Wider Launch of the
Worcestershire Autism Strategy
20th October 2016
www.worcestershire.gov.uk /healthandwellbeingboard
Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Agenda for the Session One
• 10.00 Welcome and Introduction
• 10.05 Worcestershire’s Autism Strategy
• 10.15 Pathway for diagnosis and support
• 10.30 Awareness raising and training
• 10.45 Support Groups
• 11.00 Break
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Agenda for the Session Two
• 11.15 The 2016 Autism Self-Assessment
Framework
• 11.30 Access to housing
• 11.45 Employing people with Autism - The
perspective from local employers
• 12.15 The Worcestershire Autism Strategy –
Next Steps
• 12.30 Close
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Welcome and Introduction
Councillor John Smith
Cabinet Member with Responsibility for
Health and Well-being
Worcestershire County Council
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Worcestershire’s Autism
Strategy
Richard Keble
Strategic Commissioner – Adult Services
Worcestershire County Council
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Context
• Autism is: “A lifelong condition that affects how a person
communicates with, and relates to, other people. It also
affects how a person makes sense of the world around
them”
• Autism estimated to impact on 1% of the adult
population of Worcestershire
• About half of all people with autism also have a learning
disability
• 1 in 3 are likely to have severe mental health difficulties
• Only 15% of people with autism will be in employment
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Worcestershire’s Autism Strategy
• “All children, young people and adults with
autism are able to live fulfilling and rewarding
lives within a society which accepts and
understand them. They can get a diagnosis if
they need it, and they can expect mainstream
public services to treat them as individuals,
helping them make the most of their talents.”
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Worcestershire’s Strategic Priorities
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Pathway for diagnosis and support
Awareness raising and training
Support Groups
Access to housing
Access to employment
Transitions
Local Planning
Consultation
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Pathway for diagnosis and
support
Emilie Oakley
Clinical Lead
The Family Psychologist
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Service Aims
• Commissioned to provide assessment and diagnostic
support for people with a potential Autistic Spectrum
Condition
• See people aged 16.5 years or over
• Must have a Worcestershire GP
• Support is aimed at understanding a person’s
Autistic Spectrum Condition only
• Add to existing services such as Adult Mental Health
• Exclusion criteria: Learning Disability- Referred to the
Learning Disabilities Team
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Who we are
• Clinical Psychologists
• Specialisms ranging from Autism, Education &
Learning, LAC and lifespan Mental Health
(CAMHS/LD/AMHS)
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Speech & Language Therapists
Occupational Therapists
Community Support Worker
Graduate/ Assistant Psychologists
Consultant Paediatrician / Psychiatrist
Admin Support
Clinical & Commercial Directors
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Where we are
• TheFamilyPsychologist Ltd
– 01562 610011
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[email protected]
Based in Kidderminster
• Supporting
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Schools
Local Authorities
LAC Services
Voluntary Sector Organisations
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
ASC Service values
• To help people to gain a better understanding
of themselves
• Develop strategies to manage difficulties
associated with ASC
• Focus on strengths that people have
• Reduce stigma associated with ASC
• Increase wider knowledge and awareness of
ASC
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Worcestershire Adult ASC Pathways
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
How to refer
• Referrals must be made via a health
professional
• Service users need to be aware of and consent
to this referral
• Ensure Inclusion/Exclusion criteria met
• Complete referral form
• Include AQ-10
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Who to refer
• Important to note that ASC is a spectrum
condition and that not everyone will have the
same difficulties
• ASC can be much harder to spot in the female
presentation
• More likely to mask their symptoms by
copying others
• This may mean they have learnt to do eye
contact well
• However, difficulties are still present
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Initial Assessment
• Hour long appointment to discuss difficulties
with a clinician
• Decide what support needed
• Assess any risks
• Sign post to other services if needed
• AQ-50 and HADS screening questionnaires
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Services provided
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Initial assessment
Diagnostic assessments
Understanding ASC groups
One to one Psychology Support
Community Support Sessions
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Diagnostic assessment
• Follow NICE guidelines & the National Autism
Strategy (DoH: 2014)
• Diagnosis is carried out by a multi-disciplinary team
• Led by Clinical Psychologist
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Structured Developmental History (ADIR)
Observation assessment (ADOS)
Sensory Profile
Cognitive assessment
Feedback and Report
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Understanding ASC groups
Overview:
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Three sessions run fortnightly
Lasts two hours
Service users along with family members/friends
Small group sizes
Aims:
– Gain a better understanding of ASC
– Learn strategies to help deal more effectively with emotions and
reduce the likelihood of feeling overwhelmed
– Gain some strategies to help cope with the practical difficulties
associated with having an ASC.
• This could include advice on employment, benefits and additional support
services
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
One to one Psychology Support
• Able to offer six psychology support sessions
• Aim to help people understand their condition and
how best to manage this
• People who are diagnosed at a young age not given
much information
• Sensory difficulties often overlooked
• Normalise their condition
• Reduce the perceived stigma
• Improve emotional resilience
• Help people to thrive
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Community Support Worker
• Aimed at assisting individuals with some of the
practical difficulties associated with having ASC
• This could be around
– Employment
– Education
– Benefit support
– Socialising
– Hobbies etc.
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Feedback: What clients have said
• “I gained helpful and positive information about my
condition”
• “The support was tailored to me”
• “The therapy has been very productive in helping my selfanalysis”
• “The people at the service were very supportive and
accommodating to not only my own needs but my family as
well, mum, dad, brother”
• “The service was very prompt”
• “They helped me to understand my difficulties a lot”
• “I now have opportunities in life and gone back to law at a
high level”
• “We were given help, guidance, support on what to do next”
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Awareness raising and training
Bridget Nisbet, Family Carer
Helen Bradley, Trust Lead for Autism and Learning
Disabilities / Consultant Psychologist
Worcestershire Health & Care (NHS) Trust
Laura Folkers, Learning and Development
Manager
Worcestershire County Council
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Aims of Think Autism
• To introduce individuals to resources appropriate to
their needs
• A starting point for those who have who an interest,
or a professional requirement to know about Autism
• A framework to structure the resources available so
they are pitched to the level of need
• A variety of different medium and sources
• Mostly free
• The basis for a conversation during supervision
sessions and appraisals
• An invitation for more ideas!
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Challenges for the Autism Training subgroup
How could we best:• Match training to what people needed?
• Ensure people on the spectrum influenced content?
• Use existing skills and resources effectively and build
on what was already working?
• Embed quality checks and monitoring?
• Give people ownership of their learning?
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Development of the Think Autism
Spectrum training pack
• Developed by a neuro diverse team
• Designed to be flexible
• Offers a choice of learning methods
– Workshops, on line, reading, films, shadowing, supervision
and consultation
• Offers a learning passport and learning log
– Can be used to set targets and as part of appraisal
• Links to pre-existing systems like the Autism
Champions scheme and the Autism Special Interest
Group
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
The Levels
• Level 1 BASIC AWARENESS
• Suitable for people with occasional interactions with people on the
spectrum
• Level 2 ABILITY TO APPLY BASIC PRINCIPLES DAILY
• Suitable for those who encounter autism in their everyday life – e.g.
nurses, care works, police etc.
• Level 3 ABILITY TO ASSESS NEEDS AND ADAPT APPROACHES IN A MORE
COMPLEX WAY
• For team leaders or more experienced staff who encounter autism
in their everyday life
• Level 4 HIGHLY SPECIALISED KNOWLEDGE WITH UNDERSTANDING OF
POLICY
• For specialised or senior staff who encounter people on the
spectrum in their everyday work and require evidence based
knowledge
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
An example
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKT3swamm_wc
• There a clips of men and woman , people with and
without learning disabilities
• There are some sensory simulation films
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
This is just the beginning . . .
• We need to trial the packs and get feedback
• They are designed for adult services and we
are aware Children`s services have their own
resources
• We need to decide the best ways of
integrating the different forms of training
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Please look at the Think Autism Training
packs on the tables
• We will have people who developed the packs
available to talk to you briefly
• If you have any questions, feedback or
suggestions please let us know
– Feedback sheets on each table
• You have got 5 minutes
– You are welcome to take the packs with you
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Support Groups in local
communities
Spencer Craig
Chair of Autism Strategic Partnership
Group (ASPG) / Administration Officer
Rainbow Autism
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Break
Please return in time for Session Two
to start at 11.15
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Agenda for the Session Two
• 11.15 The 2016 Autism Self-Assessment
Framework
• 11.30 Access to housing
• 11.45 Employing people with Autism - The
perspective from local employers
• 12.15 The Worcestershire Autism Strategy –
Next Steps
• 12.30 Close
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
The 2016 Autism SelfAssessment Framework (SAF)
Pete Sugg
Commissioning Manager
Worcestershire County Council
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Background
• Fourth self-assessment exercise on the
implementation of the 2010 Adult Autism Strategy
– As amended by Think Autism in 2014
• Enables local strategy groups to review their progress
and support future planning
• Key in identifying progress made in the
implementation of the Strategy across the country
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Background continued (1)
• Information submitted is collated and analysed by
Public Health England
– Provides the Cross Government Autism Programme
Board with a report of the findings
• Returns from all areas are published in full online
– Allows dialogue between organisations / individuals
• SAF comprised of 50+ questions
– Eight subject themes, including; Training, Diagnosis, Care
and Support and Accommodation
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Background continued (2)
• Completion has been co-ordinated by WCC’s Adult
Services Commissioning Unit
– Input and assistance from organisations and
individuals represented on the Worcestershire Autism
Strategic Partnership Group
• For 2016 some questions have been changed or
updated in light of known progress and feedback
– For some questions there is a RAG rating system with
scoring criteria for that question
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Access to housing
Martine Bishop
Commissioning Manager
Worcestershire County Council
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Housing with support
• Housing with support is about different housing and
support options for people with support needs
• Almost anyone can live in their own home with
support
• People own or rent their own home with more
control over who provides their support and how it is
provided. It is usually more cost effective than
residential care and people have more income as
they can access more benefits
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
What kinds of housing are there?
• Cluster flats
– Groups of between 8 and 14 flats
– Usually with some communal areas
• Shared Housing, people have a bedroom in a shared
house with others
• Extra care, usually for older adults
• Family led housing
• Shared Lives
• Single services
• General needs housing and sheltered housing
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
How is the support provided?
• Individual budgets
• In shared houses and cluster flats there is
usually a core service which includes someone
there at night
• Then additional 1:1 support if needed
• Direct payments give more flexibility and
choice of provider
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Who can access the housing and
support?
• People in residential care who could move into
supported living
• People living with older carers or where the
arrangements are at risk of breaking down
• Transforming Care Agenda
– People moving from ‘locked’ accommodation
• Young adults leaving school, or living at home
with carers and wishing to move
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Services in Worcestershire
• The Council has a Housing and Support
Commissioning Plan
– It is in the process of being updated.
• Worked with providers to open 4 lots of cluster flats
in Worcester, Kidderminster and, Redditch
– Three more will open in the next year in Evesham,
Bromsgrove and Stourport
• Another scheme near Droitwich is planned for
people with complex autism
• Need more services for people with complex needs
– Including ground floor accommodation and in rural areas
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Information and advice
• County Council has
– A housing options guide
– Developed a number of films about supported living
– A housing project officer and a Positive Living Options
team who support people to move
• The Access Centre will signpost people
• Home Choice Plus
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Employing People with Autism –
The perspective from local
employers
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
The Worcestershire Autism
Strategy – Next Steps
Richard Keble
Strategic Commissioner – Adult Services
Worcestershire County Council
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy
Questions and comments
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Worcestershire’s All-Age Autism
Strategy