NGAGE With Aquarius

NGAGE is an early intervention substance misuse service for young people in Northamptonshire. They offer a free and confidential service that provides information, education, advice, and support to young people regarding drug and alcohol use.

NGAGE has a Youth Participation Worker that promotes the voice of young people in the design and delivery of the service. They also run a youth group called Evolve, which offers positive activities and opportunities for young people to get involved.

NGAGE services include:

• Offering brief advice and information regarding substances.
• Providing comprehensive assessment and care-planned interventions for young people who are experiencing problematic substance misuse. They also offer support in situations where substance misuse is causing issues either at home, school, or work.
• Offering 1-to-1 interventions that support young people to achieve their goals and reduce risk by:
  • face-to-face contact (in line with the current guidelines)
  • telephone and online contact (via WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or Zoom).
• Empowering young people to achieve their goals. Enabling them to access positive activities, training, and peer mentors through the Evolve youth group.
• Providing structured group work for targeted groups of young people.
• Offering volunteering and training opportunities for young people who want to be more actively involved through the Evolve youth group.
• Offering training to professionals working with young people to understand issues and trends in drug use. They also offer training on screening tools and how to engage young people in discussions about drug and alcohol use.
• Offering support and advice to parents concerned about their children and substance misuse.
• Offering support and advice to professional with concerns.

NGAGE is for young people who:

• Want advice and information about drugs and/or alcohol use
• Associate with others who are misusing drugs and/or alcohol, and who may be vulnerable
• Are using drugs and/or alcohol and would like to reduce the harm caused
• Want to reduce their drug and/or alcohol use, or stop completely
• Need an opiate substitute prescription
• Need support into inpatient detox for alcohol dependency