Sarah-Jane has considerable specialist experience with neurodiverse clients and was asked to be a coach for the Affinity Programme:
The Affinity Programme is a partnership between Scottish Autism and AT-Autism. It connects autistic people to professional, time-limited support. It is immediately accessible and goal-directed, and delivered online up to a maximum of ten one-hour sessions. It utilises coaching, mentoring, and counselling practices and is, at all times, controlled by the client. Support is provided by a diverse and highly skilled team of professionals, including many who are themselves autistic.
The service was set up in response to the Covid-19 pandemic to support autistic people and their families to manage the stress and anxiety, or practical and emotional issues they were experiencing. These might be related to new or long-term challenges that were exacerbated by the lack of the usual supports available to them.
The role of an Affinity Team Member is to work collaboratively with clients to enable them to meet specific goals set by the client. Areas where support is sought are typically with mental health, relationships, autistic identity and employment. Preliminary evaluation shows this to be a highly effective and cost-effective programme with the large majority of clients requiring no follow-up support.
Done some training with Sarah-Jane, but need something more? It's time to experience...