Need advice and guidance

Everyone can get information, advice and guidance in a counselling session at a  NAV office. You do not need to be in a difficult situation already to use this service. Nor do you need to qualify for benefits from NAV to ask for a meeting to get advice and guidance.

We will offer you counselling based on your needs and help you to prevent, plan or change your situation.

The service is a right

The Information, advice and guidance service is a right. You have the right to a get a notice of decision with a date for when the service starts. You also have a right to complain.

If you need a counselling session with us, you can contact your contact your NAV office. You can also call us to arrange a meeting.

Your counsellor will help you to improve, prevent or solve challenges you might have. It may for instance be a difficult family, housing or employment situation, or financial problems. NAV has also a duty to advise you about services and benefits that you are entitled to.

You and your counsellor will together make a plan for what the counselling will contain and how long it will last.

If you are receiving financial support, a counselling session may help you be able to manage better on your own. A financial counsellor can help you if you have challenges with your finances or debt.

Examples of concrete things a counsellor can help you with are to register as a job seeker, apply for services and benefits, guide you on how to proceed in the housing market, help you to pay bills, and more.

Examples of the situations you can get help with

Everyone who works in NAV is bound by a duty of confidentiality. The counselling session is supposed to take place where you won’t be disturbed. You can usually choose between meeting at NAV office in person or digitally.

In the meeting, we will talk to you in order to find out what you and your family, if relevant, need NAV’s help with. If you prefer, you can bring a person you trust with you to the meeting. 

If you have a difficult family situation, mental health challenges, struggle with addiction, or face other challenges, you should mention this to your counsellor. When we know, we will be better able to help you and follow up on your case. 

If you are receiving follow-up from others, such as child welfare services or the district psychiatric outpatient service (DPS), it would be great if you could mention this to us. If you wish, we can work together with others on follow-up.

Do you need an interpreter? 

If you cannot understand what is being said and you cannot communicate what you need, you have the right to an interpreter during your meeting with NAV. This includes foreign language interpretation and interpretation for people who are deaf, hearing impaired and deaf-blind. 

If you need help from other public services, we can help you get in touch with them.

If you want, we can collaborate with various other public services to ensure you get the best possible help. Examples of other public services we can coordinate with include schools, doctors, the follow-up service (oppfølgingstjenesten), the child welfare service (barnevernet), the child and adolescent psychiatric service (BUP), and district psychiatric centres (DPS). The NAV office can coordinate the collaboration.