Alcohol rehab in Lewisham: free, private and abroad options, honestly compared

Clinically reviewed byNerea Encinas SánchezDirector of the centre, MSc General Health PsychologyRegistered psychologist, COPAO AO13857

Checked for accuracy on 28 July 2026. Next review due July 2027. This page is general information about our programme and is not a substitute for advice about your own situation.

The picture in Lewisham

Lewisham is an inner south-east London borough, and like most of London its drug and alcohol services are organised through free, NHS-commissioned community services rather than local private clinics, and these community services typically address alcohol use alongside opiate and other psychoactive drug or alcohol use, since substance use rarely falls into one category alone. If you are worried about your drinking, or worried about someone else’s alcohol or drug use, the starting point is one of the support services in London the council commissions, not a residential admission. From there you can be assessed, offered community support and, where clinically needed, referred on to a medical detox or residential placement.

Speak to a clinician about treatment from Lewisham

Confidential, no obligation, and no referral fee is paid to anyone for sending you here.

Speak to a clinician+44 1202 653136

Free drug and alcohol services in Lewisham

Start here, before you consider paying for anything. These services are free, they are local, and for a great many people they are enough on their own. We publish them because a centre that only tells you about its own programme is not giving you the full picture.

Checked 28 July 2026. Commissioned services are retendered periodically, so confirm the current provider with the authority before you travel to an appointment.

AA and NA meetings in Lewisham

Mutual aid meetings are free, they run most days, and there is no waiting list, no referral and no assessment. You can walk into one this week. They work alongside whatever else you choose rather than instead of it, and plenty of people use them and nothing else.

What actually happens at a first meeting

You do not have to speak, and you do not have to give your surname. Most meetings open with a reading, someone shares for a while, and others speak if they want to. It lasts about an hour, and it is free, though a basket goes round for the room hire. Nobody takes a register and nobody will ask you to commit to anything.

An open meeting can be attended by anyone, including family. A closed meeting is for people who think they may have a problem themselves. If the first group does not suit you, the next one along will feel different, because each has its own character. The usual advice is to try three before deciding it is not for you.

We link the official finders rather than print a timetable, because meeting times and venues change and a stale listing sends someone to a locked door. Checked 28 July 2026.

Private residential rehab for people in Lewisham

There is no residential rehab centre, or rehab clinic, based in Lewisham itself, or anywhere near Lewisham. Residential detox and rehab for Lewisham residents happen either by referral through the NHS services above, or privately at rehab services and treatment centres elsewhere, almost always outside inner London. In practice a residential stay, whatever the treatment programme or length of stay, means travelling whichever route you choose, which is worth knowing when you weigh up treatment abroad. Do not judge any of the facilities in the UK by marketing alone: check current registration and inspection rating on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) register before you commit to anything, and ask directly about medical detox where that is part of what you need.

What private treatment costs

As an indication of cost, published UK directories list residential rehab, whether dedicated alcohol rehab services or a wider drug rehab and addiction treatment programme, from roughly £12,000 to £40,000 a month, with very little credible under £10,000 a month. Weekly stays typically start around £1,500. These are indicative ranges compiled from providers’ own published information and public directory listings, not quotations, and every centre sets its own fees.

Funding usually comes through one of three routes: the free NHS and council services above, which is also a recovery service that can fund residential placement where it is clinically justified; private self-payment; or, occasionally, private medical insurance, though many policies exclude or limit addiction treatment cover. Some private centres, rehabs and rehab programmes offer payment plans. Always confirm the total figure, and what it includes, directly with the service before you get support from any of them.

Considering residential treatment abroad?

Sierra Recovery, Málaga, Spain

Most people who look abroad are not chasing sunshine. They are trying to get far enough away from the people, the places and the routine that keep the drinking or the using going, because they have already discovered that stopping while all of that is still fifteen minutes away does not hold. That distance is the whole point, and it is the one thing a clinic near Lewisham cannot give you.

Sierra Recovery is a working farmhouse on forty hectares of olive groves in the Málaga countryside, about forty five minutes from the airport and roughly three hours from most UK airports. It is small, the team is English-speaking, and the same clinicians treat you from the first day to the last. What follows is what that actually buys, stated plainly enough that you can compare it with anything else you are considering.

What matters when comparing	Sierra Recovery
Is it actually licensed	A registered health centre entered in the Registro Andaluz de Centros, Servicios y Establecimientos Sanitarios (the Andalusian register of health centres, services and establishments) under N.I.C.A. 67331, authorised by the Junta de Andalucía. You can look it up yourself on the public register.
What it costs, in full	£9,900 for the 28-day residential programme, published on the site up front. All rooms are individual. You get an itemised written quotation before admission.
Who pays whom	No referral fees are paid or accepted, in either direction. Nobody earns a commission for sending you here, which is worth checking about any centre you are comparing.
What the clinical work is	Three group sessions a day five days a week, individual therapy three times a week, and a seventeen-module psychoeducation curriculum. The approach adapts the method of PROMIS Clinics, treating addiction in the United Kingdom since 1986.
Where the limits are	It is not a hospital and not a detox unit. Where a medically supervised detox is clinically needed it is completed in an appropriate medical setting before admission and billed separately. Qualified nurses are part of the team throughout the stay.
Who you speak to first	Our admissions team, all of them clinicians, working to the standards set by our clinical director. The assessment is free, and if a service closer to home suits you better, we will say so.
What happens afterwards	Aftercare is agreed before you leave: a session every week for a full year, online or in person at the PROMIS clinics in London, which is more than 48 sessions in the twelve months after discharge. A written handover goes to your GP so nothing has to be explained from scratch.

Every figure above is published elsewhere on this site and can be checked. See pricing, regulation and licensing and the programme.

Which option is right for you

Start with the free NHS and council services if you are unsure, if cost is the barrier, or if you want to stay near family and work. New Direction’s women-only session if you would rather be in a women-only space. Insight Lewisham if you are under 25. Private residential in the UK if you need detox and rehab together under close medical supervision, are not fit to fly, or need to stay close to home. Treatment abroad only if a private UK stay is out of reach, distance from your usual triggers would help, and you can travel and do not need an immediate hospital detox. Use AA or NA alongside whatever you choose, and keep aftercare in place afterwards to support long-term recovery and your overall wellbeing.

If you would like to talk any of this through, including whether treatment abroad is genuinely right for you, you can read how admission to Sierra works, contact us directly, or speak to our admissions team about your enquiry. We will tell you honestly if a local Lewisham service is the better fit.