What to expect from ru-ok?
Find out what we do, the type of support we offer, how we work and information about your privacy.
What we do
We will listen to you and will try to work with you in identifying how drugs and/or alcohol are affecting your life. We work with you on the goals that you set.
We can offer you support with home, school, housing, health, relationships, confidence issues and more. Most of our work takes place one-to-one, but occasionally we offer group work and, depending on your circumstances, we may work with you and your family.
For those young people who need to know more about drugs, alcohol or sexual health, we can provide a short programme involving activities designed to increase their knowledge and confidence in these areas.
If we think that you may be at risk from some of your life choices and are interested in music, we may ask AudioActive to introduce you to one of their Shift mentors who can engage you in creative and positive activities.
What to expect
We often meet young people in schools to offer sexual health or drug & alcohol advice or to work together on treatment plans. We also meet young people in their homes, cafes or anywhere that they feel comfortable.
The video below gives some examples of how we're working virtually:
Through our conversations with you, we'll work with you to figure out what problems alcohol or drugs are causing in your life and create a support plan to tackle them. We’ll do this together with you, at your pace.
If you’re unsure about meeting with us, we’re happy for you to bring along a friend, family member, carer or key worker for initial appointments.
Types of support we offer
The support we offer will be tailored to you, but you can see some examples of our services on this page.
Substance use treatment
Individual treatment for under-18s with problematic drug or alcohol use. This may include problems with:
- physical or mental health
- education
- family
- drug debt
- offending
- being exploited
Treatment goals are defined by young people, who will be supported to achieve them by a skilled professional.
Drugs, alcohol and sexual health (DASH)
Short term education and prevention for under 18s around drugs, alcohol and unsafe sex; information and support on contraception, STIs, pregnancy testing and getting help from specialist sexual health services.
SHIFT (AudioActive)
Music and mentoring for school-age children at risk from substance use or criminal exploitation.
How we work
To see how we work, watch the video below. It shows a young person describing the support that she got from us, and one of our team members talking about what we do.
This is edited footage of the Teachers TV film ‘School Matters: Tackling Drugs’, which is available to download or watch in full here. Used with permission.
You can watch more videos about what we do on our YouTube channel.
Your right to privacy
We respect your right to privacy. We can keep everything you tell us confidential, unless something you say leads us to have concerns for your safety or the safety of others.
If we do need to share information without your consent, we'll tell you this and explain why.
Although we almost always keep the content of our sessions private, most young people choose to tell their parents, carers or support workers that they're working with us.
We often work to try to help them better understand what’s going on for the young person and to think about how best to respond to any problems that arise.