Support Groups.....

I’ve been a part of two very productive support groups this week as part of my role with the Derby and District Branch of The National Autistic Society. We met on Thursday along with two lovely representatives from Relate. They delivered a discussion on Anger and Conflict within Families so we were able to all discuss how Autism has had an impact on our family lives involving the disagreements and conflicts that may have arisen and how we dealt with them or in some cases maybe we didn’t.

It’s not always possible to get things right in any family even without autism, there are always disagreements when you have people with different views and personalities living together. When Autism is added into the mix though this can shake things up in a big way. We can’t always predict when meltdowns are going to happen and sometimes there may be conflicts between family members about how we cope with certain aspects of Autism. 

The thing is there are strategies and advice that do work and it’s amazing how these little precious nuggets of advice come out when people get sat around with a cuppa and the odd biscuit. I can’t stress how these little meetings have such a massive impact on families. We even had some feedback at the end of the meeting to confirm that. Someone commented that they were glad these meetings were available as it has made such a difference to them from where they were in their lives to where they are now, a positive transition just by talking.

Our other meeting was yesterday and we were treated to a talk about Social Stories by a local organisation called STePs (Specialist Teaching and Psychology Service). I was surprised how many people didn’t know too much about Social Stories. They can come over as a little complicated to produce but they really are very easy as we proved in a group activity. If you would like more information regarding Social Stories or want to know what they are go to the NAS website here at:
www.autism.org.uk/about/strategies/social-stories-comic-strips.aspx

So I will never ever tire of expressing how I feel about support groups. I love being there and helping provide them. Its simple, sometimes we don’t always have a speaker and that’s ok as it gives people the chance to come in, let all their anxieties out and know they are not alone. This could be parents, carers, professionals and those with Autism too. We all need to let off steam and this is still a great way to do it.

To find you local groups and provisions in your local area you can go to the NAS website and search for your preferred support on the Autism Services Directory here.....
www.autism.org.uk/services/autism-services-directory.aspx
and if you are in the Derby area and would like to know more about STePs you can find information here:
sip.derby.gov.uk/steps/

Thank you for reading today, pop back tomorrow for my tv feature ‘Pass the Remote’, until then take care.