Mental Health Promotion for Autism | Developmental Disabilities and Mental Health Lab

What is this project about?

The Mental Health Promotion for Autism’s goal is to promote mental health and wellbeing in Autistic people[1] across Canada. This project’s two-step approach to mental health promotion is a collaboration between York University (Dr. Jonathan Weiss), the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH; Dr. Yona Lunsky) and University Health Network (UHN; Dr. Kenneth Fung).

This project has three components:

The focus is on the development of online, video and print autism mental health literacy materials for the Autistic and autism communities. These resources will inform how Autistic people can stay mentally healthy and find care when they need it, as well as how non-Autistic people can best support them.

Who are involved?
These resources are being co-developed by Autistic adults, family carers and service provider advisors, along with the project leads and coordinator.

The focus is on implementing a mindfulness-based skills group online and in-person across Canada. These groups are co-designed by clinicians, Autistic adults and their families. It will teach participants skills to enhance a healthy awareness of their experiences and how to cope with stressful situations.

How to get involved?
You can find more information about the groups here.

The focus is on building the capacity of the autism community across Canada to provide in-person ACT workshops for family carers of Autistic people. The ACT workshops are co-facilitated by clinicians and family carers, and the goal is to provide support, increase resilience, promote wellbeing and psychological flexibility of caregivers.

Who are involved?
Family Carers and clinicians from different provinces are invited to receive training on how to facilitate ACT workshops, they will also be supported online when they are ready to provide the workshops in their region. For more information, contact Brianne Redquest at Brianne.Redquest@camh.ca or call 416-535-8501 ext. 33923.

What did we do with the findings?

We created the Mental Health Literacy Guide for Autism to increase awareness and share knowledge around issues related to Autistic mental health. This guide is meant to be read by everyone, but most importantly by Autistic adults, family members, professionals, policy-makers and leaders. You can access the Guide and related resources here: https://www.yorku.ca/health/lab/ddmh/am-help/.

Want to know more about the project?

Read more about it.

If you have any questions, please contact the project coordinator: Paula Tablon Modica at tablonp@yorku.ca.

This project is supported by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

[1] Throughout the Mental Health Promotion Project, we will be using the terminology “Autistic person” when communicating about autism. We are aware of considerations regarding identity-first language (e.g., Autistic people) as well as person-first language (e.g., people with autism), as well as recent research indicates that there are many preferences to the language used. This terminology was chosen to recognize, affirm, and validate an individual’s identity