North Yorkshire (Compass Phoenix)

Supporting Children & Young People in North Yorkshire

The aim of the Compass Phoenix service is to improve outcomes for children and young people in relation to their emotional wellbeing and mental health by strengthening the range of mental health support available to children and young people.

We offer:

• Support and interventions for children and young people aged 9-19 (and up to 25 for those with special educational needs or disabilities) experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties. Support for key stages 3 and above is predominantly delivered via virtual groups, and for those under 13 we offer a digital platform. 1:1 interventions are delivered by exception where appropriate.
• Support to schools to develop a whole school approach in relation to emotional wellbeing and mental health through the delivery of training.
• Professional Consultation to school and college staff, providing advice and guidance on emotional wellbeing and mental health to help make sure that children and young people get the right support at the right time in the right place.
• Our BUZZ US text messaging service.
• Our dedicated team help young people to make sustainable lifestyle changes in order to improve their long-term health, resilience and emotional wellbeing, reduce risk to themselves and others and equip them to reach their potential.

We also work with school and college staff to build their confidence and knowledge of approaches to support the emotional and mental health needs of the children and young people.

How the service can help you

If you are starting to struggle with your mental health, then our caring and dedicated team can meet you face-to-face or we can support you on the phone or by an online video call.

We use ‘talking therapies’ (sometimes called ‘therapeutic interventions’) designed to help you cope and to understand your particular issues. We can also suggest useful ways family members and others close to you might be able to support you at home – but this is something we would talk to you about first.

How you can get support if you’re a child or young person or for your child if you are a parent / carer

You can speak to someone from Compass Phoenix by ringing us on 01904 661916 or on our Freephone number 0800 008 7452.

If you are a young person or parent / carer wanting to make a self-referral, please download our Request for Support form, then email the completed form to phoenix@compass-uk.org

Correspondence is sent by email so it is important to provide an email address and check your Junk mail for appointment details.

Learn about our BUZZ US text messaging service.

Professional referrals

Professionals are also welcome to make referral but we ask them to complete a referral form. If you would like to have a chat first please call 01904 661916 to talk over their concerns before completing a referral form. Download our referral form.

If you work in a school, before you make this referral, please consider which school staff the child/ young person already has a bond with. We recommend that our Professional Consultation service is accessed before making a referral for direct interventions. Our Professional Consultation service is designed to support school staff in North Yorkshire to provide support for mild- moderate mental health issues within the school setting.

Staff can expect to receive any or all of the following supports:

• A safe space to discuss the mental health needs of the child/ young person and any concerns you may have
• The opportunity to discuss any existing supports and how to build upon these
• An individualised selection of targeted, evidence-based interventions and resources
• Any additional advice and signposting required
• Compass Phoenix Training and Consultation workers will complete a Professional Consultation form following the conversation. This contains all the information discussed as well as any resources and facilitation guidance documents. This form is usually sent to the staff member within 1 day of the conversation, so it is a very timely mode of support.

There is no referral form for the Professional Consultation service and it is completely free to access. All staff need to do is phone 01904 661916 and a phone call will be set up at a consultation time to suit you. There is no need to gain the consent of the child/ parent as they are discussed anonymously.

Correspondence is sent by email so it is important to provide an email address for any referrals made and advise young people / parents to check their Junk mail for appointment details.

If you would like to request a call back, please complete our Call Back Request

Whole School Approach

How to Access Our Training

Our training and consultation workers deliver free emotional wellbeing and mental health training to school / college staff across North Yorkshire. To see what training your school can access please click on the ‘View Compass Phoenix Training Webinars’ tab at the top of the page or click here:

How to Access Professional Consultations

Professional Consultation appointment are arranged for school staff to anonymously discuss a young person’s mild to moderate mental health concern and receive timely advice, guidance, support, resources and signposting.

This enables school staff to deliver preventative, targeted interventions with the young person / group of young people or to be given the appropriate advice to access other specialised support.

This process provides schools with:

•  Timely support and advice
•  High quality interventions
•  Support children/young people need, when they need it

A more creative approach will be used for primary aged children focusing on character building and self esteem with a focus on motivational skills, self awareness and managing relationships for secondary aged young people.

Young people can text BUZZ US about any mental health or wellbeing worries. Such as low mood, stress, eating problem, self harm, anxiety or self esteem.

We will get back to you within a day during the week.

If that feels like too long and you are in need of urgent help or you feel in crisis, please contact the help suggested above and here.

Real people, real help

Once the qualified wellbeing worker – it’s a real person! – has introduced themselves, they will ask you questions around your problem to make sure that they are offering you the right support, advice or signposting to other people who can help you.

After you have received the help you need, we’ll ask for your feedback. But you can text us again if you need us again!

The service is open Monday – Thursday 9am-5pm and Friday 9am-4.30pm (excluding Bank Holidays).

You can also stop receiving messages from BUZZ US at any stage by texting STOP to the number. We at Compass record and keep all messages they receive in our central files.

Please note this important information

We do not usually inform parents, teachers or anyone else if you contact BUZZ US. We might inform someone if we were concerned about your safety, but we would usually speak to you first.

Your messages are stored and can be seen by other Compass staff who follow the same confidentiality rules. We aim to reply to you within one working day and you should get an immediate bounce-back to confirm we’ve received your text.

Texts will not be seen outside of normal working hours. If you need help before you hear back from us, contact your doctor, visit a NHS walk-in centre or call NHS 111. If it is an emergency, dial 999 or visit A&E. Our text number does not receive voice calls or MMS picture messages.

We support messaging from UK mobile numbers only (which does not include messages sent from landlines, international mobile numbers and some ‘number masking’ mobile apps).

Prevent BUZZ US sending messages to you by texting STOP to our number. Please respect your school’s mobile phone policy. Messages are charged at your usual rates.

Opening times

Most of the appointments we offer tend to be between 9:00am and 5:00pm Monday to Thursday, and 9:00am and 4:30pm Fridays – but if these times don’t suit you, just let us know and we’ll see if we can arrange something at a time that’s more convenient to you. We are not open on weekends or bank holidays.

Meet the team