Services provided:

The provision of any of the helping services listed below requires appropriately trained and supervised staff. Youth Access defines information, advice, counselling and personal support services as follows:

Information
The provision of systems and processes which make comprehensive, up-to-date and accessible information available to young people. There is no assessment or recommendation about the information’s appropriateness, and decisions, choices and action are left with the young person. Information work can include signposting to other services or providing young people with resources to discover their own answers to their questions and needs.

Advice
Advice is concerned with helping a young person to change or cope with practical issues and problems. It seeks to widen the young person’s choices by providing accurate and relevant information about their rights, options and potential courses of action. The advice worker may identify and recommend ways forward, but decisions and choices are left to the young person. Any action agreed by the young person may be undertaken by, with, or on behalf of the young person.

Counselling
Counselling is an activity voluntarily entered into by a young person who wants to explore and understand issues in their lives which may be causing difficulty, pain and/or confusion. The boundaries of the relationship are identified and an explicit contract agreed between the young person and the counsellor. The aim is to assist the young person to achieve a greater understanding of themselves and their relationship to their world; to create a greater awareness of their personal resources and of their ability to affect and cope with their life.

Personal Support This is a general term which embraces a range of helping activities, including befriending and both individual and groupwork. The activities are frequently aimed at reducing a young person’s sense of social and personal isolation and may provide help with practical needs such as independent living skills