Project Update

As a recap, please see below the timeline of the project:

Training package

The training that we have been co-developing with our community researchers focuses on this: training at the individual level with the aim of improving relationships between social workers and older autistic people.

The training targets two interrelated elements

1. Knowledge and understanding of autism in older age
2. Building trust between the service and the older autistic person

Summary of phases 1 and 2 of the project

We worked together with the different community researchers to consider what was needed in terms of training, and what kind of training would be most beneficial.

Our co-production work, through meetings, a-synchronous joint working and in-depth interviews led to the identification of three interlinked areas that needed addressing in the training.

This is illustrated in the figure below:

We identified the need to consider wider changes in order to support a change in approach and in enhancing social work practice at an individual level.

The first two levels we identified are beyond the scope of this project, but, we will be making recommendations.

Policy

This level refers to recommendations we could make for policy change in order to:

• Foster a more resilient system within which social workers can share skills, experience and expertise across teams
• Encourage more long-term planning and better transition from adult to older adult social care
• Recognise and value social work skills and expertise
• Where they are necessary, better integrate agency staff within teams and offer same level of training and supervision support

Organisational culture

This level refers to change at an organisational level.

Some of our resources and training may help with this, but again, this work may be beyond the scope and remit of the current project.  However, we will be making recommendations, where possible, for change at an organisational or local authority level, to:

• Change the language used in reports and in meetings to move away from a deficit model to a more neuro-affirmative approach
• Give social workers, social work practitioners and other people involved in social work, support and permission to adopt new approaches
• Ensure that time is embedded in assessments and meetings for reflection
• Encourage social work teams, from the top down, to recognise and address power dynamics inherent in social work – client/service user relationships
• Support social worker to create a safer space for them to work in partnership with neurodivergent clients/service users

Social work approach

This level refers to change in individuals. The training we have been co-developing aims to support this.

Final phase of the project: phase 3, Evaluation

This is the final phase of this project.  In this phase, we will be:

• Seeking feedback from our community researchers and other interested parties before the final phase
• Piloting the training package or programme and evaluating it
• Lastly, refining and finalising the training package or programme

To find out more about please go to our how to get involved page