Autistic adults are known to be at heightened risk of suicidal thoughts, behaviours, and suicide death.
Unfortunately, healthcare professionals relying on standard clinical assessments fail to account for the unique communication and cognitive styles of Autistic people often leading to poor quality of care and clinicians who lack confidence when working with Autistic clients.
Researchers from La Trobe’s Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre (OTARC) are addressing this critical gap through the development of lived-experience led, neurodiversity-affirming training and resources for healthcare professionals, which includes providing access and training to two recently validated clinical suicide prevention screening and assessment tools.
“Most suicide prevention tools fail to reflect Autistic ways of communicating or experiencing distress, leaving critical gaps in clinical care,” says lead researcher, Associate Professor Darren Hedley.
“Over eight years of research with Autistic Australians, we found that long waitlists, high costs, ineligibility for services such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and aspects of the autism diagnosis, like social communication differences, can all create barriers to healthcare.”
To address these challenges, Associate Professor Darren Hedley and colleagues, including Dr Claire Brown (Suicide Prevention Australia postdoctoral researcher), Dr Jodie Wilson (graduate researcher), OTARC’s Dr Simon Bury and, most importantly, Autistic people, co-designed the Suicide Ideation Attributes Scale, Modified (SIDAS-M) and the Suicide Assessment Kit Modified Interview (SAK-MI) .
“Our Autistic and lived experience peers shaped the development of these tools by refining language, clarifying terms and adapting scales to better reflect Autistic communication and experience.”
Both tools, including training videos and accompanying resources, will be made freely available on the National Autism Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Resource Hub, launching in 2026.
“As a world first, the hub will provide free, lived experience-led, neurodiversity-affirming training to healthcare professionals, ensuring inclusive, informed care for Autistic and neurodivergent people during moments of crisis.”
