by Carly Cox, for the Fall 2020 Symposium on Community Engaged Scholarship.
Congratulations from the Nashman Center on this semester's "Audience Choice Award" winner. This presentation was also selected as a Fall 2020 Nashman Center Exemplar.
My presentation examines how the mental health system can better serve young adults who have autism. This unique solution was determined using community participatory research.
This project was part of Dr. Sean Cleary's course, PUBH 6299 The Autism Experience: A Public Health Perspective. In this unique course, designed in collaboration with local, autistic community members, GW students learn community participatory research methods while engaging with autistic young adults, their parents, researchers, clinicians and other service providers. The course covers the science, viewpoints, and experience of autism with a focus on young adults transitioning to adulthood. Working in partnership with community advocates, students explore research relevant to the autistic community.
Please be sure to cast your vote for the Symposium for Community Engaged Scholarship Audience Choice Award.
You are welcome to post comments and questions below.
Hey Carly,
Thanks for sharing such an interesting presentation. I was really shocked to hear that many (if not most) autism diagnosis are made after a verbal interview. I don't know much about autism, but I do know that there is a spectrum. I always imagined a diagnosis was as complex as the condition itself. Nevertheless, I'm glad that you worked closely with the autistic community to identify challenges from their perspectives. You offered a plausible solution that could be implemented immediately with little to no funding/training, though extremely impactful. I couldn't agree with you more when you say that the community knows their needs and if we want to help we must listen first.
Hi Caleb,
Thank you for watching! I really enjoyed working closely with the autistic community to come up with this solution. I think we could incorporate this community based approach when developing solutions for other populations as well. Hopefully we will see more community-based participatory research in the future!
Carly,
Thank you for selecting an important issue that healthcare providers face daily, particularly with the shortage of psychologist, psychiatrist, & Neuropsychologist. As you indicated the limitation in screening and diagnosing ASD.
Hi Luisa!
Thank you so much for watching! You are right about the shortage of mental health care providers, especially providers who are knowledgable about working with this unique population. I think we can address this mental healthcare provider shortage by utilizing mid-level providers (Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners) and providing incentives (like student loan forgiveness) to encourage them work within the mental healthcare field.
Carly this is a really great presentation- liked your work with community engaged approaches in order to to do this meaningful work. Will you continue this work with the community after the course?
Hi Rachel!
Thank you so much! I really enjoyed working on it. I would really like to continue working with this community, I have learned a lot from them.
Hi Carly,
Good presentation. Your selected demographic, young individuals diagnosed with Autism is a unique population with specific needs. Your holistic approach to assessment is both insightful and responsible and can improve ineffective verbal interviews. When you challenge the current mental health system you can cause change. Thanks for your work!