Stories from the Spectrum: Abdullah Shahjan

Sunday 10 October is World Mental Health Day. We want to wish all our supporters and their friends and families a happy and healthy day, and encourage them to get support if they need it. Visit our mental health guidance pages here for further advice and resources. 

Autism is not a mental health condition, but our November 2020 survey suggests that 94% of autistic adults have experienced anxiety and 83% have experienced general difficulties with their mental health.

With this in mind, we caught up with Abdullah Shahjan, an autistic therapist who helped us develop our free Good practice guide for professional therapists. Abdullah spoke to us about what inspired him to work in mental health, why professionals need to adapt therapy to suit autistic people's needs, and how being autistic influences his work.

Why did you decide to work in mental health?

I recognised that I really didn’t want to treat people. I wanted to be with people. I wanted to offer something to heal as opposed to just being part of the healing.

Why did you get involved in developing our Good practice guide?

When I heard about the project, I thought, ‘this is really timely’. For years, I have thought both good practice and interventions don’t often work with autistic people. There seem to be a lot of stereotypes about the autism spectrum and how to respond to those, rather than person-centred or holistic care.

We are at the cusp of recognition, where we need to tailor our services to the person we are working with.

How does being autistic influence your work?

I am really clued up on understanding how the space and environment are central to practising talking therapy. Being autistic myself, I know how important it is to consider all the sounds, colours and smells in the environment to really evaluate if this works for someone before jumping right in. I noticed my other colleagues would always take this for granted and assume the environment was ok without thinking what might need to change.