Community Mental Health said no. Social Prescribing?

It depends on what you think your support need is, I guess.  

If you think what you need are social supports, like say to get out more, or meet other autistic people or pursue your hobbies in autism friendly environments, the a social prescriber might be helpful.

If it's other support needs like managing with life's executive or accessing other essential services or looking after yourself, you should have a social care assessment.

If you think your mental health is suffering then MH cannot dismiss you because you are autistic.  Any therapy would have to be autism informed to do you much good.

Sadly, the MH saga seems to cut both way to people's detriment.  Many find their mental health needs are forever being dismissed:  "oh that's just your autism", whilst others are being misdiagnosed with mental health conditions, because their autism has not been identified and understood.

But no the system is not geared at all for us.  The only thing I need is help and support to access medical care.  There is a service but only if you are intellectually impaired and I'm not.  Social services say this is MH responsibility - which it isn't.  And everybody says "see your autism charity" - what???  Our local mind CASS (adult autism support) are clueless to help as is a social prescriber, because it genuinely doesn't fall under any of their remits.  PiP people whilst on one hand saying they accept I can't access health care, won't give me any points so I could buy in support.  Meanwhile, the strain and drain of herding wild geese over this is left with me the autistic person to exhaust herself and get more stressed over this with.  Sadly, we are not only a minority but our needs are all so different from eachothers that they all fall through the gaps in the system.

I don't think that this is going to change much until there is a central support service for all autistic people that can adapt and think and act outside the box for each individual, covering a wide range of needs - some might need help finding a job, another making friends, another getting through a dental appointment, another advocacy with housing, another a carer to manage the household.  Most of us will need help that one little thing that's too tough, a few will need a lot of support, but we will all be different in our support needs.

Thanks, I found the forum a bit overwhelming initially but I'm getting my head round it more now

I naively expected that too when I was diagnosed late in life. I did get a couple of online group post diagnostic sessions. However there was a waiting list for those and they didn't happen until around 18 months later. By then I'd done a lot of my own research and been up and down the emotional rollercoaster a few times already.

It's worth checking if you have access to any post diagnostic sessions as part of your diagnosis package. It's a postcode lottery I think and some areas get a lot more than others.

There really needs to be more specialist mental health services for autistic adults.

Stick around on here as this is the best place for post diagnostic support and connecting with your neurokin.

Thanks so much for this. At least I know it's not just me, I'm not getting frustrated over nothing. It's not right that this happens but it actually is pretty common. I hope social prescribing can suggest useful things but I'm going to keep my expectations low then anything positive is a bonus.

I think I'll be doing a lot of reading and learning by myself at home. There's 39 years of unlearning to do too! It was probably naive of me to think that I would have some guidance and support in this.

There was a discussion on here a few months ago about Social Prescribing https://community.autism.org.uk/f/adults-on-the-autistic-spectrum/27786/social-prescriber One of the posters had a positive experience and got help with accessing mental health services. My experience was not so positive, but I guess it depends who you get and if they have any knowledge of autism.

Unfortunately mental health services are not equipped to help autistic adults in most areas. Any training they've had is usually very limited and covers stereotypical autism only. As a service they work to results and outcomes. It they can't tick a box and achieve a desired outcome in six sessions or less then they don't want to know.

MrsMacca said:

I feel like I don't fit in anyone's remit, that my autism diagnosis is now a way for all the other services to wash their hands of me. As a late diagnosed, childless, medically retired woman I also don't fit in any of the autism support boxes.

I encountered the same. My GP repeatedly referred me and it got declined every time. It's like they assume that my anxiety is untreatable because I'm autistic. Sadly reading these forums and elsewhere it is an all too common experience. Autistic people get treated like a hot potato, passed from one service to another and ending up without any support or access to mental health services.

https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/mental-health/seeking-help/asking-for-reasonable-adjustments

"Autism is not a mental health condition but autistic adults and children suffer disproportionately from poor mental health. Too often, when reaching out for help, there aren’t any services available. "

If the conditions were diagnosed by a GP is it not possible for them to be retracted by a GP? If you're expecting anyone in mental health services to know anything about autistic burnout then you're likely to be disappointed. Honestly I think you'll get a lot more knowledge and understanding by researching the various conditions yourself online.

Hi Stephen. My goal is to understand if I actually have these pre diagnosed conditions or of they are 'symptoms of' my autism or as a result of autistic burnout. I've never been assessed by a mental health team before and they definitely played no part in my autism assessment or diagnosis. My mental health diagnoses came from either my GP or by process of elimination from Neurology.

I agree that my autism diagnosis shouldn't be preventing any support from the mental health team but it would seem that it is. I guess I probably should be fighting the Mental health team's decision then. 

It sounds like social prescribing might be useful in other ways but not as an alternative to the mental health team. I'll have to wait and see

Social prescribing is the first sign post of many*

What’s your actual goal?  I don’t mean to be rude,. But autism shouldn’t affect a diagnosis you were given 20yrs ago for issues you had then.
it sounds like the mental health team have already assessed you. They probably contributed to your autism diagnosis.  Having a diagnosis for autism doesn’t halt further support. 
social prescribing, charity prevention workshops also can open doors for support and often get you help beyond your GP’s could ever do..  hope this makes sense