Drugs - advice and support

Quit smoking in 2012 - free clinics and support from the North Yorkshire stop smoking service

Stopping smoking is the single most helpful thing you can do to improve your health and the health of the people around you. Also, evidence shows that you are far more likely to stop smoking for good if you get the right support.

Free support is available in North Yorkshire and York through the North Yorkshire stop smoking service. For more information and to book a place on a stop smoking clinic, see the North Yorkshire stop smoking service page of the NHS North Yorkshire and York website or phone 0300 303 1603.

Getting help and support

There are different ways of getting help and support, so you can use your preferred option:

• You can make an appointment to see your GP who can advise you on what to do (you can find your local GP using the NHS Find and choose services tool below);
• You can access advice and support from a specialist agency in your area (contacts can be found below) by either telephoning them direct or calling into the nearest office to your home; or
• You can contact one of the dedicated helplines available (links and contacts can be found below). These are totally confidential.

	Related information from NHS Choices Find and choose services Use the Find and choose servicessearch tool from NHS Choices to find your local GP or doctor; accident and emergency unit; minor injury unit; hospital; dentist; pharmacist (chemist); optician; carers support organisation; and more. Drugs You can get information on drugs and substance misuse as well as advice and support from the Drugspage from NHS Choices. You can also find information about getting help; the effects of drugs; legal highs; and talking about drugs with your child. Smoking calculator Fill in how many you smoke a day on this Smoking calculatorfrom NHS Choices and find out how much your habit is costing you, both financially and to your physical health. Then see the benefits you can gain by giving up. Legal highs Legal highs are substances used like illegal drugs such as cocaine or cannabis, but not covered by current misuse of drugs laws, and so legal to possess or to use. Find out about the health risks of legal highs and when to seek medical help using the Legal highspage from NHS Choices. Depression self-assessment test There are many symptoms of depression, including low mood, feelings of hopelessness, low self-esteem, lack of energy and problems with sleep. The more symptoms someone has, the more likely they are to be depressed. This Depression self-assessment testfrom NHS Choices will help you to assess whether you could be suffering from depression. Saying no to drugs Would you say no to drugs? Find out what choices teenagers Taz and Mike made, and how their lives were affected. Cannabis: real stories Smoking cannabis can lead to cannabis psychosis, causing you to lose touch with reality. Two men describe how it happened to them. [Content supplied by NHS Choices]

The help provided by drug misuse services

The specialist services can offer you a range of advice and support to suit your needs. You would need to discuss this with the service you contact but examples include:

• advice, information and support;
• structured counselling;
• access to maintenance prescribing for opiate users;
• day programmes; and
• access to patient detoxification.

Confidentiality

All helplines and services are totally confidential. You can discuss your concerns about drug misuse freely. You don't have to give your name if you don't want to.

The only time a service would request your name is if you accessed structured treatment or you need to access medical assistance. For safety reasons and to ensure they can provide you with good quality care they would then ask for your details. However, this will be in total confidence.

The only time a service would breach confidentiality is if they feel the public or a child is at risk or they feel you are at risk of harming yourself.

Information about alcohol, drugs and substance misuse

See our alcohol, drugs and substance misuse page for details about the risks and health effects of using alcohol and drugs.