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Asking advice for my best friend

NAS67161

Hi everyone I'm writing today to ask for some advice regarding my best friend, she is 20 and for a while now she, myself and others have been suspecting she might be on the spectrum. Both me and her have done a lot of research and most things seem to match up, we also have a friend who has been diagnosed and she thinks my best friend might have it too. She has brought it up with her therapist (no longer seeing her unfortunately) and her social worker both of whom encouraged her to look into a diagnosis. 

What would everyone recommend the best steps are to get a formal diagnosis?  

  • in reply to NAS67161

    It depends on the area you live but waits of 1 to 2 years are reasonably common. If I can be of any more help of if there are any other questions just drop me a message :) 

  • Hi Slight smile:) The GP is definitely the right place to start, but mine was really unhelpful (he told me there were no autism services in my area, but it turns out there was one 20 minutes away from that surgery!). I then self-referred online to my local NHS mental health service and mentioned that I suspected I'm autistic, along with the links between autism and my mental health (e.g. when I'm experiencing high levels of anxiety, I become more sensitive to light and sound). My mental health assessor was really helpful and he was the one who referred me.

    I'd also recommend having a look at Purple Ella's YouTube video on adult autism assessments:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPPIv2nILS4

    I hope your friend gets the support she needs.

  • in reply to Anthony

    Thank you for that great advice, me and her will get to her GP as soon as its safe to do so, Ive heard the waiting time is long so we will try to get on the list asap 

  • Generally a referral has to be made If it’s being done on the NHS - you can’t usually approach specialist services yourself. As such I’d suggest making an appointment with her GP - explaining some of the most problematic traits and that both her therapist and social worker believe she should be assessed. They will then make that referral, then it’s the waiting game as waiting lists are lengthy.