In 2021 the Derby Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) hired our firm, Dialogic Action CIC to work with them to improve and develop their services for autism and neurodiverse communities. This case study describes and evaluates this piece of work; the study was co-produced by the stakeholders and participants in the project itself.
CCG faced several problems: specifically, they noted that their different services were fragmented, leading to a lack of coherence. Waiting lists were growing and people were ‘falling through the net’. Parents, caregivers and children were suffering from a lack of support with knock-on effects to mental and physical illness, despondency, and anger. The Clinical Group recognised that, over the long term, lack of appropriate provision was creating an unknown future, since today’s neurodivergent young people are tomorrow’s adults.
© Jonathan Drury, Kate Salinsky & Jackie Elliott, 2022
The World Needs Dialogue!
Four: Putting Dialogue to Work
ISBN: 978-1739991159
Context
In 2021 the Derby Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) hired our firm, Dialogic Action CIC* to work with them to improve and develop their services for autism and neurodiverse communities. This case study describes and evaluates this piece of work; the study was co-produced by the stakeholders and participants in the project itself.
CCG faced several problems: specifically, they noted that their different services were fragmented, leading to a lack of coherence. Waiting lists were growing and people were ‘falling through the net’. Parents, caregivers and children were suffering from a lack of support with knock-on effects to mental and physical illness, despondency and anger. The Clinical Group recognised that, over the long term, lack of appropriate provision was creating an unknown future, since today’s neurodivergent young people are tomorrow’s adults.
They also acknowledged that there are many existing (isolated) examples of good, enthusiastic initiatives but that staff, stakeholders and users who care were feeling disempowered and powerless because not all autism voices were being heard sufficiently. Derby CCG also appreciated that community is very important. The picture of service provision in January 2021 was a complex range of public-, private- and third-sector services that needed to demonstrate cost-effectiveness and success.
Dialogic Action CIC created the Autism Dialogue Approach® with the aim of improving the lives of autistic people by tackling isolation, reducing social anxiety, raising acceptance, increasing community cohesion and addressing fragmentation in organisations. Our experience in this work has shown that including autistic people directly benefits them socio-therapeutically. Sharing stories, thoughts, and experiences of autism in a safe and confidential micro-community nurtures familiarity, reducing the negative effects of social anxiety that are increased by isolation. This approach raises morale, empowers people and leads to an improved sense of well-being and quality of life in a holistic, systemic fashion that benefits families and communities too.