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How the Connexions service affects you

30 July 2007

Connexions service for 13-19 year olds (or up to 25 if the young person has a statement of SEN/ additional needs) offers advice and assistance for young people around issues affecting them and their future.

Across Essex, Southend and Thurrock (EST), there are Connexions Centres in most major towns, and most secondary schools will have a Personal Adviser (PA) linked to them.
Personal Advisers (Additional Needs Team) work only with young people with special needs. Each Connexions Centre also has a team of Community PAs, not linked to schools, but instead, focuses on young people who have finished compulsory education post-16.

Connexions also has a smaller team of Intensive Pas who work primarily with young people with either a specific significant need or a range of complex needs needing support in addressing. (e.g. homelessness, threatened with exclusion from school, etc.). Intensive PAs have a relatively small caseload of between 15 and 20 young people at any time and meet 1:1 on a weekly basis to try and help address these issues. This may be through mentoring, coaching, advocacy, brokering of services etc. The criteria are that the young person should have multiple or complex issues requiring help/ support and advice. Such issues may be low school attendance, anxiety about school, school refusal, behaviour difficulties, needing extra support to access further education, etc.

Contacts:

Jane Allen - Area Manager 01376 533060.
Kerry Surridge - Senior Personal Adviser, at Basildon office: 01268 501300.
A big thank you from SAFE to Jamie Pennycott, Lead Intensive PA at Brentwood Connexions, for this very useful information. Jamie is at Connexions One Stop Shop, The Hermitage, 15b Shenfield Road, Brentwood, CM15 8AG. Tel: 01277 693300. Fax: 01277 693310. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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