Overview

Compass is an online treatment programme. It's for people with long-term physical health conditions, who:

• experience low mood or anxiety
• find it difficult to manage their condition

We use an approach based on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). This is a talking therapy, which can help you to cope with problems by changing the way that you think and behave. CBT can help people to manage long-term conditions, low mood and anxiety.

The Compass programme is personalised for you. It can help you to understand the difficulties that you may be facing and how to manage them.

Online sessions

The Compass programme is made up of 11 online sessions. You can do them in any order that you like.

The sessions cover topics that our research has shown people with long-term conditions may find difficult. These include:

• managing uncertainty
• managing symptoms
• making the most of personal and professional support
• managing stress
• having a healthy lifestyle and routine

At the sessions, you get useful information and do interactive tasks. You also set goals and hear about other people's experiences.

Support from your guide

When you start the Compass programme, we allocate you a guide. Your guide is a healthcare professional, who supports you at regular points during the programme by online message or phone. At the beginning of the programme, your guide explains how often and when they will contact you.

Your guide logs in regularly to review your progress. They give you feedback on notes that you have made and tasks that you have completed. They also respond to your questions.

What to expect

You can do the Compass programme on your computer, phone or tablet. The programme includes instructions and videos to help you learn how to use it.

We suggest working through 1 session each week, but you can log in at any time to:

• review your goals
• complete tasks
• write notes
• contact your guide

It's best to treat each online session as a treatment session and use the Compass programme regularly.

During the programme, we ask you to complete a few short questionnaires at different points. This helps you and your guide to monitor how you are doing.

I was able to use the skills I gained from Compass to give me the courage to speak about my fears… Using Compass gave me permission to move on and accept that my life before my long-term condition won’t come back, but that life afterwards is different and that’s OK — Compass user

Who can use Compass

The Compass programme is available to people who are having healthcare at Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals. A healthcare professional can refer you if they feel that the programme would help you to manage your long-term condition.