Youth Guidance Centre

A Youth Guidance Centre is a clinic for adolescents and young adults, where you can get help with many different things. You can visit the clinic from when you are 12 or 13 years of age until you are between 20 and 25 years of age. Each clinic is different. Here are examples of the types of help you can get:

• You have questions about your body.
• You are worried about something or are feeling sad or stressed.
• You have questions about sex or relationships.

• You need protection against sexually transmitted diseases.
• You need birth control.
• You want to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases.
• You want to take a pregnancy test.

Most Youth Guidance Centres offer free condoms.

How much does it cost to visit a Youth Guidance Centre?

If you are under 18 years of age, you do not pay anything. At most clinics, you do not pay anything if you are over 18 years of age, either. At some clinics, a visit costs the same as a visit to a health clinic.

When you are given a prescription for birth control or other medication, you pay for this when you collect the medication from a pharmacy. A prescription is a message from the clinic to the pharmacy.

At many Youth Guidance Centres, birth control is free, although, not at all of them.

What do I do if I want to visit a Youth Guidance Centre?

You have the freedom to go to the Youth Guidance Centre of your choice in Sweden. It is common to call and make an appointment beforehand. Many clinics also have specific times during the week where you can visit without having made an appointment. This is called drop-in.

Opening hours

Some Youth Guidance Centres are open Monday to Friday. Others are only open at certain times each week.

Who should I see?

A mix of people from different professions work at the Youth Guidance Centres. Midwives and counsellors are available at each Centre and there is nearly always a doctor available.

You do not need to know who you are going to meet with when visiting a Centre. The first person you talk to will help you figure this out.

Do I need to tell anyone that I visited a Centre?

Everyone who works in health care is subject to confidentiality. None of the people who work at the Centre are allowed to say that you have been there or what you have said. 

You can read more about confidentiality here.

Other places you can visit

You can visit the following places if you can not or do not want to visit a Youth Guidance Centre:

• A health clinic (vårdcentral).
• A school nurse or school counsellor if you go to school.
• Student health care (Studenthälsan) if you attend university or college.
• A midwife clinic if you need help with birth control.