January 2015

JANUARY 2015

Happy New Year to all of you reading this. This is the first of our news updates for 2015 and it has been an exciting, busy start to the year.

As many of you may already know we attend the local post-diagnostic support group, Autism Inclusive based in Crewe on a monthly basis. We are next attending the group on Wednesday 4 February 2015 from 1.30 pm until 4.30 pm. Please feel welcome to come along and join us. We will shortly be posting the rest of the dates we are attending in 2015 so that you can put these in your diary!

World Autism Awareness Week is on 27 March 2015 – 2 April 2015 and the National Autistic Society are running a campaign (World Autism Awareness Week) and we are hoping to get involved as much as possible. We will be sharing ideas we have with the Autism Inclusive group on 4 February but currently the ideas we have are:

• Pink and Purple Bake Off – Calvin will be doing the baking for Axia ASD Ltd – Does anybody want to join in? The Bake Off could potentially take place at one of Autism Inclusive adult peer support group meetings.

• Wearing a Onesie – Photographs to be taken and uploaded to our Facebook Page (of course this is not a must and only if you would like to participate)

These are ideas taken from the NAS Campaign – if anybody has any other ideas please feel welcome to email Carly (carly@axia-asd.co.uk).

Linda and Carly are due to attend the National Autistic Society’s Professional Conference which is taking place in Harrogate on 3 and 4 March 2015. This was a very successful conference last year and we raised the profile of Axia ASD Ltd which we are hoping to do again this year.

Our Film Society is well under way and Calvin is now posting reviews on a very regular basis. As Calvin has often said we welcome any comments or indeed reviews of your own to be added to our Film Society section of our website (Axia Film Society). The comments you leave can be as brief or detailed as you like – whatever you feel comfortable saying will be gratefully received. Our next film review will be uploaded to our website on 30 January 2015.

We want to make Axia ASD Ltd as interactive as possible and we are trying our best to do this by providing you with news updates, our Film Society and our Facebook Page, however, if you have any further ideas on how we can improve on these please inform Carly. Again, any ideas would be gratefully received.

Now to the business side of things – As some of you may already know Dr Buchan operates a clinic every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. We have seen a definite increase of referrals from many sources including GPs, Psychology, CAMHS, Psychiatry, private healthcare and indeed many self-referrals. We pride ourselves on our short waiting times and the deliverance of highly specialist Clinical Psychology input. We have various agreements in place with Clinical Commissioning Groups which currently includes South Cheshire, Vale Royal, East Cheshire, Salford, Stockport, East Lancashire, Scarborough and Rydale and North Wales.

Should you wish to access an NHS appointment we would recommend you making an appointment with your GP to request a referral. Funding is then applied for by the GP to their local Clinical Commissioning Group and once funding has been obtained a referral letter sent to us so that we can issue an appointment. We cannot advise on the length of time you will be waiting for funding to be obtained as this should be taken up with the GP. The time waiting can all depend on a variety of issues, for example, time taken or the GP to make the application, how often the Panel meet, time taken for the CCG to inform the GP of funding status and then time taken for the GP to write the letter of referral. We can, however, advise that an appointment will be issued within the standard NHS required waiting time of 13 weeks once funding has been approved.

Should you wish to access a private appointment please contact Carly in the first instance on 01244 567656 or by email (carly@axia-asd.co.uk) who will take some details, explain the diagnostic process and provide you with any information you require regarding receiving a diagnosis from Axia ASD Ltd. For private appointments these can be paid for either by yourself, your family or from private healthcare providers.

Now to some personal updates: Calvin is currently in America aboard a Heavy Metal Cruise ship which I am sure he is enjoying (although maybe with a sore head from all the head banging!) Linda is back to full health and is very proud of the way Axia ASD Ltd is developing and equally proud of all team members. Carly is enjoying married life and currently debating what to do with all the chocolate left over from Christmas that is sabotaging her healthy eating. Anna is doing well on her MSC Health Psychology course and waiting to hear back from Universities regarding Clinical Psychology. Finally, Gail is thoroughly enjoying her part-time work with Axia ASD Ltd, particularly the film reviews, in between playing poker and doing granny duties (usually babysitting).

I hope you are enjoying my news items, however, if you feel any information is missing or if you would like an update on any other aspect of Axia ASD Ltd please feel welcome to leave a comment, email Carly (carly@axia-asd.co.uk) or telephone 01244 56 76 56.