Links – Autistic Mental Health

Links to various helpful resources
(a very non-exhaustive list!)

Autism, neurodiversity, and counselling

Autistic people’s experiences of talk therapies research and report by Sonny Hallett and Colin Kerr (on this site): http://autisticmentalhealth.uk/counsellingreport/
Podcast: Why is counselling like this? Podcast exploring counselling from an intersectional perspective, hosted by neurodivergent and queer therapists, Sonny and Francis: https://soundcloud.com/whyiscounsellinglikethis (also available on other major podcast providers)
A guide to adapting psychological therapies for autistic adults: https://www.authentistic.uk/
The Association of Neurodivergent Therapists: https://neurodivergenttherapists.com
Facebook group: Counsellors working with Neurodivergence (mix of resources and autistic/non-autistic/otherwise neurodivergent members): https://www.facebook.com/groups/counsellorsworkingwithneurodivergence/
The Double Empathy Problem (not specific to counselling but really important to understand in the context of counselling). Explained here by the National Autistic Society (national charity): https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/professional-practice/double-empathy
More in-depth paper on the above from Dr Damian Milton, autistic researcher at the University of Kent: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/62639/1/Double%20empathy%20problem.pdf
Neurodivergence-Informed Therapy: a paper by Drs Robert Chapman and Monique Botha: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362159043_Title_Neurodivergence-Informed_Therapy

Autism and mental health more generally

AMASE mental health report on autistic people’s access to mental health services: www.amase.org.uk/mhreport There is also a guide to supporting autistic people’s mental health: www.amase.org.uk/mhguide

(Both of the above books are by autistic authors)

The above AMASE report is backed up by Sarah Cassidy et al’s paper on the same theme published in the journal Autism: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1362361318816053
Latest autism and PTSD research by Dr Francesca Happé at King’s College London: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0891422220302808?dgcid=coauthor

Autism more generally

Monotropism: http://monotropism.org/
The Role of Minority Stress in Autistic People’s Health. A presentation by Dr Monique Botha: https://youtu.be/fHz-R1ZMpOE
Book: Working with Autistic Trans and Nonbinary People, by Marianthi Kourti: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/marianthi-kourti/working-with-autistic-transgender-and-non-binary-people/9781787750227/
Book: The Autistic Trans Guide to Life by Wenn Lawson and Wenn Purkis: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Autistic-Trans-Guide-Life/dp/1787753913
Book: Queerly Autistic, by Erin Ekins: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Queerly-Autistic-Ultimate-LGBTQIA-Spectrum/dp/1787751716
Understanding Autism, a free short course run by the University of Kent – one of very few uni-run autism courses run by autistic professionals: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/autism
Neuroclastic (autistic people writing on autism): https://neuroclastic.com

The Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism (not exclusively autistic people writing, but mostly, and run by great allies): http://www.thinkingautismguide.com (they also have a great facebook page)
Autistic Mutual Aid Society Edinburgh resources, including glossary and a lot of stuff on mental health: https://amase.org.uk/resources/
Neurodiversity, autism, and diversity in Social Intelligence: projects at the University of Edinburgh looking into cross-neurotype communication, peer support, and autistic identity (full disclosure I am a co-author in some of this research): http://dart.ed.ac.uk/research/nd-iq/
Recorded conference at Birmingham University on Autism, Gender and Sexuality: https://autgensex.wordpress.com/
Book: Neurotribes: the legacy of autism and how to think smarter about people who think differently, by Steve Silberman, with a contribution by Oliver Sacks: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01N2W270Y/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
Book: Autism and Asperger Syndrome in Adults, by Dr Luke Beardon of Sheffield Uni: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Autism-Asperger-Syndrome-Adults-Beardon/dp/1847094457

More books and writing by individual autistic people:

Fingers in the sparkle jar by Chris Packham: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fingers-Sparkle-Jar-Chris-Packham/dp/1785033484
The Electricity of Every Living Thing by Katherine May: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B077H2SGCT/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1
Look me in the Eye by John Elder Robison: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Look-Me-Eye-Life-Aspergers/dp/0091926335
Aspergirls: empowering females with asperger syndrome by Rudy Simone: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aspergirls-Empowering-Females-Asperger-Syndrome/dp/1849058261
Nerdy, Shy and Socially Inappropriate by Cynthia Kim: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nerdy-Shy-Socially-Inappropriate-Asperger-ebook/dp/B00MU2EH3C
The Autism-Friendly Guide to Self-Employment by Robyn Steward: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Autism-Friendly-Guide-Self-Employment-Robyn-Steward-ebook/dp/B093JNJH4M

More autism-related writing by autistic people online
Sonny Hallett’s medium blog: https://medium.com/@sonyahallett
Fergus Murray (writes about autism, neurodiversity, inclusive education, theories of autism (that have been published in the Psychologist magazine), etc.) Some really nice intro explainers: https://oolong.medium.com
Ann Memmot (autistic autism professional, sharp critic of bad autism research, works for NHS amongst other orgs): http://annsautism.blogspot.com
Really great list of blogs by autistic people (including non-speaking autistic people): https://anautismobserver.wordpress.com

Other places to get more info:

Ask questions to autistic twitter with the #askingautistics hashtag, or find autistic people in academia with #autisticsinacademia