Improving access to CAMHS for autistic young people experiencing mental health difficulties
Submitted by Emma Ashworth
Autistic young people are more likely to experience mental health difficulties than neurotypical peers, but often face barriers accessing Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). To understand more about the accessibility of CAMHS for autistic young people, we explored the experiences of parents/carers who had sought help for their child from CAMHS, using an online survey. 300 parents/carers took part.
The most frequent concerns that led parents to seek help from CAMHS were anxiety, school-based anxiety, suicide ideation, and depression. Half (51%) said that CAMHS agreed to assess their child, and then half of them (26% overall) said CAMHS agreed to provide support. Ultimately, only 2% of parents said that their child’s mental health improved ‘a lot’ as a result of seeking help from CAMHS, and 7% said it improved ‘a little’.
71% of parents said no reasonable adjustments were made, and 87% said their child did not feel comfortable to explain their difficulties. Common barriers described included:
Diagnostic overshadowing (i.e., clinicians assuming mental health difficulties are part of autism)
Clinicians saying that they do not provide mental health support for autistic young people
Their child’s difficulties not being considered severe enough
Offers of ineffective/inappropriate therapies (e.g., group Cognitive Behavioural Therapy)
A lack of professional understanding about autism
Overall, parents expressed a need for a more neuroaffirmative approach in CAMHS. Further research, funding, and training are needed to ensure mental health support is accessible, timely, and effective for autistic young people.
I’m a teacher – what does this mean for me?
Many parents described how their autistic child’s mental health difficulties first began at school or were made worse by experiences they had there. It is important for teachers to provide autistic young people with access to learning in an inclusive, safe, and flexible environment, with neurodiversity-informed staff, to reduce the likelihood of them suffering stressors and emotional experiences that lead to mental health difficulties. This could involve staff attending neuroaffirmative training, implementing reasonable adjustments for their pupils, offering flexibility where possible, ensuring autistic young people feel understood, and taking steps to help reduce sensory overwhelm.
I’m a clinician – what does this mean for me?
Clinicians may wish to look at implementing a more neuro-inclusive and personalised approach in CAMHS. This could include offering an extended assessment period, reasonable adjustments within the CAMHS environment, giving autistic young people a choice in how they engage, and ensuring that any therapies offered are adapted and/or effective for autistic individuals. Clinicians may also find neuroaffirmative training helpful, to make sure they understand what autism is (and what it is not), how mental health difficulties may present differently in autistic young people, and adjustments/adaptations that can be put in place. However, parents recognised that CAMHS professionals were often kind and compassionate, and were working to the best of their abilities. Time, resources, research, and funding are needed at a policy level in order to support clinicians.