The Mental Health Access Project (MHAP) is a free service available to autistic adults in Leeds who are trying to access appropriate mental health support and services.
What is the project?
MHAP aims to support and empower autistic individuals in identifying any barriers that may prevent access to the mental health and other services. By working one-to-one with autistic adults to identify barriers, our project will aim to put in place solutions enabling autistic adults to improve their chances of gaining equitable access to the support they need.
We also work with the Mental Health Equity Project and Leeds Autism AIM’s long-term goal of highlighting the inequalities many autistic adults in Leeds have faced and continue to face when trying to get mental health support, and further to that, improving the way autism and autistic adults are approached and treated within those mental health settings.
We will do this by delivering training to charities who provide mental health services and complete sensory, communication and processing audits of mental health settings with recommendations for further improvement.
What does the project do?
A safe space to work one-to-one for up to four sessions with one of our Mental Health Facilitators to:
- Navigate the mental health system in Leeds and understand the pathways to referring for support.
- Help to identify any barriers that may be preventing you from gaining access to appropriate mental health support, and strategies to address these barriers e.g., support to complete self-advocacy resources like the Mental Health Profile.
- Support to prepare for helpful conversation meetings or similar assessments which take place with mental health professionals.
- If mental health services offer therapy or treatment, we will offer a follow-up meeting to address any new or ongoing access issues e.g., making sure self-advocacy resources are being utilised by professionals and reasonable adjustments are given.
Who is the project for?
MHAP is available to help and support any autistic adults (18+) who reside in the Leeds area who are having difficulty accessing mental health services and fall within the projects’ referral criteria.
There are three different criteria which allow referral to MHAP*:
- 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 Leeds Mental Wellbeing Service (LMWS)
- You feel you need mental health support but have been unable/ struggled to get a referral via your GP
*You only need to meet one of the above criteria to use MHAP.
MHAP is funded through the Transforming Mental Health Leeds city-wide pilot scheme.
How can I access this service?
To access Leeds Autism AIM’s Mental Health Access Project:
- Make sure you meet at least one of the three criteria listed
- If you do, then follow this LINK to the Leeds Autism AIM website
- Scroll to the purple click here to complete referral form button
- Complete the referral form and wait for us to get in touch
If you have any difficulties, please email our inbox at [email protected].
