Compass growing and developing in the new academic year
by Rachel Bundock, Compass CEO
Welcome to our August edition. Hopefully, you have been able to take some time off during the summer period and have been able to recharge ahead of the new academic year. As always even with a lighter edition this month there is still lots going on… we have welcomed our new Birmingham teams, made huge strides at our EDI steering group in thinking about how we embed all things EDI across Compass, and many of our services have enjoyed team ‘away days’ over the summer. Away days are an important part of the annual calendar enabling us to take time out to reflect as well as having some downtime with colleagues and focus on our own wellbeing.
Compass reviews its leadership structure as it continues to evolve.
Compass has announced changes in the way it refers to groupings of its services and titles of senior leaders as it continues to accommodate recent growth and take the opportunity to become more contemporary in how we describe who we are and better reflect what we do.
The 12 existing services will now fall under the newly named groups of Mental Health and Wellbeing, Risky Behaviours and Public Health Nursing.
And the Senior Management Team will now be known as the Senior Leadership Team to reflect its enabling role within an accomplished Compass workforce.
Kim Jones’s title changes from HR Director to People Director. The term HR is being replaced in favour of People.
Regional Assistant Directors heading operations will now be known as Assistant Directors Operations, with their portfolios not linked to locality in anticipation of future growth ambitions.
Rachel Bundock, Chief Executive Officer of Compass, said: “Colleagues across the organisation know there have been many changes and developments over the last two years with existing services developing and adapting to meet the needs of their local communities and beneficiaries and the addition of new models of care and expansion of existing services. Alongside service changes we have also seen central support services adapt to meet the level of growth across Compass and respond to new demands.
Rachel added: “These changes in how we refer to ourselves will more accurately reflect the aspirations of the organisation over the next few years.”
Corporate roles
| Previous | New |
|---|---|
| Senior Management Team (SMT) | Senior Leadership Team (SLT) |
| HR Director | People Director |
| Finance Director | Finance and Corporate Services Director |
| Assistant Director (Locality) | Assistant Director Operations (ADO) |
| Assistant Director Portfolios | Directorates |
| HR Manager | People Partner |
| HR Advisor/Assistant/Administrator | People Advisor/Assistant/Administrator |
Service Groups
| Previous | New | Service specific |
|---|---|---|
| School Nursing Services (healthy child programme, family weight management) | Public Health Nursing (PHN) | Connect 4 Health (Warwickshire) |
| Specialist Services (Substance Misuse, Drug and Alcohol, Sexual Health) | Risky Behaviour Services | Compass Elevate (Harrow) Compass Safe East (Tower Hamlets) Warwickshire CYPDAS |
| Mental Health | Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing | Compass Changing Lives (Derby City & Derbyshire) Compass Go… (North East Lincolnshire) Compass Be (Barnsley) Compass Phoenix (North Yorkshire) Compass Bloom (Central & West Lancashire) Compass Shine (Coventry) Compass Wakefield* Compass Birmingham* |
*new services will continue to be identified by location prefixed with Compass until local rebranding has taken place with stakeholders.
Compass colleagues forming its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group have decided to develop five smaller groups to help focus efforts.
People Director, Kim Jones, said: “We had some great contributions from around the table with colleagues’ knowledge and enthusiasm driving the discussion.
“It felt like a very productive and positive meeting and we have clear next steps on how we will develop the EDI forum groups.”
The five chosen groups, which will report to the main EDI Steering Group are LGBTQ+, SEND (Neurodiversity including Autism, ADHD,/ASD, Dyslexia), Physical Disability, Race and Culture, Gender.
Kim said it was hoped the smaller groups would help further embed equality, diversity and inclusion across the organisation.
The new groups would comprise of staff who have a key part of their role linked to EDI – such as roles focused on SEND, Specialist Themed Leads linked to EDI or Equalities Leads. But they would also include staff who are interested in the different areas and wish to be involved.
The groups would share best practice, update Compass resources, advise on latest developments and aim to help increase awareness and knowledge by marking awareness days and running mini training events, including around unconscious bias.
Kim said: “We are really grateful to our colleagues for taking the time out of their busy schedules to help shape and steer EDI within Compass – it’s an indication of how important this area is for all of us to keep on journeying, keep listening to each other and keep on learning.”
The discussion followed a consultation with managers across Compass on the themes the groups should focus on and the work they could do.
Kim added: “These groups will be really important as we move forward. It’s about sharing learning and awareness and of developing best practice.”
New Steering Group member, Kirsty Fletcher, observed: “The meeting reinforced how important communication and development of understanding are in terms of EDI.
“Learning comes not just from our own experience but from understanding the experiences of others and there is such a wealth of knowledge, understanding under the Compass umbrella. The sense of the importance of this work and of enthusiasm was palpable.”
A total of 14 staff members, took part in the meeting. CEO Rachel Bundock and Kim attend all the meetings.
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Take Good Care – Your Health and Wellbeing with Danielle Grant
Making those wellbeing connections
The Summer holidays have ended, and hopefully many of you have managed to get away and enjoy some well deserved rest; whether abroad or somewhere in the UK. There are some incredible cities and scenic areas to visit on this beautiful island and staycation breaks are becoming more and more popular.
Perhaps some of you have done some fun activities with your children and families. Perhaps some of you have juggled entertaining your children whilst trying to work, in the relentless pursuit of happy active children not plugged in all day everyday. “Back in my day, we would be kicked out after breakfast and not come home until the street lights came on”.
The opportunity to connect with friends and family during the summer is much greater as most people are in a position to take holiday from work and get out and do things.
Many of you work within a CYP focussed setting; so the academic year end, enables you to recoup and reconnect.
One of the 5 Ways to Wellbeing is ‘Connect’ and I think this is a great one to talk about this month. Connecting within our social circles is an important way for boosting our feel good.
Positive relationships can help our wellbeing and more important to note, is that isolation and loneliness actually are shown to increase risk of poor health.
When we connect with others, we are more likely to achieve lower stress levels, increased positive lifestyle behaviours, increased happiness and improved mental health. This can be as an outcome of doing something fun and engaging which makes us laugh, achieve goals or learn something new. Or it might be that our friends help us decompress, they reassure us and offer us guidance if we are troubled or worried. I have found that my happiness and wellbeing is increased when I am with good friends and also that at my low points, my friends can help pick me up and support my mental health to a place that does feel safer and happier within. Good friends really do help.
Make the most of the time and opportunity to connect. If your connections are with your families, take time out of the normal routine to enjoy each other’s company and make memories together. Each summer, your kids get another year older! Or if your connection is with close friends and consists of meaningful conversations, musings and ‘life troubleshooting’.
Make the call, meet for coffee, go for drinks, play the round of crazy golf. Get out there and connect you wonderful social butterfly, you.
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/statistics/relationships-community-statistics
Just Say Thanks…
Grateful for the help and support you’ve received from a colleague? Tell us about it…
I would like to ‘big up’ the Compass Cov Team who despite the many changes and challenges of late, have continued to accomplish and achieve! Your hard work, dedication and commitment has been amazing! It is evident you all care very much for the young people and families we support. I am excited to see how we will continue to grow and develop as a team and service, Thank you 😊 – Deborah Ellis-Johnson – Clinical Team Leader – Coventry C&YP MHS
I would like to say a massive thank you to Karen, Jane, Rich, and the school nursing team for being wonderfully welcoming when I came to visit Rugby and the school nursing service last week. It was fabulous to see and hear all about the service. Thanks you all 😊 Love Vic x – Victoria Jones – Compass Safe East – Service Manager
Thank you to Davinder for supporting and helping with my assignment. 😊 – Laura Guest – Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioner – Compass Changing Lives MHST
I would like to say Thanks to our Admin team at Compass Bloom, Sarah Nicholl and Carla Hickman. They go above and beyond in their role and for all of us at Compass Bloom, they help us so much in so many different ways and I hope they know how much we appreciate them in our team. They always have a positive smile and attitude each day no matter what and this impacts the team more than you know 😊
Thankyou 😊 – Chelsea Edgar – EMHP – Compass Bloom
I would like to say a huge thank you to Chantelle Ross and Sue Berry from the Compass Changing Lives Leadership Team for inviting me to, and organising a team wellbeing day for the Compass Changing Lives Team. The day was fun filled but also had a real focus on helping us all think about how we maintain our own wellbeing – it was so evident the Sue and Chantelle also added their own time, thoughtfulness and commitment to the day over and above the day and job – Thank You! – Jan Smith – Operations Director
I would like to thank Michelle Eyre, Louise Doughty and Laura Angel for their hard work and creativity in putting together our team away day this week. It was great to spend some quality time as a whole team and I am confident everyone had fun! Thankyou Jane Wright for coming along to present our awards. –Victoria Hanley – Service Manager – Compass Be
Could I add a thank you to my colleagues in the Connect 4 Health School Nursing Service please.
I’d like to thank the FBIW’s for being such a great bunch. We may be thin on the ground at the moment but we have continued to deliver high quality interventions along with promoting our service in the wider community over the Summer and improve our resources whilst being a foursome! A big shout out to Sarah Hollely who will be leaving shortly. You have been a massive asset to the team since your arrival and will be greatly missed. Good luck in your new job 😊 . – Hannah Baker – Family Brief Intervention Worker – C4H
Thank you to Michelle Allen for being a very supportive Team leader 😊 – Anisah Akhtar – Trainee EMHP -Compass Changing Lives MHST
I would like to thank the Kingsmead Team (Queensmead) Katrina Clowes, Sam Bowmen, Lisa Harper and Laura Tatem for their exceptional work in creating a 6 week information sharing session on CBT skills to support staff wellbeing. Their enthusiasm and commitment to delivering evidenced based information, which is accessible and expertly created is inspiring. They are truly a marvellous team and I am ever so grateful their skills and knowledge.
😊 – Jaydine Breadon – Team Leader – Kingsmead – Compass Changing Lives MHST
Compass Be Barnsley celebrated our annual team away day this month. The day comprised of fun games, team building exercises a scavenger hunt and the infamous award ceremony presented by our very own Jane Wright – the awards are voted for by the team which include the following awards such as The Human Wikipedia Award (ie the know it all) -The Brian Blessed Award( i.e. the loudest)-The Castaway Award(i.e. who you would like to be stranded on a desert island with) and the Peacock Award (i.e. the person who displays a confident swagger)to name but a few- The event allowed for a period of time to come together to create a strong culture of praise, and unitedness forgetting the pressure of work for just one day- We shared many laughs and smiles on the day and not to say some fabulous pictures following some of the team games throughout the day.
Thank you to you all for been present your incredible passion for the service demonstrated in the potato challenge and allowing time to just be together in one room – Looking forward to next year all ready
From Vick, Michelle, Louise and Laura to you all thank you for making the day one to remember and here’s to the next x – Michelle Eyre – Team Lead – CompassBe
Senior Leadership Team Update:
At August’s meeting, the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) considered the roles of all those involved in data inputting, reporting and analysis (data team, managers, superusers, users) and how people can be supported to make best use of the systems. We recognised the challenges we are facing in dealing with multiple systems and getting the balance right of who does what as well as making the systems as user-friendly as possible. We acknowledged the enormous strides that have been taken by all those involved to ensure our data is flowing successfully to the required national datasets. The next steps we agreed was to focus on developing a training programme with workshops and coaching from the data team.
In preparation for our SLT strategic planning day in September, we considered the key national policies that have been published in the last year and looked at common themes and how they align to Compass’ plans. SLT were confident that many recommendations within the various policies and plans focused on the need for greater investment in early intervention, family hubs, holistic and integrated care with specific focus on CYPs mental health, SEND, youth provision and supporting those at risk of drug and alcohol misuse. Whilst we are still waiting on a formal announcement by NHSE of their plans for future investment in MHSTs across the country, it was noted that there had been some announcements of further funding in the roll out of Waves 11 and 12 which is a positive sign.
Progress reviewed
We reviewed progress against our Q2 high priorities, which included progress on the development of an Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) framework. The EDI steering group met to review feedback from managers and EDI leads which informed our plans for thematic groups that will support the work of the steering group and help to embed EDI in everyday practice across Compass. Members of the steering group are meeting to develop a terms of reference for the groups which will include their purpose, remit and membership before we take the next steps of finalising and implementing them.
We also reviewed the really good progress made in mobilising our new contract in Birmingham which went live on 4th September. The team are working hard to formally welcome four new teams at a Corporate Induction. Work is also underway to recruit to six new additional teams across both Derby and Birmingham ahead of a January 2024 start as part of the Wave 10 national rollout. Plans are in place to try and attract suitable candidates for a wide range of roles including recruit to train opportunities and securing more university course places.
Senior Leadership Team
| Rachel Bundock | Chief Executive |
| Mark Roberts | Director of Finance |
| Kim Jones | People Director |
| Jan Smith | Operations Director |
| Lisa Gale | Assistant Director (Operations) |
| Sue Berry | Assistant Director (Operations) |
| Jane Wright | Assistant Director (Operations) |
| Rose Kearns | Assistant Director – Business Development |
| Richard Thomas | Operations Manager |
| Sue Cody | Quality Assurance Lead |
People Update
Now up to £1k available if you bring in quality new colleagues
Donna Wilson writes:
We have changed our Refer a Friend Policy and we have increased the amounts on offer. So for Band A-C the amount is increasing to £500 (from £250) and for Bands D-H the amount is changing to £1000 (from £350).
To be entitled to the benefit, all an employee needs to do is let the recruiting manager know about the individual prior to interview, and ensure the applicant puts their “referrer” on the Eploy application. Once the new employee passes their 6 month probation review, we can give them the money in the relevant months’ salary payment.
We have updated the policy with the new amounts, and it’s available on the P Drive.
Supervising Practitioners, do you have any colleagues in other organisations who may be interested in our roles? We need SPs especially in Birmingham, Lancashire, Derbyshire and in all our other MHST’s.
A refer a friend scheme is a recruitment method to encourage staff members to recommend family, friends, and previous colleagues to apply for new vacancies within the business.
A refer a friend (RAF) scheme is a benefit that many businesses offer to ensure they find quality and reliable candidates. It’s also a great way to show our colleagues how much we value their opinion. This not only helps to boost morale, it’s also a great method of recruiting and retaining good staff.
It’s a great way of spreading the word about our business, while sourcing the perfect candidate at the same time. Marketing ads and campaigns are expensive, and our staff are the best advertisements we have. We have new services in Birmingham, and we especially need Supervising Practitioners in all our MHSTs which makes it the perfect time to increase the amounts on offer and to publicise our Policy.
Compass Dress code policy updated
People Advisor, Danya Altimman writes…
We wanted to take a moment to inform you about an important update to our Dress Code Policy that aligns with the evolving nature of our services and our commitment to maintaining a professional and customer-focused environment.
Over the past few weeks, we have conducted a thorough review of our Dress Code Policy to ensure that it accurately represents the values and expectations of Compass. Our primary goal has been to strike a balance between fostering a comfortable and inclusive atmosphere for our employees while also projecting a polished and appropriate image to our stakeholders.
We are pleased to announce that we have revised the wording of the Dress Code Policy to better reflect the type of service we now provide. The updated policy emphasises our dedication to professionalism, customer service, and maintaining a positive and respectful workplace. Our clothing choices play a significant role in how we present ourselves, and this policy aims to uphold our reputation as a team of dedicated professionals.
We encourage all colleagues to review the policy thoroughly to ensure a clear understanding of the expectations. If you have any questions or require further clarification, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Human Resources.
We have updated the policy, and it’s available on the P Drive.
Alison and Debbie come back as Danya goes on maternity leave
Alison Walmsley and Debbie Spaven return to the People team.
Donna Wilson said: “Many of you will remember that Alison was one of our interim People Managers who supported our TUPE activity, and originally left us in April 2023. I’m sure it’ll be great to have her back on board from the end of September.
“Debbie Spaven, another one of our interim Managers returned on 4th September to ensure that there is adequate people support. It’s great to welcome her back.”
And Donna said: “I’m really pleased to be able to share the exciting news that Danya is having a baby! Danya will be leaving us for a while, on maternity leave, which will start in mid September.”
Contacting your People department
General HR queries: hr@compass-uk.org
Recruitment and onboarding queries: recruitment@compass-uk.org
Training queries: training@compass-uk.org
You can now get in touch with staff looking after Compass Points via our new email address. It’s compasspoints@compass-uk.org.
Compass Points email address.
You can get in touch with Compass Points via our email address. It’s compasspoints@compass-uk.org.
If you want to say thank you please remember to start the subject line with Just Say Thanks
Charity worker shopping discounts
As prices rise in the shops, this may help…
Discounts are available to charity workers and volunteers. All you need is your name, postcode and the charity you work for.
Click the image to learn more.
Compass Awareness Days Calendar for 2023
The Compass Awareness Calendar for 2023 is our most comprehensive yet and has new sources including the NHS. Please take a look to see what’s coming up in the next month or two and through the year.
Tell us your news…