NAS you need to know campaign (UK)

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Over 70% of children with autism also have a mental health problem. It doesn’t have to be like this. Children with autism can have good mental health just as anyone else can, and this campaign aims to make this a reality.

* We all need to know that by giving children with autism the understanding and support they need, we help promote their health and happiness.
* The Government needs to know that the mental health system is failing children with autism and that by acting now we can change our children’s future.
* Mental health practitioners need to know how to help and support children with autism and mental health problems.
* Families need to know that they are not alone – that we are here to help them every step of the way.


We can change our children's future. Click here to find out how.

Child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) are the NHS services that exist to support all children with mental health problems and their families. But too often these services cannot meet the needs of children with autism. The impact of a lack of support can be devastating for the whole family, often leading to social exclusion and reduced working hours for parents.

Almost the first thing the psychiatrist did was to hold up their hands and say: ‘We have no services in this health district for children on the autistic spectrum.'
Parent of a teenage child

Over the past year, we have carried out in-depth research with children, parents and professionals to find out why this is and how CAMHS can work better for children with autism. We uncovered a service that frustrates both its providers and its recipients.

Parents we spoke to think you need to know that:

* Mental health services failed to improve the mental health of two thirds of children with autism.
* 43% of parents whose children are currently registered with mental health services said their child’s mental health had got worse because they could not get the services they needed.
* Parents are twice as likely to say that CAMHS have improved their child's mental health when they told us that an autism specialist was involved in their treatment.
* Over half of parents do not think that mental health services know how to communicate with their child.
* 83% of the children first experienced mental health problems before the age of ten, and half before the age of five
* Nine out of ten parents said that the mental health problems their child faced had had a negative impact on their own mental health and that of the whole family. Over a quarter of family members needed support from mental health services as a result.
* You need to know how you can help us make a difference.