A counselling agency for youths will be on line soon, according to the National Drug Commission.

Explaining why the service had not yet started as promised by Education Minister Jerome Dill, NDC treatment coordinator Lynda Price said the Commission was carefully laying the foundation for the agency.

The Bermuda Youth Counselling Services programme will confidentially deal with the problems of students who experiment with alcohol and other drugs or whose parents abuse drugs.

It will allow schools -- with the consent of parents -- to refer students to the service for assessment.

Students will be interviewed and a comprehensive plan will be designed for each student to address his or her needs.

Parents will also be encouraged to participate in designing the assistance plan.

The programme, while targetting school students, will also be available to everyone between the ages of 10 to 24.

"We're in the process of getting it up and running,'' Dr. Price told The Royal Gazette . "We've advertised for a programme manager which is one of the crucial positions.'' According to the advertisement, which ran in the Official Gazette last week, the successful applicant will be responsible for developing the programme in accordance with specific goals and objectives of the NDC.

He or she will also need to "liaison with schools' counselling and teaching staff, as well as parents-teachers' groups, in the start-up phase''.

The successful candidate must have a Master's degree in social work, education, clinical psychology or a related field and experience working with adolescents, as well as education and training in the addictions field.

Certification as an addictions counsellor or willingness to acquire internationally recognised certification would be distinct assets, the advertisement noted.

Applications must be submitted by today.

Dr. Price said all the applicants will be reviewed, shortlisted, and interviewed.

"We're trying to keep everything on track,'' she added. "We're looking at Bermudians for all of the positions.'' In terms of the location of the agency, Dr. Price said: "We're looking at several spaces, a professional place.''