Autism Connect

Autism Connect is a Social Hub aimed at supporting adults (18 years +) with an autism and/or neurodiverse diagnosis but without a learning disability or mental health co-morbidity (i.e. not able to access support through other avenues), and living in the Southern Trust region.

What’s it all about? Well, it’s in the title! 🙂 Autism Connect is all about connecting with other adults with autism in a safe space, having fun & growing as individuals, together. We know from our Newry group how integral it is to making/sustaining friendships and social connection, so we warmly welcome any new enquiries for any of our groups (Newry, Armagh or Banbridge). 

We can also assist Autism Connect members with practical support when needed. For example we can help with things like completing forms, reading over a CV or attending appointments with you.

AUTISM CONNECT – going from strength to strength!

Originating as a pilot programme back in 2021/22, our Newry Autism Connect group has grown from strength to strength, now with 25 members. Each week the group gets together and enjoy meet ups, discussions, or planned activities/outings – recently the Newry group have enjoyed employment and interview skills, mindfulness, music and art sessions, bowling trips, an end of summer BBQ and lots more.

Thanks to funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, The SHSCT and The Newry & Mourne GP Federation – we are now able to expand on the Autism Connect programme and bring it to two new locations starting Sept/Oct 2024 (Hello, Armagh & Banbridge!:). We are so happy to be able to offer community, connection and support to more adults with autism in the Southern Trust – and hope if this service is of interest to you – that you will give it a try!! 

AUTISM & ME – a collaborative programme!

We are also delivering a new exploratory programme ‘Autism & Me’ – which has been created to share the experiences of Autistic Adults and enhance peer to peer support/learning, Although we have an outline for the programme to help guide our weekly topics, we are happy to work with those attending to shape the sessions – you will help have a say in what we cover.

You do not have to registered in our Autism Connect groups to participate – the programme is open to all individuals either formally diagnosed or identifying as someone with Autism traits – though registration to attend is required. The sessions will also be open to siblings or partners who would also like to learn from these sessions!

We will also have one session at the end for parents/guardians to attend.

Topics that will be covered include:

– Knowing Me – A session all about you, exploring what it means to be autistic.

– Triggers and Glimmers– Anxiety can often go hand in hand with Autism, in this session we explore environmental, emotional and social life elements that can impact emotionally and physically on the body. To balance this, we will also look at what makes life good.

– Navigating Relationships – In this session we chat about friendships and relationships.

– Algorithms don’t have morals – In this session, we will review, the positive and negative elements of external influences on our mood, and outlook and how to buffer the negative and hold onto the positive when using different interactive platforms.

– Energy Boosters – The session, how to plan ahead, so that you are not expelling so much energy on certain areas of your life, that it leaves you completely deflated and unable to engage with activities.

– Let’s Talk This final session* will be aimed at Parents/guardians and those working with Autistic Adults in the HSCT or Education, focusing on communication. We will be asking our groups if there is there anything they feel we should focus on when facilitating this session!

AUTISM & ME SESSIONS:

Newry sessions start Monday 23rd September from 2.30pm-4.30pm (and will run weekly until the *final session on Mon 28th October).

Banbridge sessions start Tuesday 5th November 2.30pm-4,30pm (and will run weekly until the *final session on Tues 10th December).

Armagh sessions start Wednesday 6th November 2.30pm-4.30pm (and will run weekly until the *final session on Wed 11th December).

To enquire or to register your place, contact Sharon at Bolster Community on  07502491550 or e-mail sharon@bolstercommunity.org