Each year volunteers undertake 5 hours of ongoing training to keep up our skills and extend our knowledge. One of the topics this year has been Supporting Autistic Callers.
The session was delivered in two groups by our trainer Lynn, and Elaine who has been a Samaritan for two years. Elaine has knowledge and experience in autism, having trained and worked as an autism specialist to support children, schools and families, as well as completing a PhD in autism at University of Birmingham. In addition she has two autistic grandchildren.
Many of the group of volunteers did have experience of talking to autistic callers and were really interested in what Elaine had to say about the myths and truths around autism.
Some of the key issues raised were:
- autism is a huge spectrum and no two people with autism are the same.
- autism is not caused by poor parenting or by vaccines.
- it is a myth to say that autistic people have no feelings and no empathy.
- there is no 'cure' for autism and many autistic people say they would not want to be 'cured' anyway.
- many autistic adults experience depression and high levels of anxiety.
- there are strengths as well as challenges associated with autism.
The group also discussed how we as Samaritans might encourage and support autistic callers that we talk to. Elaine has combined the suggestions below
- use our active listening skills to try to understand what the caller is experiencing.
- be positive and encouraging, acknowledging the important step the caller has taken in contacting us.
- keep your language clear and straightforward and be prepared to allow extra time for the caller to process what you say.
- find out how the caller would like to be supported by Samaritans. If they have called before it might help to know what they found useful.
- remember that some callers may have difficulty in identifying their feelings
- don't make assumptions - remember that all autistic people are unique individuals.
Many thanks to Elaine for sharing her knowledge with us.