Our team of occupational therapists at the Retreat Clinics, York, work within our Autism and ADHD service for adults.Ā We have a specific understanding of neurodevelopmental differences and how they may impact on your activities and occupations.
We are able to help you by using our specialist training including in-depth understanding of sensory processing.
We work within a neuro-affirmative framework, whereby our therapeutic practice affirms and embraces neurodiversity. We recognise and celebrate neurodivergence as a natural occurring variety in the human condition and not as a deficit that needs fixing. We celebrate the range of human experience and see each person we meet as a unique individual.
Our focus is on developing skills and we do not try to change who someone is or try to make Autism and ADHD fit neurotypical approaches. Any type of behaviour-based therapy used will be adapted for our neurodivergent clients.
The Retreat Clinic in York is an out-patient service, based at the Tuke Centre, off Green Dykes Lane.Ā Our occupational therapists can either meet you in person at The Tuke Centre orĀ online nationwide. There may, in some cases, be opportunities to access nearby facilities for some interventions.
Learn more about occupational therapy
Occupational therapy is a science-based Allied Health Profession which is regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council.
Occupational therapy is about helping you to do the things you want and need to do. The primary goal of occupational therapy is to enable you to overcome challenges that prevent you from participating successfully in the activities and occupations that are part of your everyday life.
“An occupation is any activity that we need, want or like to do to live and to look after our physical and mental health, and our emotional and spiritual wellbeing. We do occupations from the moment weāre born, on our own or with others.”
https://www.rcot.co.uk/about-occupational-therapy/what-is-occupational-therapy
Each and every individual we work with will have a unique set of strengths and challenges. WeĀ are here to listen to your personal story, seek to understand your experience and what isĀ meaningful to you. We celebrate your unique strengths and will support you in finding solutionsĀ to the challenges that prevent you from fulfilling your potential.
Occupational therapy can help you live your best life.
We can enable you to develop skills and strategies, and recommend adjustments required to help you overcome barriers that you may be experiencing.
You may relate to some of the following statements:
“I enjoy my job but Iām not reaching my full potential. The office is noisy and people do not seem to understand my communication style.”
“I feel really stressed having to desk-share at work. It is disorientating, I donāt know where to put my things and I worry about ending up with the desk by the south-facing window. I find the intense light and heat distressing.”
“Iām really enjoying my university course but I often have difficulty keeping up with the lecturer. When Iām asked a question, I panic, and even though I know the answer, I canāt seem to formulate my reply in the time expected. Itās so humiliating.”
Through a holistic assessment of your needs, we can support you in finding solutions to the challenges and barriers that prevent you from participating fully in your work, study and/or volunteer role. This may include making reasonable adjustments and adaptations within your role and to your environment that help to reduce stress, anxiety, and/or sensory overload. In some circumstances, this may include meeting with your employer.
For more detailed information on reasonable adjustments:
(Click here for ourĀ Ā Autism Post-Diagnostic Pack)
(Click here for our ADHD Daily Support Pack)
Funding for workplace assessments
All workplace assessments are bespoke and are completed to meet the needs of the individualĀ and the employer. Therefore, please contact us to explain what your requirements are, and weĀ can provide you with a financial quote.
You may relate to some of the following statements:
“I often wish I could join a community group so I can meet new people but I donāt have the confidence and worry that people see me as being ādifferentā.”
“I would like to be able to not rely on my Mum to take me places. Iām anxious about using the bus on my own and interacting with other people.”
“I often wake up feeling completely overwhelmed with what I have to do each day and I find it hard to organise myself and prioritise what I need to do.”
Following assessment, we can support you in the following areas:
- Creating and maintaining healthy routines (such as sleep, meals, self-care and budgeting)
- Developing skills that help you organise and prioritise the things you need to do in a way that reduces overwhelm
- Exploring barriers you may experience personally or in your environment (for example, using public transport, shopping, accessing public services and leisure pursuits) and together finding ways to help you overcome these
- Building confidence in social situations and navigating relationships
- Signposting to other support services that may be helpful, for example, social prescribing, support groups, etc.
You may relate to some of the following statements:
“I feel anxious most of the time. I often say āyesā to social events even though I donāt want to go and then I feel drained afterwards and it takes me days to recover.”
“Iāve been told I donāt show emotion and I donāt have many friends right now. Iām not doing things that normally make me feel āgoodā so I think Iām depressed.”
“I have emotional outbursts and my anger can quickly go from 0 to 100 and I donāt know why.”
Autism and ADHD are not mental health problems but you may be experiencing things in lifeĀ that impact your mental health, including stigma, discrimination and trauma. You may feelĀ anxious from being in difficult social situations and challenging sensory environments that causeĀ you stress. We recognise that feeling misunderstood, trying to āfit inā and āmaskingā can worsenĀ mental health and overall quality of life.
- Occupational therapy support may include:
- Emotional support listening to your challenges
- Developing skills such as mindfulness to reduce anxiety
- Learning stress management techniques
- Increasing interests and things that help you feel calm
- Planning restful activities into your routine to manage stress
- Emotional regulation and managing meltdowns and shutdowns
You may relate to some of the following statements:
“Some days I wake up and I feel like someoneās turned the volume up to full. Iām in a constant state of overwhelm from the lights and sounds when I go shopping and often have meltdowns.”
“My diagnostic assessment revealed that I have lots of sensory things going on which I want to learn more about. For example, not being able to sense when Iām hungry and thirsty.”
“I often find it difficult to concentrate when Iām wearing certain clothes. I tend to focus on the scratchy feeling of the fabric on my skin and get distressed by this.”
Sensory processing is about how our brain receives and processes sensory information so thatĀ we can do the things we need to do in our everyday life. Neurodivergent individuals commonlyĀ experience differences in their sensory processing and so a sensory processing assessmentĀ can help to understand these differences. Following this assessment, specific recommendationsĀ can be made as to what will assist an individual with their specific sensory processing needsĀ and if required, specific interventions (often based on Sensory Integration theories) can beĀ arranged.
Impact of sensory differences
Sensory differences can bring challenges to engaging in daily living that can affect well-beingĀ and, for some, a loss of participation completely. A sensory processing assessment will enableĀ us to explore how your sensory processing affects you in everyday life and what potentialĀ recommendations might be helpful. Some examples of areas that might be affected by sensoryĀ processing differences are:
- Washing and dressing
- Organisation skills
- Navigating skills
- Learning or performing tasks
- Concentration and attention levels
- Following instructions
- Unaware/ hyperaware of own body temperature, hunger or pain
- Sleep difficulties
- Extreme sensitivity to sensory experiences ā sounds, smells, lights, taste, touch
What does a sensory processing assessment involve?
Ā The assessment usually consists of three appointments, two that form the assessment and oneĀ to go through the outcome and recommendations. There may be some cases where extra assessment appointments are required to gather all the information.Ā In the sensory processing assessment appointments you will be asked the following:
- A range of questions to gather information about how you experience your senses and what impact any sensory differences have on completing everyday activities.
- You will also be asked about the development of certain skills as a child and may alsoĀ complete some standardised questionnaires on your sensory experiences.
- We also commonly ask you to complete some movement activities in order to observe how you integrate sensory information.
- In addition, we will aim to identify any goals that you may be hoping to achieve.
We aim to share the report of the assessment with you prior to the feedback appointment. ThisĀ will give you the opportunity to read it and identify any questions you may have on the results orĀ parts of the report that you would like further clarification on. We can then go through theĀ recommendations and explore together how you might build these into your daily activities.
We understand that seeking therapy can be daunting and that taking the first step can be challenging. All occupational therapy sessions will be adapted to your needs.
Our starting point will be to identify your specific goals and to assess how, and to what extent, your ability to perform everyday activities are impacted by the challenges you experience.
During your first session, your occupational therapist will gather information from you, andĀ sometimes from other important people in your life too. This information is used to complete aĀ holistic assessment of your strengths and needs.
Once the initial assessment and information-gathering has been completed, we can workĀ together to create a support programme specifically for you. We will support you to plan andĀ implement specific activities, strategies and skills relating to your goals that enable you toĀ engage in the occupations that are important to you.