Welcome to the Mental Health in Autism Website

University of Nottingham

Mental Health in Autism (MHAutism) is a research group exploring the unique challenges autistic adults face in relation to mental health problems, self-injury, and thoughts about ending life. We want to understand why autistic people experience these difficulties so we can lobby for better support for autistic people.

Recent Publications

Rodgers, J., Cassidy, S., Pelton, M., Goodwin, J., Wagnild, J., Bhattarai, N., ... & Vale, L. (2024). Feasibility and acceptability of autism adapted safety plans: an external pilot randomised controlled trial. eClinicalMedicine, 73.

French, B., Nalbant, G., Wright, H., Sayal, K., Daley, D., Groom, M. J., ... & Hall, C. L. (2024). The impacts associated with having ADHD: an umbrella review. Frontiers in psychiatry, 15, 1343314.

Moore, H. L., Cassidy, S., & Rodgers, J. (2023). Exploring the mediating effect of camouflaging and the moderating effect of autistic identity on the relationship between autistic traits and mental wellbeing. Autism Research.

Newell, V., Phillips, L., Jones, C., Townsend, E., Richards, C., & Cassidy, S. (2023). A systematic review and meta-analysis of suicidality in autistic and possibly autistic people without co-occurring intellectual disability. Molecular Autism, 14(1), 1-37.

A full list of publications can be found here

News and Events

Autism Adapted safety plans

An updated version of our autism adapted safety plan (AASP) with accompanying resources is now available to download here!

policy impact recognised with award!

MHAutism project lead Sarah Cassidy received the "Best Policy Impact Initiative" award for working in partnership with autistic people and those who support them to influence suicide prevention policy. Their work has meant that autistic people have been recognised for the first time as a high risk group for suicide in the new Department for Health and Social Care Suicide Prevention strategy 2023-2028. The suicide prevention strategy also incorporates and refers to the teams policy brief: "Autism Community Priorities for Suicide Prevention", which was co-produced in partnership with autistic people and those who support them.

See our awards page for more details and a complete list of all our awards.

Policy brief incorporated into suicide prevention strategy!

The MHAutism team published a policy brief funded by the International Society for Autism Research, Autistica and the Economic and Social Research Council: "Autism Community Priorities for Suicide Prevention". The recommendations from this policy brief have been incorporated into the new DHSC suicide prevention strategy 2023-2028!

new tools available!

The MHAutism project has developed two new tools to measure suicidal thoughts and behaviours, self-harm, and depression, with and for autistic adults.

These tools are free to use for research and educational purposes. You can find out more about these new tools here.

support

You can access helpful information and support tailored for autistic people in our resources pages here.