Who else will know?

In most cases, no-one needs to know. You can get advice and information about alcohol and drugs without anyone knowing.

If you need alcohol or drugs help or treatment we won't tell anyone, but if you're under 16 we'd have to make sure you understand what you're getting into, and we may encourage you to talk to your parents or carers.

If you are under 16 you have a right to confidential advice and treatment if we assess that you:

understand the advice and have the maturity to understand what is involved
your physical and/or mental health will suffer if you do not have help
it is in your best interest to give such advice/treatment without parents knowing
will continue to put yourself at risk of harm if you do not have advice/treatment
cannot be persuaded to inform parents/carers, nor allow us to inform them

If you do need your parent's consent (say if you're under 10 and want counselling), they don't have to know the details of what you talk to us about, only things like what method we're using and how long we'll be working with you.

Sometimes we have to contact other agencies so that you can get the best possible support. We'd always aim to talk to you about this first.