Last month, I wrote a rather depressing but important blog post on why so many autistic people struggle with their mental health. Read it here. As promised, I’m back with some practical advice on managing mental health as an autistic person. Firstly, I want to acknowledge that managing mental health is different to managing a mental health condition. Everyone has mental health - just like everyone has physical health - and we all need to look after it. However, not everyone has a mental health condition. These tips are focused on managing your mental health on a day to day basis, rather than m ..read more

It is the start of Mental Health Awareness Week. It is good that more people are talking about mental health now than in the past. It is good that there are conversations taking place about how to look after your mental health. It is good that people are talking about how important mental health is. But the above conversations do not go far enough to include people with mental illnesses, particularly those with severe and enduring mental health conditions. “For Mental Health Awareness Week, we want to get the mental health conversation moving on to mental illness. Improved knowledge and unders ..read more

As an autistic person, life can be a LOT. Research shows that our brains process more information at any one time than non-autistic people’s brains (Brinkert & Remington, 2020). Every day, we have to manage sensory discomfort, overwhelm, social challenges, executive dysfunction, exhaustion from masking, and the social confusion that comes with being autistic. It’s no wonder we are often exhausted. Our energy is precious, and can be depleted fast. Unfortunately, that can result in autistic burnout. Autistic burnout is extreme long-term exhaustion and overwhelm triggered over time, where the ..read more

From August 4th 2023 to April 26th 2024…I have graduated ADHD Coaching! (if this is even a thing…i have made it a thing). Nine months ago, I was struggling to come to terms with my fairly new ADHD diagnosis and had no sense of how to make life (which just felt constantly stressful) easier for my ADHD brain. Access to Work granted me funding for an ADHD coach, and I started working with Leanne Maskell, Founder of ADHD Works. Eight and a half months later, and I can’t express how life-changing it has been. Leanne’s knowledge, kindness and guidance has transformed my life from one where I was qu ..read more

Research suggests that 80% of autistic people experience mental health problems throughout their life, and around 40% of suicides are estimated to be autistic people (Autistica, undated; Cassidy et al. 2022). This is incredibly sad. There are a variety of reasons why this might be the case. Lack of Recognition Research shows that autistic people diagnosed later in life have an increased risk of poor mental health and a lower quality of life (Atherton et al., 2021). And there are a LOT of autistic people who aren’t recognised, and increasing numbers being diagnosed later in life. Autistic p ..read more

The past couple of weeks have been the most surreal of my life. GIRL UNMASKED is officially out in the world, and I am filled with gratitude. On Wednesday 27th March, I saw it in Waterstones for the first time (it was on the shelf a day early!). It’s fair to say that it was a very surreal experience, and one of those life moments that I’ll never ever forget. On Thursday 28th, I had a book launch celebration with my family, friends, wonderful agent and publisher, family friends, local community - and even my teachers from school came! It was a very special evening, being in a room filled with ..read more

GIRL UNMASKED is officially out in the world (and somehow at number 7 on the Amazon bestseller chart!?). It is an incredibly surreal experience! Last week I did a Q&A on my Instagram story, which I thought I would pop into a blog post. Have you always wanted to write a book? For as long as I can remember, I have always loved writing. I spent so much of my childhood writing ‘books’, especially when on holiday. My first novel length book was in year 6. I dreamt about being an author when I grew up. So the answer is YES, but I always thought I’d write fiction - never once did I imagine writin ..read more

One of the things about living with OCD is that you never know when it is going to strike. I know that it hits most when I am stressed, tired or feeling low. I expected it when I lost my dog Coco in October, and moved through it. I was NOT expecting a new OCD theme to hit three and a bit weeks ago. I almost forget the pain of OCD until it returns and am reminded again how torturous being stuck in an OCD spiral feels. The thing with OCD is that the meaning we place on our intrusive thoughts is what causes the distress and anxiety, leading to compulsions. I know the importance of accepting the t ..read more

Autistic and ADHD people have long struggled in the workplace. According to the Office for National Statistics, in 2021 only 29% of autistic people in the UK between 16-64 years old were employed (though of course, this is out of those recognised as autistic). Employees with ADHD are twice as likely to lose their job compared to employees without ADHD. A survey found that 65% of neurodivergent employees believed that disclosing their neurodivergence would result in discrimination from management, and 55% worried about stigma from colleagues. So this is a topic we need to talk about. Like with ..read more

On the 8th of January, the UK government launched its attendance campaign ‘Moments Matter, Attendance Counts’. The same day, Good Morning Britain hosted a news segment titled ‘School Skivers: whose fault - teachers or parents?’. In response, I wrote‘I Was Not a “School Skiver’ (which I would recommend reading first!) which I shared on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #NotASchoolSkiver. Since then, hundreds of people have shared their stories using #NotASchoolSkiver, showcasing the truth behind the so-called ‘attendance crisis’. Of unsupported neurodivergence, of being a young carer, of m ..read more