Compass Program Overview
WHAT IS COMPASS?
Compass is a province-wide service to support evidenced based care to all BC children and youth living with mental health and substance use concerns. This is done by supporting community care providers with the information, advice, and resources they need to deliver appropriate and timely care to children & youth close to home.
The multidisciplinary team includes child and youth psychiatrists, mental health and substance use clinicians (social workers, nurses, psychologist, etc.) and a care coordinator.
WHO CAN USE THIS SERVICE?
The service is available to various community care providers working with children and youth with mental health & substance use issues, such as primary care providers, specialist physicians, child & youth mental health team clinicians, Foundry clinicians, and concurrent disorders/substance use clinicians.
WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM THE SERVICE?
When you call for a consultation, you'll have access to a multi-disciplinary team who can offer:
- Telephone advice and support
- Identification and help with connection to local & online resources
- Telehealth consultation to you and your patient, when needed\
- Tailored training and education
The Compass team can help with diagnostic clarification, medication recommendations, treatment planning, consultation around cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, substance counselling, behavioral issues, family issues, trauma treatment, etc., and general support when things aren't going well. You will receive a written record of all consultation recommendations for your patient's chart.
HOW QUICKLY IS THE SERVICE AVAILABLE?
Compass aims to have a member of our multidisciplinary team answer most phone calls and answer your questions in real time. For more specialized questions, we aim to get back to you within the same or next day. Telehealth consultations are organized on an as-needed basis following the initial phone consultation.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW TO USE THIS SERVICE?
- Compass is a consultative service and community providers retain full clinical responsibility of their patients. Recommendations provided by Compass should not supersede the best clinical judgement of an in-person care provider.
- If patients and family consent, Compass will collect identifying patient information to facilitate any needed follow up with you (or with the families directly). If patients or families don't want their information stored, Compass can provide recommendations on an anonymous basis.
- Compass is not a crisis intervention service, but will support providers with advice around safety planning, risk assessments, etc. Please contact your local crisis services for any emergencies.
- Compass will collect and store your demographic and practice-related information.
- Compass will periodically reach out to providers to better understand their experience with the service and communicate any upcoming workshops or educational opportunities.
HOW CAN YOU ACCESS THE SERVICE?
Call 1-855-702-7272 from Monday to Friday, 9 am - 5 pm PST/PDT.