I wanted to document some of my experience with health care services since being diagnosed with Autism & the ups & downs that come with it as I feel it helps me to process it.
After my first initial assessment with LANC UK which I had a high score across the board of questions I started to research Autism & it’s symptoms in more depth. Unfortunately, Autism was something I knew very little about as I am now finding is the case in most of the general public (including schools & health services).LANC UK are an independent multidisciplinary lifespan clinic specialising in the assessment and management of individuals with ADHD, ASD & other complex neurodevelopmental conditions based in Heywood. I was referred to this service by my my psychiatrist who was in charge of my treatment of Emotionally Unstable Personality Traits & Bipolar Affective Disorder.
It did take a few years waiting for & going through the initial screening process which was really hard at times before I got the ASD diagnosis.
When I finally got the diagnosis i felt a sense of relief as what I understood at that time of autism really ticked all the boxes for me and my condition so it was a clarity of mind to now know this.
After the call to confirm the diagnosis, it was a very emotional & confusing period. To be offered the 10 Life Coaching sessions was something I leaped at the chance to have – who wouldn’t want help to understand a condition that they had been diagnosed with? Not many areas in the UK are offered this service so i felt lucky to have access to them.
The sessions was set up via Skype (due to covid I think) which was fairly new to me & also abit daunting still as I am not great with change.
Jenny my Life Coach was really understanding & had a wealth of knowledge & information which I found very valuable & she was really forward thinking in asking what would help me in our sessions.
Within 3 sessions she had put together a letter of recommendation for my GP/services & for other people to help understand my condition.
Further into the sessions Jenny said I showed a lot of ADHD traits & put me forward for the assessment – which I feel would definitely not have been picked up on had I just been diagnosed & referred back to my GP.
Without this life coaching I don’t know what state I would of been in as I feel it has been detrimental to giving me a greater insight into my condition & how it affects me. I am still struggling to understand it & also reevaluate my whole life as it’s a huge thing to process as finally things make sense of – due to the nature of how I think, I hyper focus & I need to know every detail.
Before I even had the diagnosis of autism I was taken off the mental health team & left waiting for the diagnosis with no support – see blog http://loveartpix.co.uk/still-a-long-way-to-go-30-03-22/ This was another reason that as soon as the sessions was made aware to me it gave me a sense of hope.
I fail to understand how these sessions are not mandatory throughout the UK. I feel They are a vital part (to say the least) for anybody processing a new life changing diagnosis such as ASD.
Without the life coaching sessions I would of really struggled to process this huge weight of information.
I am now waiting on the final assessment for the diagnosis of ADHD & have recently been told that the life coaching for that has had the funding pulled!! If I do get the diagnosis of ADHD on top of my condition this will pose a lot of questions which my GP will not have the answers for nor the time to explore further. This will obviously add stress to an already confusing time – Do I still have the diagnosis of Bipolar, as Bipolar & ADHD present very similar? I am still on medication for Bipolar – which for the best part of 2 decades has never levelled my moods – Will that be investigated?
I have recently changed my GP practice due to the lack of understanding of my condition as well as them being very uncooperative with my requests for them to liaise with the LANC UK team with regards to my treatment – resulting in a decline in my health & a knock on affect to my sessions! The GP practice also totally ignored the letter of recommendation from the LANC UK team about support with my treatment – again resulting in my ongoing treatment being affected. This is also where I learned that it is not mandatory for staff to have ‘autism awareness’ training which I find ‘crazy’ – these are the people who are in charge of my care! This was apparent that there was no training due to the way I was treated hence why I was forced to change Practices (even though I struggle with change).
I wanted to document the positive time that I have had with Jenny & the life coaching team from LANC UK & feel this needs to be standard practice for anyone who has a new diagnosis of ASD/ADHD as it is life saving.
A big thank you to my Life coach Jenny who really helped me process the first steps of understanding my life with autism.
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