Free adult treatment, specialist support for young people and families, harm-reduction services and private residential rehab options for people in Camden.
If you are looking for help with drinking or drug use in Camden — for yourself or someone close to you — there is more than one place to begin. The borough has a free adult drug and alcohol service, a separate service for children and young people, support for families and friends, and some unusually specialist harm-reduction services.
Residential treatment provides a different setting where someone needs more structure, closer medical support or time away from the routines and environment connected with their alcohol or drug use. Abbington House provides private residential treatment at its centre in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. It does not operate a clinic or satellite service in Camden.
This guide explains the Camden services first, then where travelling to Abbington House may fit if residential care is being considered.
Drug and Alcohol Services – Camden is the borough’s free adult service and is delivered by Change Grow Live. Camden Council says adults can access support if they live in Camden, are registered with a Camden GP, or are homeless in the borough.
The service can help with alcohol, illicit drugs, steroids, prescription and over-the-counter medicines, and situations where substance use is affecting mental health.
Support may include:
Telephone: 020 7485 2722
Opening times:
Monday: 10am–8pm, evening by appointment
Tuesday: 1pm–5pm
Wednesday: 10am–5pm
Thursday: 10am–8pm, evening by appointment
Friday: 10am–5pm
Drop-in assessments: Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 12pm–4pm.
Change Grow Live also has a Kilburn hub at 210 Kilburn High Road, London NW6 4JH. Appointments there are arranged rather than treated as a general drop-in. The Camden team can also discuss other locations or remote support where that better fits the person’s circumstances.
That matters in a borough stretching from King’s Cross and Camden Town to Hampstead, Gospel Oak, West Hampstead and Kilburn: the main treatment route is the Camden service, but the appointment does not necessarily have to happen in one building.
FWD is Camden’s specialist drug and alcohol service for children and young people. Camden Council says it works with people aged 8 to 25 who live in Camden, are registered with a Camden GP or attend school in the borough. It can also work with looked-after young people from Camden who are living with carers outside the borough.
FWD supports young people with their own alcohol or drug use and those affected by somebody else’s substance use. Support can include one-to-one work, group sessions, information about drugs and alcohol, and help around the wider things affecting a young person’s life.
Telephone: 020 7974 4701
Opening times: Monday to Friday, 9am–5pm.
Abbington House is an adult residential service. For someone under 18, FWD is the appropriate first route rather than Abbington’s admissions team.
Somebody else’s drinking or drug use can take over a household long before that person is ready to ask for help. Camden’s adult service provides support for family members, friends and partners in their own right.
Some Space, delivered through Change Grow Live, offers confidential support whether or not the person using alcohol or drugs is receiving treatment. Support can include one-to-one or joint sessions, counselling, practical guidance, drug and alcohol awareness, parenting support and help thinking through risks at home.
The service can work face to face, online or by telephone.
Telephone: 020 7485 2722
Camden has several services that are unusual enough to be worth knowing about separately from the main treatment pathway.
In March 2026, Camden became one of the first London boroughs to offer a regular drug-checking service through The Loop, working with Change Grow Live. The free service is aimed at people who use drugs and provides information about what a substance contains alongside non-judgemental harm-reduction advice and routes into support.
The service currently runs from the Change Grow Live Camden hub at King’s Studios on the first Saturday of each month, 12pm–7pm. Check the current arrangement before travelling, as specialist service times can change.
Change Grow Live Camden provides naloxone and nitazene testing kits from the King’s Terrace hub for people using the service and members of the Camden community. Naloxone can temporarily reverse an opioid overdose, while testing can help identify some of the risks connected with potent synthetic opioids entering the local drug supply.
Where opioids are involved, ask the Camden team about naloxone rather than waiting for an emergency to happen.
REST supports adults in Camden and Islington who are experiencing dependence or withdrawal involving benzodiazepines or z-drugs, whether the medicine was prescribed or obtained elsewhere.
It is not a prescribing service. It can provide information, advocacy, counselling, support groups and three-way work with GPs around dose-reduction plans.
Community treatment works well for many people. Residential rehab provides a different level and setting of support rather than an automatically better form of treatment.
It may be worth considering where:
Our residential rehab page explains how treatment works at Abbington House, including assessment, detox where clinically appropriate, therapy, family support, daily structure and aftercare planning.
Our alcohol rehab guide explains the main alcohol-treatment routes available in the UK. Our drug rehab guide explains how treatment can differ by substance, including illicit drugs, prescription medication and mixed substance use.
Abbington House provides CQC-regulated private residential treatment at its centre at 23 Hitchin Road in Stevenage for alcohol addiction, illicit and prescription drug addiction, and co-occurring mental-health difficulties.
Abbington House does not operate a clinic, consultation room or satellite treatment service in Camden. Residential treatment takes place in Stevenage.
For somebody whose alcohol or drug use has become bound up with the same streets, routines, people or easy access around them, treatment outside the borough can create useful distance without taking London completely out of reach.
Treatment brings assessment, medically supervised detox where clinically appropriate, therapy, daily structure, family support and preparation for life after treatment into one residential stay. Suitability and length of stay are assessed individually.
Not every situation requires residential treatment, and not every person is suitable for admission to Abbington House. The first conversation and assessment are used to understand the complete situation rather than force it into a residential pathway.
Camden has one practical advantage that most London boroughs do not: London King’s Cross is in the borough, and direct trains from King’s Cross to Stevenage can take around 21 minutes on the fastest services.
That does not make every journey from Camden 21 minutes. Someone travelling from Camden Town, Hampstead, Gospel Oak, West Hampstead or Kilburn still has to reach the main-line station first, and the total journey depends on the starting point and time of day.
For people in the King’s Cross and St Pancras area, the rail leg to Stevenage is direct. From Camden Town and other parts of the borough, the practical route is usually to reach King’s Cross or another station with a useful connection onto the northbound main line, then continue to Stevenage.
Train times and stopping patterns change, so check the journey before travelling rather than relying on the fastest advertised time.
Driving from Camden means crossing north London before joining the A1 and A1(M). Traffic can make the road journey much less predictable than the rail journey, particularly at peak times. The admissions team can help think through arrival arrangements, but the route and expected time should be checked on the day.
Family involvement does not depend on travelling to Stevenage every week. Abbington House provides a structured weekly family group online, allowing partners, parents, siblings and adult children in Camden to take part from home.
In-person contact may also form part of treatment where appropriate and agreed with the treatment team. Camden’s direct connection through King’s Cross can make same-day travel practical for some families, but arrangements are planned around the resident’s needs rather than treated as ordinary visiting hours.
You do not need to decide between the Camden community service and residential treatment before speaking to somebody.
You can explain what has been happening, what has already been tried, whether withdrawal or prescribed medication may be involved, whether mental-health difficulties are also part of the picture and what support is available at home.
The purpose of the first conversation with Abbington House is to decide whether the centre may be an appropriate option. Where Change Grow Live Camden, FWD, a GP, hospital care or another specialist route appears more suitable, the team will say so and, where possible, explain where else to seek help.
If community treatment sounds like the better starting point, contact Drug and Alcohol Services – Camden on 020 7485 2722 or use its online referral form.
