Bettina Stott coming to Burgess Hill, West Sussex, UK

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Hi all

I'm reposting this as I accidentally put it on an old thread.

This may be of interest to people in West Sussex - I'm part of Asperger's Voice Self-Advocacy Group in Burgess Hill, and at our meeting next Thursday (25th July 2013) we have a guest speaker - Bettina Stott from the Autism Spectrum Conditions Service, who undertakes ASC assessments on-behalf of Sussex Partnership Trust.

Bettina will be coming to find out more about the self-advocacy group, but also to talk to us about her assessment work. The group is free to join and meetings are free to attend - all welcome, so if you wish to come and hear more about the assessment process, please get in touch. More info at: Asperger's Voice website.

Becky

Last edited by becky13 on 17 Jul 2013, 8:13 am, edited 1 time in total.

Hi Becky,

you might find it wise to add "UK" on the end of your post title, as this is an international forum.

If I can get to this, I might attend.

Oh dear, I'll get it right eventually! Heh heh

I've added UK to the title, and it would be great if you can come.

Missed the date by somewhat, but was it a success? I do know she is very keen to get more females certified, and from what I understand, does some work with NAS Surrey and even the SABP MH/LD Trust (Don't SABP send their possible ASC-ers to SLaM, though?) along with Sussex Partnership.

Oh, and was an elderly lady from Horsham present? She is on the board of virtually everything. You know who I mean? She attended some Autism Sussex meetings when I was under them, too.

Hiya. The meeting went really well thanks, Bettina was very interesting and she said she would be happy to come again, so I can let you know when she does if it's of interest. I think you are right, she does do some work in Surrey too - she seems very busy!

We do have a lady from Horsham, but I don't know if it is the lady you mean. You're very welcome to check out our meetings if you would like, they are in Burgess Hill, 7-9pm on the last Thursday of every month.

Actually, whilst I'm talking to West-Sussexers, the mid/northern self-advocacy group, together with the sister group in the south are helping to conduct an audit of the NHS Mental Health Services in West Sussex (commissioned by the Autism Planning Group). The project incorporates perspectives of people on the autism spectrum, their carers if they have them, and professionals who work in mental health services. The aim is to make suggestions for improvements to the accessibility and quality of mental health services received by people with autism in West Sussex. Senior staff in the local NHS Trusts and West Sussex County Council will be reading the report, so it’s a really valuable opportunity to get our voices heard, but we are having difficulty getting enough responses. We'd be very appreciative if you would complete the questionnaire and/or forward the links to anyone else who might like to be involved!

There are three versions of the questionnaire:
People on the autism spectrum: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/F6T8WNF
Carers of people on the spectrum: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GLMRGRP
Mental health professionals: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/93JS38L

I live in West Sussex and I have filled in this survey - thank you.

"... The aim is to make suggestions for improvements to the accessibility and quality of mental health services received by people with autism in West Sussex...."

I'd want to hear what these existing(?) MH services are... because our local CMHT (West Sussex) says no such services exist. You get your diagnosis and then.. that's it, there are no 'autism' mental health services.

Indeed, in our part of West Sussex between the CMHT and the AS service, one struggles to get any sense out of them, let alone an expert diagnosis... as for Bettina ... hah! Clearly, career-building at the expense of genuinely wanting to help people. One has to ask how helpful it is to have this alleged 'expert' smirk at and make patronising comments about intimate information given during an interview? Is that supposed to be empathy? Will that work to help people to open up and communicate, or the opposite? No surprise I was found to be not 'autistic', but then a year later after recovering sufficient confidence (and to communicate the request adequately) to ask for a second opinion from a different clinician .. I'm diagnosed with ADHD, either autistic-like personality traits (or 'having an ASD', at my discretion to choose) and Attachment Disorder (which can give autistic like traits).... in fact, "very real issues in relation to social isolation, difficulty in social interaction, difficulty in initiating interaction, and coping in group environments". That was last year, and since then ... no meds, no therapy,, no conversation even with anyone from CMHT or AS clinic.. until, finally, someone at the local NHS 'fessed up and said no MH services exist.. you're on your own.

Perhaps on our behalf, the NHS could explain all this to the DWP when they sanction our ESA/JSA for not making enough effort to find a job? Or, is the end game to make us all commit suicide and solve things that way?

Hiya! Thanks very much for filling out the questionnaire, very much appreciated

You are quite right, there are currently no ASC-specific NHS mental health services in West Sussex. The aim of the project is to try and make the "mainstream" (for want of a better word) mental health services more ASC-friendly, above and beyond the current plan to offer staff training on autism and related conditions. We know how important it is that these suggestions come from people who actually have an ASC and have used MH services, rather than someone in the NHS making assumptions or guesses as to what would help.

We're hoping to have a published report at the end, so will submit a link to it when it is ready (probably not til much later in the year/early next year).