Birmingham Young People’s Service

Substance misuse means problematic drinking or drug use. When we say ‘affected’ by substance misuse, we mean that we work with young people who are drinking or using drugs themselves OR who have a family member who drinks or uses drugs.

We work with everyone in different ways based on their needs, interests and aspirations. We get to know you as a person and understand your situation, and make a plan with you about how we can help. Support might be offered on a 1:1 basis, between you and a specific Aquarius support worker, or it might be in a group session.

The kinds of support we might offer you includes:

• Information and advice about drinking and drug use
• A drop-in service
• 1:1 advice and interventions for children and young people using or at risking of using substances
• Structured, evidence-based psychological and psychosocial interventions and support
• Group work

Our interventions – which means the programme of support we offer you – are structured and evidence-based. The approach we use to support is based in cognitive behavioural techniques – you can read more about what that actually means here.

In Birmingham we also have some other projects that you might want to take part in. These include Evolve, our social enterprise café and events space, the Grow Project, which encourages outdoor activity and teaches practical skills, and Aquarius Cares, for children and young people with experience of being in care.

You can refer yourself by emailing young.people@aquarius.org.uk, or by having a professional who works with you fill out our referral form and send it back to us.

Our Birmingham Young People’s Service works in partnership with other organisations to ensure you get the right support at the right time. Some of these partners are based in our head office on Bristol Road, and sometimes we have support workers based in their offices.

These organisations include:

• Forward Thinking Birmingham – we know that a lot of young people who drink and use drugs are vulnerable to mental health problems. That’s why we offer a specialist Forward Thinking Birmingham service, consisting of a consultant psychiatrist, a clinical nurse specialist, and an assistant psychologist. They can assess you and provide specialist support, including opiate substitute prescribing where needed.
• St Basil’s – we have shared staff with St Basil’s to work with young people who are affected by both substance use and homelessness.
• Barnardo’s – we have a Barnardo’s Child Sexual Exploitation worker in our team to work with you if there are concerns around both substance use and sexual exploitation 
• Youth Offending Team – there’s an Aquarius Practitioner based in each of the Youth Offending Teams across Birmingham who work with young people if there are concerns around substance use (even if the offending isn’t related to substance use).