Supporting Autistic Individuals During Crises: A Practical Guide for Mental Health Practitioners

Supporting Autistic Individuals During Crises presents a first-person exploration of living with autism while experiencing a mental health crisis, offering mental health professionals, individuals with lived experience and their families with guidance for providing effective support.Elevating voices of individuals with lived experience, this book examines how differences in sensory processing, communication, emotional regulation, and cognition shape the experience of psychological distress and crisis.Chapters examine the intersection between autism and mental health, grounding psychological theory in real life experience through detailed personal narrative and reflective analysis.Sensory overload, masking, burnout, shutdowns and meltdowns, disrupted routines and communication barriers are clearly explained, illustrating how these factors can intensify distress and delay access to support.Psychological safety is centred throughout, highlighting how calm environments, predictable respons