It was wonderful to be back at our favourite conference venue, Church House Westminster for our 10th-anniversary conference. Again, we welcomed delegates from across the world, and once again, our associate Ann Memmott was able to spend time with the excellent team from Church House prior to the event to make all aspects of the venue accessible. The post-conference feedback from delegates was appreciative of this and our decision to again restrict numbers and arrange the room in a cabaret-style configuration. This made the event more comfortable and inclusive.
The conference was expertly chaired by our director Dr Ruth Moyse and our consultant associate Dr Judith Gould.
Our outstanding speakers brought their incredibly diverse knowledge and expertise to life through their lived experiences. We are most grateful to our speakers, Alexis Quinn for her powerful and insightful opening, Dr Ian Davidson for his perceptive and cautiously optimistic summary, Venessa Bobb for her insights into the impact of the topic on minority communities and Jez Harris for taking us on his and Beth’s journey. We are grateful to autistic artist Jon Adams for his insightful, moving, and revealing personal story, and to our associate Professor Digby Tantam and colleague Danny van Deurzen-Smith for sharing their novel work on anxiety, and our NHS friends and colleagues Mike Karasinski and Hannah Spreadbury-Troy for sharing their conclusions of recent training co-designed and co-delivered with the Anna Freud Centre. We are especially indebted to Professor Bernadette Grosjean for travelling from the USA to be with us to share the story of her life and professional experience as an autistic psychiatrist. All were able to draw on their lived experience to highlight points of relevance to the broader picture. How kindness matters, how listening matters, how narratives are critical in dictating and influencing cultures, and how change is always possible. We are in their debt.
We were delighted to offer this co-designed and co-delivered event in an in-person format, but this time with the added benefit of a live-stream and on-demand option for those who were unable to be with us.
This is now available to delegates and those who subscribed.
Conference Presentations
Dr Ian Davidson
“ If people do care then why is change so slow?”
Venessa Bobb
“Autism: cultural families perspective”
Jon Adams
“Breaking the surface of those dark waters”
Prof. Bernadette Grosjean
“Perspectives from both sides of the Looking-Glass from an autistic patient, educator, and psychiatrist”
Jeremy Harris
“…with all due respect Mr Harris.” The impact of not listening to families
Prof. Digby Tantam, Sasha van Deurzen-Smith
“Changing perspectives of anxiety and autism”
NHS group: Michael Karasinski and Hannah Spreadbury-Troy
“Co-produced, co-delivered training: enhancing wellbeing for all?”
Alexis Quinn has advised that the slides used in her presentation are not available.