Since launching earlier this year, our Mental Health Access Project (MHAP) has been very busy. Whether doing one-to-one work with clients, planning in training sessions for mental health professionals in Leeds or undertaking sensory audits of community mental health settings, the project’s first few months have certainly been productive.

A major part of what MHAP does is provide one-to-one support to identify barriers to accessing local community mental health services. This is done in appointments with one of our Mental Health Facilitators, for up to four sessions.

What is covered in the appointments?

In the one-to-one sessions, we can help with:

  • Navigating mental health services in Leeds and understanding the pathways to referring for support you need
  • Identifying any barriers preventing you from accessing appropriate mental health support
  • Preparing for helpful conversations, meetings or similar assessments with mental health professionals

The MHAP team can also offer a follow-up meeting if a service you are accessing offers therapy or treatment. In the meeting, we can help to address any new or ongoing issues, such as reasonable adjustments being given by professionals you are working with.

Who is the service for?

MHAP is for autistic adults living in the Leeds area having difficulty in accessing mental health services, who also meet the following criteria:

  • You have previously struggled to access the Community Mental Health Team – e.g., you felt as though your needs were misunderstood/miscommunicated, due to professionals not understanding your autism
  • You are currently on the waiting list for a helpful conversation/assessment with the Leeds Mental Wellbeing Service (LMWS)
  • You feel you need mental health support, but have been unable/struggled to get a referral via your GP

Please note that you only need to meet one of the above criteria to make a referral to the service.

How can I make a referral?

To refer to the service, please click on this link: Make a Referral. Then, check that you meet the criteria and if you do, click on the purple button that says, ‘Click here to complete referral form’. On the referral form itself, there is an option to say you would like support from the Mental Health Access Project. After finishing the form, we should be in touch within 10 working days.

For any questions about referring or anything else about MHAP, please email the team at [email protected].

MHAP’s training

The MHAP team have also started to provide training to mental health professionals working in Leeds. In the sessions, they covered topics like mental fatigue and drew on the experience of autistic adults in Leeds.

We received a lot of good feedback from the training. Here are just some of the quotes from that:

“It was really formative, and will help me support others”

“Very well researched and detailed”

“I will take the spoons model back to my role. I think it will be a fantastic tool to use”

“Course was pitched just right, and I learnt a lot”

“I learnt about the term Alexithymia which helps me to understand the experiences of the autistic people I work with”

If you are with a mental health service in Leeds and would like training from MHAP, please email the address given further up this blog post.