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Internet-based Therapy??

NAS82925

Hi!

I am currently conducting research to develop better mental health services for autistic people and I have been doing this with consultation from the community. It is my understanding that there are three main issues affecting the community regarding mental health services.

1. Mental health services are not always accessible (e.g. usually require a phone call to get an appointment etc.)

2. Many therapists/counsellors don't properly understand autism or don't adapt the services to meet their needs.

3. There are no suitable services available in the local area.

Do you think an NHS internet-based mental health service, created in consultation with autism specialists, and provided by counsellors trained to work with neurodivergent people, would be a beneficial service for autistic people?

Please let me know your thoughts on this Slight smile

Parents

  • I think it's a great idea, provided it could be accessed by a variety of devices. Apologies if it seems that I'm going off on a tangent, but I feel it tends to be assumed these days that everyone owns a smart phone. I've become increasingly aware that there are some internet-based things I am unable to access because it requires an app to be downloaded to a smart phone. There's no alternative for people who access the internet via a laptop or desktop PC.

    What would an internet-based mental health service look like? If service users were interacting online with mental health professionals, then I think it's important that they are able to choose the method they would feel most comfortable with. For some, this could be video calls. For others, it might be text-based. Speaking for myself, I know the latter is what I would feel most comfortable with.

  • in reply to Sporadic Sparkly

    Yes, this.

    I think an internet based service sounds ideal, as long as it was accessible to all kinds of devices (including linux computers!)

    Personally I like video calls for this sort of thing, but not everyone does.

    Being able to make contact entirely by internet definitely suits me better than having to make phone calls. But sometimes there are still hurdles and hoops to jump through which I struggle with, either find them hard or just can't make myself do them at all. So it would be good if any pre-screening could be optional, like it is helpful if you can fill this in, even partially, but not compulsory, and with places to write not just mulit-choice.

    Also that the best autism specialists are people with autism and that we are all very different!

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  • in reply to Sporadic Sparkly

    Yes, this.

    I think an internet based service sounds ideal, as long as it was accessible to all kinds of devices (including linux computers!)

    Personally I like video calls for this sort of thing, but not everyone does.

    Being able to make contact entirely by internet definitely suits me better than having to make phone calls. But sometimes there are still hurdles and hoops to jump through which I struggle with, either find them hard or just can't make myself do them at all. So it would be good if any pre-screening could be optional, like it is helpful if you can fill this in, even partially, but not compulsory, and with places to write not just mulit-choice.

    Also that the best autism specialists are people with autism and that we are all very different!

Children
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