Steps to Cope Service Overview
The Steps to Cope Service provides support to young people aged 11-25 who are experiencing or who have lived with another family member’s alcohol or substance misuse or mental health difficulties in their family.
The service is available across Northern Ireland and direct support or find information and an online self-care tool in the Steps to Cope section of this website. If you are a young person seeking help, or you want to refer a young person to the Steps to Cope service you can make a referral online using the form at the bottom of this page or just click the button below.
Information on Steps to Cope for young people
Steps to Cope has been developed specifically for young people who have experienced parental alcohol or drug issues or mental health issues in their family. It can be difficult to understand what is going on in your family, discuss it with others or know how to cope with things. You cant change what is happening in your family but you can learn how to be more resilient to these challenges.
You can get support from one of the Steps to Cope team, who will work directly with you either face to face or virtually. If you would like to discuss direct support you can use the online form below, or call us on 0800 2545 123 or contact us using our online referral form.
We also have online information and a self care programme you can work through. These have been developed with the help of other young people that have experienced these issues too and include things that they found helpful. You can have a look at the information and online support tool in the Steps to Cope area of our website.
Whether it is face to face support from our service or you choose to use the online support programme you will be guided through 5 simple steps that can help you. These are:
1) looking at what life has been like for you living with these issues.
2) Giving information on alcohol and drug misuse, addiction and mental health to help you understand more about the situation
3) Looking at coping and what methods of coping are helpful or unhelpful and what else you can do
4) Identifying the support you have available and who else you could reach out to
5) Looking at further help you may require
Information on Steps to Cope for parents or carers
When there are issues like alcohol, substance misuse or mental ill-health difficulties in a family, children can struggle to understand what is going on, feel they are to blame or having difficulty coping. They cant change what is happening in their family but they can learn how to make them selves more resilient to these challenges. If your family is experiencing these issues then Steps to Cope can be of help to your children.
If your child or young person has questions, whether it be about alcohol misuse, drugs, mental health or associated issues, it may help reduce their anxiety to have answers and develop their understanding. They can also look at how they cope and what supports they can use to help them.
If you think your child would benefit from face to face support, then our Steps to Cope service for young people can help. Just complete the online form below or give us a call on 0800 2545 123.
Or your children get information from the Steps to Cope area of our website or use the online self care tool to help them.
Information for Referral Agents
If you are working with a family where there are parental drugs, alcohol or mental health problems, you can refer a young person for one to one support or signpost the young person to the Steps to Cope area of our website where they can get helpful information and find a self care tool that they can work through themselves.
If you wish to refer them for face to face support you can make a referral using the online form below. There is also a practitioners area on the site where you can get information resources that may be useful to you.
For more information contact us:
T: 0800 2545 123
E: stc@ascert.biz
