Autism Association 2022 Annual Report

Collaboration with Health Care

Our Health & Dental Autism Training Program for health professionals has continued this year with great success and was named a finalist in the Excellence in Innovation category at the WA Disability Support Awards. We have continued to see great interest in our online training program for health professionals, developed in collaboration with dentists and health professionals. Since the launch of the program, over 1,000 professionals have participated. This includes professionals Australia-wide and internationally who have registered for the online training with almost 600 professionals in metro and regional locations attending the face-to-face workshops. This year, we also continued our partnership with Curtin School of Oral Health Therapy, delivering workshops to Oral Health Therapists to support them in their work with individuals with Autism in a dental clinic setting. We also provided a workshop to the Endocrinology Team at Perth Children’s Hospital with over 130 staff participating. In the mental health space, we continued working with Psychiatrists and mental health practitioners in relation to mental health difficulties, and unmet need, in individuals with Autism. In addition, we received another invitation from RANZCP for our Youth Autism Diagnosis Consultant Psychiatrist to deliver training to the WA psychiatry trainees. We also developed a webinar on Autism and mental health for psychiatry trainees nationwide to access via our website. We are pleased to be funded by the Department of Communities to deliver the WA State Disability Systemic Advocacy Program over the next 3 years. This allows us to continue to build the capacity and health literacy of people with Autism and continue working with allied health professionals to promote evidence-based strategies to improve health and mental health outcomes for individuals with Autism.

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