AsIAm, Ireland’s national autism advocacy charity, have launched their first online seminar ‘COVID-19 and Change’ sponsored by SuperValu.
The seminar is part of an ongoing series of seminars which offer support and much-needed information to the Autism community.
The community support events, proudly sponsored by SuperValu, previously ran in communities around Ireland but will now be hosted online and shared on AsIAm and SuperValu’s social channels.
The community support seminars are driven by the autism community and delivered by autism experts, the first online seminar focuses on the changes people will see in their day to day life related to COVID-19.
The ‘COVID-19 and Change’ e-seminar is given by Psychotherapist Michael Ryan and Educational Psychologist Dr Alison Doyle focuses on practical tips for positive mental health and staying on top of educational demands, for the autism community, during this period. The seminar can be viewed on the AsIAm website here and on the AsIAm and SuperValu social pages.
Commenting on this Adam Harris, CEO of AsIAm said “AsIAm delivers Community Support Seminars across Ireland with the kind support of SuperValu.
“These seminars happen each month and cover the issues that our community face the most challenges in – from accessing supports in school through to finding a job and maintaining positive mental health.
“Due to current social-distancing guidelines these events cannot take place in local communities, but we know our community needs support now more than ever which is why we have decided to turn our seminar series into a webinar series!
“Routine and structure are vital supports for autistic people, and we are all presently faced with major changes to our daily life from where we learn to who and how we keep in touch.
“This is especially hard for the autism community and so our first Community Support Webinar looks at how we can deal with this change, create new routines and support structures and critically tackle boredom and isolation.
“Michael Ryan and Alison Doyle are leading experts in the fields of mental health and autism and educational psychology, and we are grateful to bring their expertise to our community at this critical time.” he said.
Martin Kelleher, SuperValu Managing Director said, “As sponsors of the community support seminars we are delighted these can now go online to support the autism community. Now more than ever we need to continue to support the autism community.” he added.
SuperValu is committed to raising understanding and awareness of autism among its customers and staff.
With over 50,000 families in Ireland living with autism, those affected face barriers to inclusion because of the attitudes of people who may not have first-hand experience of autism
