is gentle and non-intrusive; you do not need to relive or speak the detail aloud. We go entirely at your pace, in my Hove room around twenty-five minutes from Haywards Heath, or online.
We start with a free fifteen-minute call, with no pressure to explain, then a first session. Frequent direct trains reach Hove in about twenty-five minutes, or the A23 takes roughly forty. If travelling feels too much, online video is always available.
Private sessions are £80 for sixty minutes, £100 for ninety and £120 for two hours, after a free consultation. You can self-refer to free NHS Talking Therapies for West Sussex; waits vary, and seeing me privately means gentle, sooner trauma work at a pace you set.
Some value the containment of the room for trauma work, while others feel safer on video at home; both suit the gentle Rewind Technique, and the distance can make online practical. You lead the pace throughout, with evening and weekend slots available.
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.
People who come for trauma counselling in Haywards Heath often also look at anxiety counselling, addiction counselling and psychotherapy.
Prefer to meet remotely? The same trauma counselling is available online by secure video across the UK, or see online counselling by region.