Autism Guernsey programmes funded for three years
BBCAutism Guernsey will continue to offer support programmes for parents and carers of autistic young people in Guernsey due to new funding.
The £24,000 from Health and Social Care (HSC) will be matched by the charity to run six programmes that aim to help parents deal with anxiety, social interaction and age-relevant challenges that autistic children may face.
The programmes have been running for the past five years and the charity said the funding enabled them to continue for at least another three.
Julia Watts, CEO of Autism Guernsey, said: "This agreement makes up a small, but meaningful part of the £400,000 annual cost required to support Autism Guernsey each year."
She said the charity had learned a lot from the sessions and the feedback from those who attended.
Watts said: "The networking has been excellent. What parents have fed back to us is actually not just feeling alone.
"Whilst we can professionally advise on strategies, what they've felt is being with other parents has been invaluable.
"In some circumstances, they've set up their own networks after engaging here.
"We've had a few individuals who haven't historically been able to access school that have actually gone back to education just because the parents have been able to work with the anxiety and strategies."
Amy Ford, the clinical lead for autism with HSC's Children and Family Community Services, said the support covers children of all ages and "it can vary enormously depending on the specific needs of the individual".
She said wait times have been an issue for autism services in the island, the team is small and is trying to keep on top of wait times as much as they can.
Ford said: "Unfortunately... families continue to experience long waits.
"Our team is very small and the demand has continued to increase.
"So the team is currently seeing children who were referred to us in kind of July 2024. So that is a really long wait for families.
"We don't have any confirmation of increased funding for our service at the moment, so it's difficult to see that that is going to change in the short term, which is why partnering with organisations like Autism Guernsey is really important to make sure that families have got that support whilst they're waiting and are able to link up with other families and have that support from other parents who are experiencing similar challenges."
The announcement of the funding came on World Autism Awareness Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness, promoting acceptance, and championing inclusion for autistic people.
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