Getting support/diagnosis for young adult student - don't know where to start

[MrsDeaconClaybourne]

Would really appreciate any advice or experiences..

Trying to be as brief as possible. DC just going into 2nd year at Uni away from home. Likes the city and the course but suddenly starting to struggle.

We've known since early teens they have ND traits - had some counselling for anxiety during lockdown and therapist suggested autism was maybe a factor. It made lots of things make sense/ fall into place. We didn't pursue a diagnosis as they started to do really well - happy at school, good friendship etc. We weren't sure they'd meet the threshold for diagnosis and whether it would make any difference anyway but we've always talked about it openly as a family. There's lots of ND in our wider family and both DH and I have traits though not diagnosed.

Suddenly though they are really starting to struggle with lots of things - organisation, relationships, self esteem and it's affecting mental health.

I don't know what to do - is it best to start the process of diagnosis? Approach the university? And if so who do we talk to? I looked at the SEN info but it's all about students with known disabilities etc. Still registered with GP at home so do we start there?

Thanks if you've made it this far and any input gratefully received.

If DC wants to pursue a diagnosis, I would do that. Your GP will be able to refer. Alongside this, speak to the university about support, including counselling. You don’t need an established diagnosis. Speak to disability services. At some universities the counselling service is part of the disability services, in others it is separate. DC may be able to self refer to the local MH services too.

Depending on the uni they might be able to put some support in place without a formal diagnosis. Its also now possible to get specialist external support from DSA with a 'working diagnosis' of autism from a GP. They should have a look at whether they would be better of getting referred from home GP or a uni GP (check funding and availability of Right to Choose). The Disability team at the uni should be able to talk them through all of this and explain what support is available at the uni. However, it all needs to be DC's choice.