Mental Health Matters and MPFT launch ground-breaking Mental Health and Autism Peer Support Service in South Staffordshire

19 July 2021, South Staffordshire – Mental Health Matters (MHM) have successfully launched a new Mental Health and Peer Support (MAPS) service in South Staffordshire.

Developed in partnership with Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust (MPFT) and Staffordshire Adults Autistic Society (SAAS), the service will provide support to individuals with autism who are also struggling with their mental health.

Clients accessing the service will be supported by a Peer Support Worker who can draw on their own experiences to help clients navigate the uncertainty of a diagnosis, create a care plan and access broader services.

Jane Hughes, CEO of MHM, said: “We are excited to launch a support service that is guided by those with lived experience. Working in partnership with MPFT and SAAS allows us to combine our range of expertise to design a service that places clients at the heart of their support”.

Salwa El-Raheb-Booth, Chair of Staffordshire Adults Autistic Society, said: “Expertise by Experience (peer support), is finally acknowledged, and funded. As a Society run by autistics for autistics, SAAS is only too pleased to work with MHM and MPFT in delivering a useful and forward-looking support service for people on the spectrum”.

The service is being commissioned by Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust (MPFT).

Lisa Agell, Operations Director for Unplanned Care and Mental Health MPFT, added: “It has been fantastic to work in partnership with SAAS to shape these services. Using lived experience and putting the client at the centre of their care plan will make a huge difference to people with autism who are struggling with their mental health”.

Mental Health Matters (MHM) is a third sector organisation providing a wide range of support to people with mental health needs offering a welcoming, safe, comfortable, non-judgmental, and non-clinical environment. Learn more: www.mhm.org.uk/

Staffordshire Adults Autistic Society (SAAS) is a charity that aims to use knowledge of those on the autism spectrum to aid and facilitate independent and happy lives by providing support to people on the autism spectrum, and to promote better understanding and acceptance of the autism spectrum disorder.