Kensington · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Trauma therapy for Kensington
If something that happened, recently or long ago, still intrudes on your days in Kensington, trauma counselling offers a slow, careful space to work with it. What we cover, and how quickly, is always your call. The Hove room is about 95 minutes away by road, so sessions from Kensington run on secure video, which can feel safer for this work because you are somewhere familiar.
If you are thinking about ending your life, call 999 or the Samaritans free on 116 123, day or night. More urgent help is on this page.
The practical facts for Kensington
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Kensington by car
- About 95 minutes with clear roads (53.4 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- Kensington and Chelsea Talking Therapies, 020 3317 4200
- 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.
Carrying something unseen through a busy borough
Kensington is full of people and noise: crowds along the High Street, sirens, packed Circle line trains, big events at Olympia and the Royal Albert Hall.
For someone living with the after-effects of trauma, ordinary city sensations can land differently. A sudden bang, a crush on a platform or the press of a crowded hall may pull the body back into an old moment before the mind has caught up. Long-time residents, and people who moved here for study or work at Imperial College or the colleges around Exhibition Road, can both carry experiences that nobody around them knows about. Trauma can follow an assault, an accident, a violent or controlling relationship, a frightening medical event, a sudden loss, or years of growing up feeling unsafe. It does not need to look dramatic from the outside to matter, and you do not have to describe it in detail for counselling to be useful.
Trauma work at the pace you choose
The first part of trauma counselling is about safety and steadiness rather than going over what happened. We spend time finding out what helps your body settle, what sets it off, and how to return to the present when a memory starts to take over. Only when you feel ready do we turn towards the experience itself, and even then you stay in charge of how close we get. Among the approaches I use is the Rewind Technique, which works with a distressing memory without asking you to tell it in full or live through it again. Meeting over video means that afterwards you can close the laptop in your own home, with familiar things around you. If you are in a relationship where you feel afraid, safety comes before anything else, and this page points to help for that. If alcohol or other drugs have become a way to manage flashbacks or broken sleep, that is understandable, and we can talk about it openly. Your GP remains the right person for medication and can work alongside our sessions.
Kensington settings where trauma can resurface
Crowds on Exhibition Road and Olympia
Busy museum days and large exhibitions can overwhelm a nervous system that has learned to stay on guard. Counselling helps you notice the early signals and steady them.
Reporting other people's worst days
Journalists at Northcliffe House can absorb distressing stories for a living, and that exposure can build up quietly until it starts to show in sleep or temper.
Harm linked to drugs or chemsex
If something frightening happened while using drugs, Earl's Court's Club Drug Clinic offers free NHS support, and counselling can attend to the experience itself.
Old memories during study
If past experiences resurface while studying at Imperial College, the college's student counselling service can help, and private video sessions continue beyond term.
Free and low-cost support for Kensington
Anxiety or low mood after a traumatic experience can be taken straight to Kensington and Chelsea Talking Therapies, part of Community Living Well, by self-referral on 020 3317 4200. West London Mind keeps counselling costs low through Mind Within, and Central London Samaritans pick up the phone around the clock. If memories bring you to crisis point, ring the CNWL 24/7 crisis line on 0800 0234 650.
- Free NHS talking therapyKensington and Chelsea Talking Therapies020 3317 4200Free NHS talking therapy for anxiety, low mood and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). You can refer yourself, with no GP referral needed.
- If drinking or drug use is part of itTurning Point Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea (Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service)0330 303 8080Free and confidential.
- Local organisationImperial College London Student Counselling and Mental Health Advice Service
- Local organisationCruse Bereavement Support, Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham branchBereavement support.
For gambling, the National Gambling Helpline is free, day or night, on 0808 8020 133 (NHS gambling support).
Private counselling with me can run alongside any of these; you do not have to choose one or the other.
If someone at home is hurting, threatening or controlling you, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline is free, day or night, on 0808 2000 247.
If you have experienced rape or sexual abuse, at any time in your life, the Rape Crisis 24/7 Support Line is free on 0808 500 2222 for anyone aged 16 or over in England and Wales.
If you need urgent help now
If you need help right now, please don't wait for a session.
Locally, the CNWL Mental Health Single Point of Access crisis line, London boroughs) is on 0800 0234 650.
What people in Kensington ask before starting
Do I need to tell you everything that happened before trauma counselling can help?
No. How much you disclose is yours to decide, and weeks can pass with the event itself barely mentioned. Much of the early work is about feeling steadier day to day, in Kensington and wherever else life takes you. Later, if and when we turn towards what happened, some methods I use work with the memory without you ever recounting it in full.
Is trauma counselling over video safe if I live alone in Kensington?
With some planning beforehand, yes. Before we begin deeper work we agree how each session will close, what you will do afterwards, and who you could call if you feel shaken, such as Central London Samaritans or the CNWL crisis line. I take care to leave time so a session does not end with you still in the middle of a difficult memory.
Can I get NHS help for trauma in Kensington and Chelsea too?
Yes. Kensington and Chelsea Talking Therapies takes self-referrals from adults in the Royal Borough who are anxious or low after a traumatic experience, on 020 3317 4200 or online. Mind Within, from West London Mind, offers counselling at low cost. Private trauma sessions with me can sit beside either service, or be your main support.
How soon could trauma counselling start from Kensington, and what happens first?
After the free 15-minute consultation I offer you a weekly time I actually have open, so there is no waiting list. The first sessions are about getting to know you, what daily life is like at the moment, and what helps you feel steady. Nothing about the trauma itself is rushed.
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.
Starting carefully, from somewhere safe in Kensington
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.