In February 2019, my world crashed into a life-shattering wall of all-consuming clinical depression. Following 6 months of increasingly poor mental health, I could go no further in any direction. I feared that I had plunged so deep into the well of despair and hopelessness that perhaps life was simply to painful to carry on. Read More
Can Autistic People Also Have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?
Can you have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder if you have autism? Read More
Autism Meets OCD
OCD-ACTION Annual Facilitator DayBirmingham 2017 On November 4th, ocd-action kindly invited me to speak about autism at their annual facilitator’s event in Birmingham, UK. This is due to the rise in people with OCD asking them for advice that are also on the autistic spectrum. I spoke for around an hour to groups of OCD support groups from around the country, that are brought together each year in order to attend Read More
Campaign for Mental Health Education in UK Schools
Campaign for Mental Health Education in UK Schools People with autism often have co-morbid mental health difficulties I was contacted recently by Natalie from the UK based mental health charity; The Shaw Mind Foundation, to help promote their campaign for greater mental health training in UK schools.Please sign the Shaw Mind Foundation’s petition and make this happen! I would like to share this UK government petition on behalf of mental health charity The Shaw Read More
Autism: Is poor mental health the bigger problem?
“Mental health professionals need to get educated about autism” The sad truth is: In 2016 there are still very few mental health professionals with enough knowledge of autism, anxiety and depression, to administer effective treatment. In my experience, this is still a much overlooked problem. There is a knowledge gap between most mental health professionals and autism specialists. All too often, an autistic persons unhappiness or challenging behaviour, is attributed Read More
Meditation can work for people with autism
Meditation can work for people with autism I have written about my interest in meditation in previous articles, but I wanted to write more about how it actually makes me feel. I have been meditating on and off for around 30 years and have tried many different techniques. Over the years I have regularly attended Buddhist centres, Raja yoga centres, Sri Chinmoy centres and many other organizations that have their Read More