Professionals working together for autism: does it happen and is it working?
Written on 5th Oct 2015 by Sylvia Lowery
On the 1st October Alex was asked to speak for the Warrington 5 borough NHS trust meeting. The aim of this meeting was to bring all the professional together from health,education and social services. The idea was to enable the professional to hear personal accounts from individuals on the spectrum and parents and carers. Alex did a 45 minute plenary talk on what autism meant to him. This was followed by two group sessions the first was about Alex’s life and experience of growing up and the second was about reasonable adjustments. In the final part of the session each person was given an envelope and was asked to make a pledge. They had to write down one thing they could do personally to help individuals on the spectrum. The attendees would be contacted in six months to see if they had been able to fulfil their pledge. Make your own pledge here.
Alex met with his MP Me David Hanson at the Labour Party Conference. Mr Hanson agreed to help Alex to get a venue at no cost. Flint Town Hall has been provided this will be perfect for the conference.
What struck me most about this meeting was the dedication and desire among the professional present. Each person wanted to learn more about autism, they wanted to make a difference. One man pledged to get Alex’s DVD’s on Autism Awareness Training and to use them to train the whole department. The focus of the meeting was to bring about a catalyst of change where everyone agreed to work together to make Warrington a place of opportunity for individuals on the spectrum.
There is an acceptance that there is a shortage of financial support for the majority of adults on the spectrum, nevertheless small changes can make a big difference. Getting all professional to gain a basic understanding of autism could make can be relatively inexpensive but would go some way to providing an equal service to those on the spectrum. For example those who would in the Social Housing sector could make small improvements by providing training for all staff who work with the public. Alex’s dvd’s are available here for a very small fee and the Autism Awareness Training could be passed around staff.
One of the subjects that received a lot of discussion was the lack of communication between child and adult services. A transition meetings takes place annually from the age of fourteen but it seems that young people on the spectrum are still being left with a long period of uncertainty in their final year of their education. This transition period and the accompanying uncertainty caused Alex extreme anxiety and it is the experience of may young people on the autism spectrum. There also seems to be a problem with young people transitioning into adult mental health services and again many find that they are left with little or no support as they enter adulthood. One of the causes of these problems is because the NHS since the 1970’s has developed on a specialism basis. It is difficult for a patient to find a consultant who is trained to consider all the problems that impact a patient. Autism doesn’t fit neatly into mental health and there are very few mental health specialist who feel qualified to treat patients who have autism as well. This has been our personal experience and Alex has had to see a counsellor privately to help with his anxiety.
It is encouraging to attend meetings like this and it would be good to see this kind of meeting arranged throughout the UK.
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