It seems that autism and anxiety often go hand-in-hand. But why is this the case? And what do we actually mean when we say someone has anxiety? Research studies have consistently pointed to a higher prevalence of anxiety disorders among autistic people compared to the general population. According to a study published in The JournalContinue reading "On Autism and Anxiety"

Bullying is a huge issue for autistic people and it has devastating effects on mental health. However, bullying does not stop when school ends⏤it is also endemic in the workplace where it goes unnoticed and unchallenged by neurotypical colleagues. Most autistic people are bullied at school. A study undertaken in the US in 2012 reportedContinue reading "On Autism and Bullying"

I am writing a book at the moment about poetry and therapy and it seems useful for me to reflect a bit on why poetry is such a potent force for psychological change⏤in my opinion, anyway⏤and below I will chuck around some ideas as to why. So, here are some notes. Let’s dive in. Self-ExpressionContinue reading "On Poetry and Therapy"

Anyone working with autistic people needs to read this paper - upshot is, autism means different, not broken. This is what we have been saying for years! Click for Link

Here is the link to this article I wrote with Dr Judy Moore which is about some arts-based focusing workshops we ran at UEA Focusing with Images