Welcome to February’s Compass Points

Creating opportunities to share knowledge

Welcome to February’s edition. It’s great to read how we are starting to reap the benefits of bringing people together across Compass to share their knowledge, skills and experiences. Our biggest asset is our workforce so I am really keen we create the forums and opportunities that enables people to share knowledge and learning and to be able to streamline what we do, as well as inspiring creativity and taking forward new initiatives. This is evident in both the thematic EDI and self harm working groups. Hopefully the start of many to come.

I would also like to share with you news of some recent wins. I am delighted to tell you we have been awarded two new contracts which will go live in April and June respectively. The first is a brand new CYP Bereavement service in Wakefield which will be integrated within our existing service. As you know bereavement support is very close to my heart, so I am thrilled to see such an important new service being invested in locally and more importantly Compass has been entrusted to deliver it. The second one is an existing CYP early intervention and targeted support mental health service in Derby City and Derbyshire. We will work closely and sensitively with the outgoing organisation to ensure the transferring staff feel supported during this uncertain time. Both results are a testament to the amazing work of Compass Wakefield and Compass Changing Lives. So a huge thankyou to both teams for being such incredible ambassadors for Compass.

---

Staff welcome new accessibility tool

Staff around Compass have welcomed the new Recite Me accessibility tool, which allows everyone easier access to what we say on our website.

Cliff Edwards, our Marketing and Digital Communications Manager, said: “We’ve had some very positive reactions to the toolbar so far.

“It’s the leading one in use in this country and I believe it is a major step forward for us as an accessible organisation.”

It might take a little bit of getting used to, he said. But it was well worth that effort for staff to see what it could do and how it could help.

Chief Executive Officer Rachel Bundock has said all staff should watch the easy to follow video showing how to use the toolbar in their every day work.

And Cliff also urged staff to look at the page about the Accessibility Tool which was shared in the original all staff notification about the innovation – How do I access the Recite Me toolbar.

Our website’s pages can be changed, so they appear in different languages. Sections can be read out by an AI voice in those different languages. They can be downloaded as MP3 audio files and sent to clients’ phones or via email.

The look of pages can be simplified to aid people who are neuro-diverse. The web page fonts can also be changed so they are easier to read for people with dyslexia (open dyslexic font, arial or comic sans).

Speaking at the EDI Steering Group, Cliff explained that PDFs and Word pages would also be reached by the tool, as long as they are uploaded to the Compass website first and are placed on one of our web pages and therefore have a Compass web page address.

One staff member at the meeting reported how the tool had been used to overcome a language barrier with the parent of a Lithuanian child. It had meant the practitioner could demonstrate to them the support the service can offer.

Cliff met staff at Connect for Health to answer questions and discuss how the toolbar can be used. He is happy to have further meetings with staff in services. You can contact him at cliff.edwards@compass-uk.org

---

EDI Steering Group Update

The latest Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group meeting heard about the Accessibility Tool, as above.

The meeting is chaired by Rachel Bundock and People Director Kim Jones presents many agenda items.

A proposed EDI training matrix was reviewed in line with with historic and current mandatory and elective ED&I training, identifying what level of training is required for each cohort of staff. This will be finalised by the Learning and Development Steering Group shortly.

Guidance for Health Equalities Leads, previously Specialist Themed Leads was also discussed.  The guidance is already in place across many services and sets the scene of what services want and how they will use health equalities and its outcomes for CYP. This will be shared with service managers in the coming weeks.

There were updates on the Your Voice staff survey and the EDI Thematic Groups.

---

SEND and LGBTQ+ thematic EDI groups hold their first meetings

Two more EDI thematic groups held their first meetings this month, with two new chairs appointed.

Kim Taylor from Warwickshire CYPDAS has been nominated chair for the SEND group and Harry Dixon, from Compass GO! has been nominated chair for the LGBQT + group.

Sue Cody, our Quality Assurance Lead and Jane Wright, Assistant Director (Operations) led off the discussions.

Sue said: “The SEND & LGBTQ + EDI Thematic Working Groups were launched this month, thank you to all those who attended.  We have such a breadth of enthusiasm, knowledge, and experience within the groups.

“It’s an exciting time and we’re really looking forward to following the progression and development of the groups over the coming year.  

“As part of a standing agenda, the groups discuss and share best practice within the services, national and local guidance as well as training needs. The LGBTQ+ group are keen to increase organisational awareness as part of Pride Week in June.”

To learn more about the thematic groups, their meetings and terms off reference, please follow this pathway. U:\Equality Diversity & Inclusion Steering Group\Thematic Working Groups

---

World Hijab Day celebrated around Compass.

Staff in Compass services marked World Hijab Day.

 At Compass Bloom, Salma Khanporia said the day, celebrated on 1st, February, honours Muslim women who wear the hijab.

Salma said the celebration day was established in 2013 with the aim of promoting understanding by inviting women, irrespective of their faith or background, to experience wearing a hijab for a day.

She said: “The event seeks to foster empathy and awareness about the reasons why some women choose to wear the hijab, as well as promote religious and cultural understanding.”

Anne Haines, Service Manager, said:  “Salma’s presented a very positive and inclusive experience for us all here at Compass Bloom! Wearing a hijab for a day provided us with valuable insights into people’s cultural and religious practices.

“It’s a great initiative to promote understanding, respect, and appreciation for diversity. Salma’s efforts to demonstrate different styles and accessories created a comfortable and educational environment for everyone involved.

And Anne added: “These forward-thinking activities generate empathy and contribute to a more inclusive and supportive community. It’s wonderful to have the opportunity to participate in such an enlightening and engaging experience.”

---

New resources available for staff responding to self-harm

by Sue Cody, Quality Assurance Lead

New resources have been created and collected together for staff in all our services who may deal with issues around self-harm.

Staff from across Compass have been involved in a Self-Harm Resources Task & Finish Group over the last few months. The aim of the group was to create a repository of self-harm tools and resources that are common to all Compass services to improve consistency and maintain quality standards across services.

Lisa Gale, Assistant Director Operations, explained: “Traditionally Compass services have held their own local resources and interventions which they use when delivering sessions to children and young people on a variety of topics, but it has been recognised that, as an organisation, we would like to start to develop a central repository of shared tools and worksheets.

Vital work

“Since the work we do with CYP who self-harm is vital in terms of preventing escalation and keeping them safe we decided this would be our starting point. In October 2023 we co-opted willing volunteers to represent their service at the newly established Self-harm Resources Task and Finish Group and set about collating and critiquing the most commonly used resources from across the organisation.

“What we have come up with is a discrete set of evidence-based resources that will ensure services are providing good quality, consistent interventions to those CYP who need it.”

Task and Finish group member, Lisa Bradley of Compass Bloom, said: “The contribution of the Task and Finish Group members was absolutely fantastic and the knowledge and expertise they actively shared during our time together was invaluable – I thoroughly enjoyed leading this piece of work and hope the resources will be useful to all and any practitioners who need to use them in future.

She continued: “I found all the meetings were pro-active and solution focused! I’m excited to share our final resources with the team and I look forward to getting some feedback regarding the impact of the resources, in our everyday work alongside the CYP we support.”

Sue Cody, Quality Assurance Lead, added: “We are keen to continue this approach with the resources group reviewing existing resources within services on a variety of relevant topics to provide a central standard repository across the organisation, watch this space for further information.”

Please see this link to the Self Harm Compass approved resources U:\Self-harm Resources

Staff who were involved in the work within the Task and Finish Group were Sarah Wilmore, Emotional Wellbeing Practitioner at Compass Phoenix; Hannah Bishop, Team Leader in Compass Go!; Lisa Bradley, Supervising Practitioner in Compass Bloom; Suzanne Maclaren, Team Leader in Warwickshire CYPDAS; Maja Roe, Mental Health Practitioner Changing Lives; Hayley Spies, Supervising Practitioner at Compass Birmingham MHST; Clare Daniell, School Staff Nurse in Connect for Health; Jake Pantony, Healthy Lifestyles Coordinator in Connect for Health and Sue Cody, Quality Assurance Lead, SLT.

---

DfE Senior Mental Health Lead Training offer extended to July

Wellbeing Trainer Danielle Grant has called upon staff to alert education partners to Compass’ offer of high quality Senior Mental Health Lead training.

The practical introduction to implementing a whole school approach is a two day course that costs just £795 of the £1,200 DfE grant funding to schools for each delegate.

The DfE has recently announced the extension of funding for selected providers – including Compass until July and now Positive Effect has announced its new dates for school staff to take advantage of our offer.

The new dates are: –

Group 14 – March 05/03/2024 07/03/2024
Group 15 – March 12/03/2024 14/03/2024
Group 16 – March 19/03/2024 21/03/2024
Group 17 – April 03/04/2024 10/04/2024
Group 18 – May 08/05/2024 22/05/2024
Group 19 – June 06/06/2024 13/06/2024
Group 20 – July 03/07/2024 10/07/2024

Our course is

• Assured to receive DfE grant funding of £1200 to cover the entire £795* course cost and contribute to teaching cover
• CPD certified
• Delivered online or face to face* to small cohorts of 4-8 delegates
• Completed within six weeks – consisting of 2 six-hour days, 1 hour consultation and self-paced action planning
• Supported by ongoing peer learning through termly community in practice events
• Practical – drawing on our experience of what works, through delivering services that support the development of whole school approaches and provide interventions to pupils with low to moderate mental health needs

It’s for

• Beginners
• Newly appointed Senior Leads or those with no previous mental health leadership training
• Senior Leads in any education setting

Danielle said: “Every course that is run through Positive Effect means another school is developing their Whole School Approach. They will have a robust auditing process and action plan in place.

“Every delegate will become a trained Mental Health Lead; that in turn means that the pupils/students in their school are receiving informed support and are a closer to improving wellbeing in their school community.”

The course is CPD accredited and delegates receive a certificate for 6 hours of training. Over 100 senior school staff have successfully completed the course so far.

And she added: “So if you work in a school, or visit or support a school, please promote this Senior Mental Health Lead training course.”

Find out more…

You can find details of the course by clicking on the white banner on our website.

Share the flyer at K:\2022-24\Education\DfE Training\Marketing\DfE training_CompassPositiveEffect 2024.1

Click here to visit the main course pages. Watch more videos about the course…

Service news

---

---

Grateful for the help and support you’ve received from a colleague? Tell us about it…

Just Say Thanks…

---

Safeguarding with Jan Smith, Compass Designated Safeguarding Officer

Learning from Safeguarding Practice Reviews

This month’s safeguarding feature is learning from a safeguarding case review in Birmingham. Safeguarding Case Reviews (now known as Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews) are commissioned by the local safeguarding children board (LSCB) for any case where it suspects that learning to improve local practice can be gained.

Birmingham LSCB have shared the learning from a recent review to enable partners and providers an opportunity to share and reflect on the learnings in this case, which are summarised below as they are certainly relevant to our own practice.

Background

The three-year-old child in this case suffered a life changing head injury, requiring specialist care and support for the rest of their life. The medical team found evidence of old fractures and previous bleeding on the brain. The child’s parents were young, married asylum seekers. They came to the UK from abroad. They had been known to agencies since the child’s premature birth. Prior to the incident there had been several safeguarding referrals made about the child, and there was a history of the child not being brought to medical appointments. The child had five unplanned hospital attendances, including three for significant injuries. The child’s injuries were thought to be non-accidental and the mother was subsequently charged and found guilty of child neglect.

Key Learning

The review findings echoed learning from previous reviews.

More could have been done to understand the child’s lived experience and the parents’ vulnerabilities as a young, migrant couple with no experience or understanding of the health, benefits or housing systems in the UK.

Opportunities for a holistic assessment were missed, which could have resulted in better coordination of both early help and health services.

Child protection processes weren’t initiated, which delayed completion of parenting assessments.

Convening of child protection Strategy Meetings could have led to better co-ordination of social work and hospital intervention, contingency and discharge planning.

Absence of an agreement over the supervision and contact arrangements for the parents, meant that over time, the mother (perpetrator) became the child’s main carer.

Improving Practice

Make sure you consider the experiences and trauma of asylum-seeking parents when assessing their parenting capacity.

When working with asylum-seeking families, take the time to find out what services and support are available for their specific needs and whether they are actually receiving it. Please don’t assume support is in place.

Find out who else is working with the family so work is coordinated (this applies to early help and discharge planning in health). Is there a Lead Professional for the child who you can work with? If multiple agencies are working with the family and there isn’t a Lead Professional, raise this!

It is so important that a child attends their health appointments. Make sure you understand and follow the ‘Was not Brought’ policy.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions and seek advice if you have ANY concerns about unexplained or suspicious injuries to a child. Non-accidental injury should be considered until there is definitive evidence of another cause of injury.

It’s crucial that all organisations follow child protection processes and that assessments, care planning and court processes take place in a timely way. Follow the escalation protocol if you don’t think this is happening

If you would like to know more about Compass Safeguarding practices or you would like to suggest a focus for the Safeguarding feature in Compass Points which will help your colleagues gain a greater insight into safeguarding practices please let Jan know – jan.smith@compass-uk.org

---

Senior Leadership Team Update

At our February meeting, SLT reviewed some key strategic documents produced by the relevant functional SLT lead as well as considering ways to increase SLT visibility across services and teams.

We reviewed a systems implementation plan, led by Olakunle, that reflected all the workstreams that relate to either upgrading or changing some of the systems we use at Compass. The main driver being to ensure we have modern automated systems that remove as many manual processes as possible, resulting in freeing up more time and reducing the risk of human error. The plan reflected each of the workstreams (IAPTUS, Datix, CIPHR, Eploy), and the planning of when decisions on systems changes will come to SLT for ratification and when they will be implemented.

SLT agreed that wherever possible it was important that we should spread out the implementation of new/upgraded systems so people had some downtime between each implementation. So they can get used to the changes and we have the time to iron out any teething problems.

We reviewed a brand new document and process – the ‘Identification and management of new and emerging needs’. This piece of work has been led by Sue Cody, supported by senior operational managers and outlines a process flow to help service leads know what to do when gaps in local provision are identified and how teams can proactively use their knowledge, insights and data intelligence to develop solutions and how to take these forward locally and organisationally. The new process has now been shared with service managers.

Following an initial review of the results from the Compass Your Voice staff survey, a proposal to implement annual CEO site visits was approved as one of the ways to increase SLT connectivity with staff teams. This would ensure Rachel spends dedicated time with individual teams each year. With the focus being on listening and talking to staff about their experiences whether that be in relation to their role, service or the organisation itself. And creating an opportunity for people to ask questions and put forward new ideas. A schedule of visits for the year will now arranged.

---

Contacting your People department