Healthcare

Together with Leeds Autism AIM, the Leeds Autism Diagnostic Service (LADS), Leeds Mind and Leeds Mental Health and Wellbeing Service, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s Learning Disability and Autism Team produced an Autism Health Passport. In it, you can list such things as:

  • Healthcare needs
  • Communication and sensory needs
  • Mental health needs

The Autism Health Profile is free to use and is recognised by all NHS services in Leeds. It is for any autistic adult living in the Leeds area. You can download a copy for free here: Health Passport – PDF. To download a copy, please click on the link and email a completed version to [email protected].

Leeds Autism AIM, along with West Yorkshire police and other local services, have an Autism Alert Card. It can be used to communicate any healthcare needs, as well as anything about your autism. It is free to use

Hospitals

The Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust (LTHT), who run all the NHS hospitals in Leeds, have an autism flag system where you can let hospital staff know that you are autistic. To get one, all you need to do is read this flyer and follow the instructions:

The LTHT produced a video about getting reasonable adjustments at NHS hospitals in the city. You can watch it below:

Social prescribing

Leeds’ social prescribing service is Linking Leeds. They can help you to access community services to improve your social, emotional and mental wellbeing. To contact them, you can:

Mental health

MindWell is a mental health services website for people in the Leeds area. It was only recently set up, but has a list of mental health service providers throughout the city.

There are single points of access for mental health support in health and adult social care:

  • Leeds Adult Social Care number: 0113 222 4401
  • Health Single Point of Access number: 0300 300 1485

There are two drop-in services to access in case of a crisis. One is Dial House in Halton, LS15 and the other is Dial House @ Touchstone, which is in the Beeston, LS11 area.

Counselling

There are currently a number of autism-specific counselling services available for autistic adults in Leeds:

We have produced a Mental Health Guide. It includes information on local autism-specific counselling services and on how to get funding for counselling through your GP here: Mental Health Guide – updated December 2023

There are some other counselling resources that you can read: