The Australian Psychological Society (APS) welcomed the chance to provide feedback on the released draft of the Autism Health Roadmap, as part of the broader National Autism Strategy aimed at improving health and mental health outcomes for Autistic Australians. The APS as a member of the Autism Health Roadmap Working worked alongside the Department and Health and Aged Care, Autistic people and other stakeholders to co-design the Roadmap content.
The APS overall supports the released draft, including the guiding principles that ensure human rights, self-determination, and the recognition of mental health and suicide prevention as key aspects of overall health. We called for a stronger emphasis on a lifespan approach to address the changing needs of Autistic people and advocated for trauma-informed and culturally safe care.
We commended the focus on identified under served groups but also highlighted the need to recognise others including Autistic parents and older Autistic adults. The APS stressed the critical role of psychologists in delivering evidence-based mental health care across the lifespan.
Moving forward, the APS as a member of the of the Roadmap Working Group will continue to contribute to further refining the Roadmap and advocate for the vital role of psychologists in:
- Co-designing and co-delivering autism-related health and mental health frameworks.
- Developing national training standards for autism assessment and health and mental health care.
- Providing care to Autistic people across settings including education, work and care settings, with an urgent need to grow the workforce across public and private sectors.
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