About us

What does Altered High do?

  • We provide free and confidential, youth friendly counselling (talking therapy). We offer this for young people with any kind of substance use concern including young people who may not use substances themselves, but are affected by someone else’s use (such as a parent or partner).
  • Our service is youth friendly and goal focused. We help you with what you want to achieve and won’t push you towards goals you’re not comfortable with.
  • We’re also happy to work with your family, school or with any other agencies that may be involved in your life, either together with you, or separately.

Anything else?

  • We provide education and information evenings for families/caregivers and can provide individual support for parents even if their young person is not wanting to access the service at this time.
  • We run different groups including Brief Intervention groups, Managing Mood groups, Parent groups and groups for young people concerned about someone else’s use.
  • We can assess and recommend treatments for mild and moderate mental health issues that often occur with substance use problems. For more serious problems, we can support you to access other kinds of treatment.
  • We have a same-sex attraction focus clinician – and the whole team is queer-friendly.
  • We work closely with clinicians from Maori (Te Atea Marino) and Pacific (Tupu) AOD services.

What if I don’t want to stop using?

  • Altered High works under a harm minimisation philosophy. Although not using substances at all is usually the best way to minimise harm, we believe that those who are unable to this should not be excluded from treatment. Minimising harm allows a young person to focus on and succeed at achievable goals and helps make the treatment experience a positive one.
  • We work with young people whatever their motivation to change. Even if you’re not sure you want to make changes to your substance use, we’re still keen to see you. There are likely to be other things we can help with.
  • Altered High works within a resiliency and developmental framework. Rather than problems, we see challenges to be overcome. Working with a young person’s strengths is the best way to tackle difficulties.