Health and wellbeing

Research theme leader:
Associate Professor Darren Hedley

Researchers:
Katy Unwin, Simon Bury, Cheryl Dissanayake, Amanda Richdale, Lauren Lawson

We achieve these aims through advocacy and policy development, academic research, and working with Autistic people.

We have:

• trained the workforce to better support the health and wellbeing needs of Autistic workers
• developed suicide prevention tools and education programs
• delivered training to allied health professionals
• conducted research in the areas of anxiety, depression, sleep, and suicide prevention.

The high rate of suicide and co-occurring health and other conditions makes the Autistic community a priority group for action. Policies that improve access to high quality allied healthcare delivered by a trained and experienced workforce are critical. This work needs to be underpinned by high quality research that meets the priorities and goals of Autistic people.

Facing Stress: Coping Strategies, Resilience and Mental Health Outcomes in Autistic Adults

Watch Dr Melanie Muniandy discuss the research conducted as part of her PhD, where she examined coping strategies and resilience, and their associations with stress, mental health and well-being in Autistic adults. A broader synthesis of the research findings will be presented, followed by a discussion on potential future empirical and clinical directions in the field.