World Autism Acceptance Week
March 28 - April 3
Our Mission
Specialist Autism Services’ mission is to support adults with Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome by the provision of health, education, training, sports, creative art and counselling activities, which promote their social inclusion, training opportunities and ultimately employability.
Who We Are
We believe that adults with autism deserve access to the correct level of support at the right time. We are passionate about empowering our service users (members) to develop their skills, enabling them to progress onto new opportunities such as independent living or employment.
We are always learning together with the people that we support and through this, we continually develop and improve the service we provide.
We aim to make a positive difference to the lives of our members and through person-centred support we create opportunities for people to work towards their personal goals, build confidence, develop social skills, increase independence and ultimately fulfil their potential.
What We Do
Specialist Autism Services has worked exclusively for and with adults (18+) on the autism spectrum and their families since 1999. We are a non-profit organisation that works with the charity Sacar to provide autism specific services across the Yorkshire region.
Our Services
We provide a range of services including group social skills workshops (through an autism-specific learning programme), information and guidance, autism-specific counselling, employment support, autism awareness training and community outreach support. Under the name Autism First we also provide bespoke support for adults with autism and additional needs.
Site Locations
At the sites above, we offer a wide variety of different workshops, such as creative arts, drama, money and business, wellbeing and personal development, community engagement, employability, and independent living.
Although the subjects are very different, the workshops are all similar in that individuals are supported according to their individual learning style, to enable individuals to progress towards their personal goals.
Members of the group work together to choose the subjects and topics delivered in the workshops.
Our Other Services
Alongside our daily workshops, we also provide a number of additional services across Yorkshire.
Other Services
Employment Services
The employment team supports members both internally and externally with their individual employment journeys through group workshops and 1-1 support. We support skills development and confidence-building in a variety of ways so that members feel more ready to move towards work. We support members with the entire process of getting into work including creating CVs, practicing workplace social skills, sensory aspects of work, gaining suitable experiences, job searching, reasonable adjustments, interviews, wellbeing and mental health.
Other Services
Counselling
We offer a confidential and safe space for individuals to explore and come to terms with a new diagnosis, or to make sense of how their condition impacts on all aspects of life. Individuals are able to relax in a friendly atmosphere where the condition is understood and talk about issues such as managing relationships with other people, bereavement, depression, low self-esteem, stress and anxiety.
The counselling service is run by our Counselling Manager at the Leeds and Bradford site, online, or over the telephone.
Other Services
Autism Hubs
The Autism Hubs, located in Keighley and Halifax, are weekly drop-in sessions where individuals can meet up, partake in social skills activities, make new friends, and have fun. Individuals will learn more about their diagnosis, learn social and communication skills, coping skills and strategies to help them get the most out of life.
Other Services
Autism Bricks UK - A Social Enterprise
At Autism Bricks we take pre-owned Lego donated by the public and use it as a resource to provide creative activities and work-based experience to our members. We work with other organizations, such as schools, using Lego Therapy and Lego Serious Play techniques to provide similar opportunities that we offer to our members.
Other Services
Autism Gifts UK - A Social Enterprise
Autism Gifts was created to provide meaningful opportunities for adults with autism to gain employment experience and permanent job roles. We sell products which have either been made or designed by our members, giving them the opportunity to sell to the public.
Other Services
The Community Cafe - A Social Enterprise
The Community Cafe, based at our Bradford site, is a fully operational Cafe created to provide social skills and practical employment skills to our members. The Cafe is overseen by the steering committee, which is a group of our members who ensure that everyone has a say on how the Cafe operates.
Other Services
Outreach
Our outreach services provide personalised 1 to 1 support either in the community or in someone’s home supporting them with new experiences and working towards their personal goals. This could include increasing confidence, developing social skills, making friends, and living more independently, to maximise their potential.
Other Services
External Training
We offer external autism specific training to other organisations including community-based organisations, charities, adult social care, mental health teams, and the police. Our Training Manager delivers the training. Having worked exclusively with adults with autism for nearly two decades we have amassed a wide range of strategies and evolved effective working practises through ongoing evaluation of our service, and consultation with the individuals that we directly support.
