About the Autism Intensive Support Team

The Autism Intensive Support Team is a specialist service and accepts referrals from statutory health and/or adult social care agencies.

Our service covers the entire county of Cornwall. We provide intensive support to adults with a formal diagnosis of autism living in Cornwall, who’s autism is so severe that they are experiencing autistic crisis thereby placing them at imminent risk of a hospital admission, community placement breakdown or contact with the criminal justice system.

The team is made up of the following :

  • clinician and team manager (full-time)
  • consultant (part-time)
  • learning disability nurse (full-time)
  • mental health nurse (full-time)
  • occupational therapist (part-time)
  • occupational therapist technician (part-time)
  • psychologist (full-time)
  • speech and language therapist (part-time)
  • speech and language technician (part-time)
  • support worker (full-time)

The Autism Intensive Support Team is not an adult diagnosis service. For diagnostic assessment of autism, contact the Adult Autism Assessment Team.

What to expect from us

The Autism Intensive Support Team is a county wide service commissioned to work with a maximum caseload of 20 individuals. The service provides direct needs assessment and needs led interventions and consultation clinics.

The service is not a generic emergency or crisis service but rather is commissioned to support people in autistic crisis only. We are unable to support with mental health or physical health crisis and operate between the hours of 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays.

People with co-occurring mental health or physical health needs must be open to and actively working with an appropriate team to charter for those specific needs, whom we will work alongside where required.

Consultation clinics

If a referral does not meet the criteria for a needs assessment and intervention support, the professional advisory clinic is designed to provide guidance to other agencies and/or professionals working with autistic individuals who fall short of the team criteria, but would benefit from professional advisory input.

Care co-ordination

The Autism Intensive Support Team does not routinely offer care co-ordination to individuals open to the service. The service is only able to provide care co-ordination to individuals on their caseload who are funded either by Section 117 after care or qualify for continuing healthcare funding where that Section 117 or funding has been put in place specifically due to the individual’s autism evidencing that autism is their primary need.

Referrals

All referrals to the service must be completed on our referral form. The form must be completed in full before sent to us by email. Email the Autism Intensive Support Team

We can only accept referrals for individuals who are:

  • registered with a GP in Cornwall
  • have a formal, evidenced autism diagnosis and are in autistic crisis
  • do not have a co-morbid intellectual disability
  • do not have a mental health condition that supersedes their autistic crisis or need
  • have consented and are aware a referral is being made to the team

The inbox is checked daily. In most cases, new referrals will be discussed in the weekly multi-disciplinary team meeting held on Tuesday.