Autism specific counselling

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I'm curious to know if anyone has had any 'autism-specific' counselling and can say how it might compare to 'standard' counselling.

I've had anxiety and depressions for years; I got a new doctor a year ago and he suggested that I might benefit from some autism specific counselling, rather than normal counselling. He managed to find an NHS clinic in my area which offers exactly this (Sheffield Adult Autism & Neurodevelopmental Service).

I've recently looked into private counsellors and have managed to find a couple who take a special interest in Autism and similar problems.

I'm thinking about going to see someone in this new year.

According to the internet:
The SAANS Team includes psychology, psychiatry, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and counselling.

I've been in autism specific counseling for seven years, it's been very helpful.

I am currently having autism specific counselling at Sheffield Adult Autism & Neurodevelopmental Service.

I have also had lots of standard counselling over the years.

I have to make a 70 mile round trip to Sheffield, but it's definitely worth it for me. The main advantage is you don't have to constantly explain things. They understand autistic behaviour and this really helps.

Haven't had any Autism specific counselling, but I would really like some. Don't know if it exist where I live though.

Only services in general for autism in my area are for children or those who are EXTREMELY low functioning.

I would think that it is available for the wealthy in Connecticut.
Which means Fairfield County (the gold coast)
And West Hartford CT. In New Britain CT there is the Hospital for Special Care.

I'm still seeing the psychologist who diagnosed me about once a month. Mostly what we do is practice conversation and small talk, although often (but not always), the topic of said conversion is things that have been stressing me out or otherwise causing me difficulties.

Sigh. My poor, poor psychotherapists. When they deigned try to interpret and counsel me, I told them it was an exercise in futility as I know I'd be difficult to get through. They tried anyway but eventually failed miserably trying to get me to be like everyone else, that is, normal. Nice try, though.

Mine doesn't want me to be normal, she wants me to develop skills I need in life and to work through challenges I have, be it school work, or my constant panic attacks and nightmares I was having when I was younger.

Thanks for the replies.

I'm glad that's helpful for you. Personally, I think the stress of such a long journey would offset the therapeutic benefit of counselling.

The doctor referred me to the Sheffield autism clinic a year ago, but they refused to accept the referral. I didn't want the hassle of arguing my way into it as I was doing quite well on my new medication at the time.

I'm still not too bad anxiety/depression wise, but I'm thinking it might be worth while giving counselling a go at some point.

Some time has passed since my last post in this thread, so I thought I'd update it.

I found a few private counsellors in my area who take a special interest in autism/Aspergers. I contacted one a while back, but never got a reply. So I left it a while, and wrote an email to another today. Fortunately she replied and said she will be in touch once she's back from her holiday.

Sounds positive.

That is good. I hope you have success. I had some Autistic specific counselling. It lasted about 20 minutes. One of my regular counselors, whom I love, brought him to our session to see if it would be helpful to me but it was a disaster. His only experience was with children so he was so condescending that neither I nor my regular therapist could even tolerate it. She told him to leave and that was the end of that.

I have only once in my life ever had councilling and it was when I worked on the railways. They paid for six hour long councilling sessions. Fair play to the railway to do this. I don't know why they suggested that I needed it as I assumed others were also having it, but I later found out it was just me. It was common to send staff for councilling after their train had hit someone etc... But apart from a few animals, in the years I was on the railway it was always the train in front or behind....

I think I may have said I had been feeling a little suicidal once so maybe that is why they arranged councilling for me? It was not autistic specific.
Something I found wierd about the experience was that the lady who I didn't realize how good she was at it until later, was only talking to get me to talk, and then she would say nothing and let me talk. It seemed odd and un-natural at first that I was to talk and carry on talking... If I had not been working on the railway where I had to speak out, and had come from a job before that where I had to, I doubt I could have done this for long before as I am naturally shy and withdrawn.
But anyway, at the end of the councilling she came out with her conclusions... One thing looking back that I believe she asked me was if I was autistic? I said "No" and she carried on with her conclusions. (In those days I didn't know what the term autistic meant, except where I had come across two people in my childhood who were said to have it, and the one was my friend who dissapeared for a while at the age of five, to return at the age of six... Where he had mental issues after he found and drunk a bottle of bleach in his young age, and he had developed autism due to it. He was then taken to a special school. It was sad because when I was trying to speak to my friend, I was told to leave him as he had autism. Then he was taken from the class... And for years when I occasionally saw him in the local village I would not talk to him because I assumed I wasn't supposed to because of what the teacher had told me when I was very young! It was not that I was being mean. I didn't know what I was supposed to do and Iit was never explained to me.
The other child was a relitive who had it... One of the more distant relatives who I have not seen since. I was about four or five when they came to visit. We played my toy cars in the garden. He (Like other children I played with did) didn't want to give a toy car back as he was enjoying it. I was told to be careful with him because he has autism. No one tried to explain what it meant. I had two of those police cars and my Mum said "You could give one to him" and I did. (I was less possessive about those as I had two and I wasn't so into the police cars). I just didn't understand what they meant, and as that was the only time I ever remember them visiting, I assumed for most of my life that I was supposed to stay away from people who are autistic.
I thought nothing of it. I would say a quick "Hello" to my ex. friend when I passed him in our village and he would say "Hello" back, but mentally he was not up to a lot and he was happy enough. I don't think he knew who I was anyway.
But about five or six years ago I started to be in contact with a lady who we started to become an online item, and then she came down to Wales and we met. She had asperges and her son had autism. It was only then that I started to have a clue what it is, and one or two aspects of what they had I also had, but not all of what they had. I remember asking her what asperges was and she was trying to explain... And I asked if I had it? She showed me an online test. I took it but answered no for some things as I did not know what they mean. Also, I remember while taking it I asked her "What is stimming?" She said from her experience it is rocking back and fore. I don't do that so I put "No".
Well. My results were just inside the boarderline of having it, but it didn't say I had it or didn't have it. It said "See a doctor". Umm. I can hardly see a doctor for something I don't know anything about that I might or might not have! Haha! My doctor would have thought I was nuts!

Anyway... Sorry. I have answered much to much about nothing much! WhatI wanted to say was I have once had councilling but not autistic councilling.
(Just noticed. Counselling.. I have spelt it wrong. Not going to correct every time I put it. I will just post or you will never see my reply!)

At the end of last year, the counselor told me that I could apply for more counseling from the insurance but it could reject

But even if provided, counseling is just one year, once every other week, one hour, sitting around talking.

Age 36



Maybe the original poster lives in a different state than me, pays out of pocket, or different diagnosis




Exhausted all the options a longfuck time ago s**t

What you've described here is the good kind of autism-specific counseling. Alas, too many of us, especially children, have been subjected to therapy that attempts to make them "indistinguishable from their [NT] peers" -- and have been traumatized by said therapy.