Autism parents, CAMHS, and more

Keeping you up to date with Emergent Divergence

What's happening in our little part of the neurodiversity movement? It's been a while since I updated people on what's happening, so here we go! Emma Dalmayne and myself have been invited to join the CQC's group of expert advisors for Learning Disability and Autism. This is a huge opportunity, and strengthens our work to improve Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). As part of this, I am collecting data on the specific NHS trusts that are having the biggest issue with CAMHS and Autistic people. If you would like to contribute to this data with your own experiences, and you have experience of CAMHS in England or Wales, please click below to complete the survey.  Please also feel free to share with anyone you think might be interested as more data means stronger results. (The email continues below) FORMS.GLE CAMHS/CYPMHS Experiences by NHS Trust in England and Wales (2024) This survey aims to capture data on Autistic people's (and their families) experiences of accessing Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) [also known as Children and Young Person's Mental Health Services (CYPMHS)] according to the NHS trust that is responsible for them. This data collection is being done to provide the Care Quality Commission with data on local performance following a meeting with them on August 16th 2024.It will help you fill out this survey to know what NHS trust is responsible for the CAMHS you have experience of, please note you can only enter one trust.Data collection is anonymous, and by completing this survey you acknowledge and confirm that you are okay with this data being shared with the Care Quality Commission.The author of this survery acknowledges that many will have had difficult and triggering experiences with CAMHS and wishes to remind people to access support if completing this survey is upsetting in any way.Formal diagnosis of autism is not required as the author acknowledges research suggesting a greater number of undiagnosed individuals than those with a formal diagnosis. Did you see this popular TikTok video I made? This video is part of getting back to my roots in the original days of my work. Sometimes we forget that knowledge we take for granted in the Autistic community and wider neurodivergent spaces is still not in the mainstream. This video was made to raise awareness of a toxic culture that long pre-dates my own time in the community. Latest Blog Posts I'm still quite focused on CAMHS in my writing at the moment, but there will be other stuff coming really soon! In the meantime, here are two posts about privatisation, and care in the community! EMERGENTDIVERGENCE.COM How the privatisation of CAMHS harms Autistic children Child and Adolecent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) are commissioned with the aim of supporting the mental health of children and young people and reducing the r EMERGENTDIVERGENCE.COM CAMHS: What are the problems with "Care in the Community" for Autistic people? The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) "care in the community" model has failed Autistic children and young people. Underfunding, staff shortages, and geographic disparities have created a hostile environment for Autistic service users, leading to a lifetime of instability. Issues with early intervention, continuity of care, and collaboration have resulted in over-representation in mortality data and inpatient settings. And to finish… Speaking Event I will be speaking at an event hosted by London Autism Group Charity on September 14th in London, 3pm-7pm. Tickets are available by clicking the button below. View Event Training If you're looking for high quality training and learning on Autistic experience, please consider purchasing the Inside of Autism by Kieran Rose. I am an affiliate of this programme and have completed it several times myself. Use code 'DAVID10' for a 10% Discount! View Training My Books For anyone who hasn't read or purchased my books yet, you can find out more about them by clicking the button below. There are definitely more in the works, so don't worry if you've read them all already! View My Books As always, I am grateful to each and everyone of you. The platform you have all given me has created such a powerful way for my to turn my own struggles into helping others. Thank you all. David View email in browser update your preferences or unsubscribe