$2m grant awarded funding to build capacity to diagnose autism spectrum disorder

The Mindful Centre for Training and Research in Developmental Health, based in the Department of Psychiatry, has been awarded a $2m grant from the DHHS to build capacity in diagnosing autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in child and adult mental health services.

While a significant proportion of this funding is designated for child mental health services, this is the first time money has been given to adult services for dedicated ASD coordinators. The funding also provides for the development of a suite of online and face-to-face training to raise awareness of autism and to provide assessment pathways for diagnosis for adults with co-morbid mental health disorders.

This builds on Mindful’s track record of providing excellent training in ASD over the past 10 years, offering more than 1000 training places to mental health clinicians annually. In 2020, due to COVID-19, all ASD training transitioned to online delivery. The ASD training provided at Mindful is a key aspect in continuing to build capacity and increasing capability in the Victorian mental health workforce in assessment and treatment of ASD and in delivering ASD adult assessment focused training for the MAACC Project.