Autistic Spectrum Disorder - low secure

A specialist low secure stabilisation and treatment service for men with autism, who may also have a forensic history and challenging behaviour.

Supported by a comprehensive and experienced ASD team, we’re able to support patients to understand their autism and help them learn the coping skills necessary to live well with their autism. 

Care centered around the patient

Our low secure autism services offer personalised care tailored to individual needs and interests. This means adapting environmental, sensory and communication aspects of our care and treatment programmes to best benefit people with autism.

By recognising the differences in individuals we’re able to provide highly specialist holistic care which covers the wide ranging needs our patients may have. Our core aim is to help a patient with autism understand their autism and help them develop the skills to live their best life in the context of their autism.

Our autism services within FitzRoy house offer a secure pathway, which help people with autism to manage their autism ready for community living. Supported by a comprehensive and experienced ASD team, patients are given the right environment to test their skills and progress with treatment, positively encouraging resilience and preventing relapse.

Patients within our services are able to access a range of therapies, activities and vocational opportunities to develop their skills, improving health and wellbeing based on personal goals and interests. These may include:

• offending behaviour therapies (e.g. arson/fire setting, sexual offending, internet related offending)
• cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
• anxiety management
• speech and language therapy 
• occupational therapy
• music
• drama.

Supporting people with autism to live in the community

Our ultimate aim in our autism services is to help people live independently in their community.

We start planning this transition at the point of admission, working with a patient to understand what skills they need to develop to help them live well after they discharge. This means equipping them for challenges when they move into the community and preventing a relapse and return to hospital.

To help with this transition our autism service work with patients to achieve:

• Safe use of escorted/unescorted leave
• Support packages including additional services, educational and work opportunities
• Individual relapse prevention plans.

At a Specialist Rehabilitation level of care, patients from our autism secure services can step down into Garden Cottage or Wantage Gate. These transitional community living houses, located within the grounds of St Andrew's Northampton site, further support a patient with autism to transition from secure care back into the community, providing a supported-living environment to test daily living skills.