AY recognizes that treatment for youth must consider their cognitive, emotional and social development and be aware of the impact that alcohol and drugs has on the normal transition to adulthood.

The philosophy of AY is that treatment must be customized to meet individual needs and respect client choice.

AY has a long history of strong positive relationships with youth-serving agencies as well as with those organizations that specialize in substance use issues. For a number of years, AY owned their main program facility in the core of Hamilton. In 1997 the agency started to decentralized services by locating offices in a variety of organizations throughout the City, in order to meet the access needs of our client population. AY has continued to develop new off-sites as resources allow.