We provide mentoring services to autistic adults in Leeds aged 18 and over with little or no support who would benefit from some independent, autism-specific support.

Our volunteer mentors are fully-trained and are able to meet with you and help set life goals. Some of our mentors are autistic themselves and have additional awareness of the barriers that can prevent people from fulfilling their potential.

Our service will aim to find you the best possible match. There will be introductory meetings and regular ongoing support for both the mentor and mentee.

Among the things our mentors can do are:

  • Meet on a regular basis to help see how you’re doing, in a place that’s appropriate such as your home or a local cafe
  • Listen to anything you need to talk about
  • Create a mentoring plan together by helping you to identify and set life goals
  • Signpost you to any relevant services/support

Please note that mentors are not the same as support workers.

Please note that our Mentoring service is currently oversubscribed. We are having to stop taking new referrals for this service until we can catch up with demand, but some of our other services are available.

Looking for a mentor

If you would like Leeds Autism AIM to match you with a mentor, you need to know the following:

  • To be eligible for a mentoring match, you need to be an autistic adult
  • You also need to live in the Leeds City Council area and receive little or no funded support

For more information or to apply for a mentor, please email us at [email protected] and we will be in touch as soon as we can.

Becoming a volunteer mentor

We are looking for suitable people to become volunteer mentors. To become one, you’ll need to:

  • Contact us and we will send you more information and an application form
  • Have a meeting with us. We will arrange to meet you at a suitable time
  • Enrol on our next mentoring training sessions – it has three sessions:
    • Autism awareness
    • Mentoring
    • Induction
  • Be suitable for training – we’re interested to hear from anyone with knowledge or an interest in autism, particularly people with lived experience
  • Have a little spare time each week to meet your mentee. Typically, this is around an hour over each fortnight

For more information on becoming a mentor, please email Beth, our Volunteer Coordinator, at [email protected] and she will be in touch as soon as we can.