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We want to hear from you: please tell us about your experience of the online community.

Hi I'm Spencer, I am autistic and I'm from Wales

CaptainGingerBeard

Hey,

My name is Spencer, I'm 27 years old and recently have been experiencing problems with my mental health; specifically severe anxiety. Don't worry I have already spoken to my GP who prescribed me Fluoxetine 20mg and Zopiclone. I have also reached out to my local Mind centre to receive talking therapy by phone 'Active Monitoring' where I will participate in a 6-week programme to learn coping strategies and talk about my anxiety triggers.

Already I am engaged in Scope's wellbeing programme where I speak to an advisor about my mental health difficulties and pathways to employment/training. Although, I have expressed interest in getting involved with Scope's campaigns team as a panel member but feel that I have to take it easy at moment, as I don't want to become overwhelmed. Considering I am a student with the Open University and don't want to defer studies as I've previously done

I am involved with numerous charities and organisations across the UK, being proactive within my local community, volunteering in community gardens and networking with like-minded people. But again my mental health has had an impact on my day-to-day living and has become a barrier to continuing to do the stuff I used to enjoy and regularly engaging with social groups.

A little bit about my autism, I was diagnosed with ASD after I was dismissed from the UK Civil Service apprenticeship in 2018, although it was a frustrating experience to deal with disciplinary procedures, to sustaining professional relationships and keeping myself well. The experience taught me a lot about myself, awareness of how many people with ASD are in employment and how difficult it is to find support and your pathway to future success. However, since my diagnosis, I've met some incredible people and organisations such as Scope who are championing the rights of autistic people around the UK/World.

I also have a variety of hobbies and interests from gardening, PC gaming, reading, listening to podcasts, collecting banknotes and travelling. I am interested in connecting with other like-minded people for friendship, online gaming or activity groups?

Regards,

Spencer

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Comments

Ross_Alumni

Hello @CaptainGingerBeard and welcome to the community, lovely to see you join us.

Thank you for such a detailed introduction to yourself, it's lovely to read a bit about you and what you have been through, as well as what you are up to now and the challenges you face. You really seem to be proactive with seeking support, particularly for your mental health, and that's really nice to see.

I'm glad that your GP has been helpful and that you will be starting therapy soon, do you know when you will be beginning the course? hopefully it goes well and helps you to manage your mental health better, do let us know how you get on.

Thanks for telling us some of your hobbies, that is an interesting mix for sure. What sorts of games do you play on your PC? I'm also a keen podcast listener, so if you have any recommendations then I'd be happy to hear them.

We have an autism and neurodiversity category on the community that you might be interested in browsing, and I would also recommend paying a visit to our virtual coffee lounge to get involved with some of the games and chats we have going on there.

SueHeath

Hi @CaptainGingerBeard I'm loving your user name.

Welcome to this lovely group, i'm sure you will get on great, lots of friendly chats and very informative.

Look forward to seeing you around.

CaptainGingerBeard

Hi Ross_Scope

Thanks for the welcome, I'm sure that I will be getting more involved with Scope's online community. I start Mind's course 'Active Monitoring' on 17th March 'St Patrick's Day'

I'm on Steam; I play all sorts from FPS, MMOs, simulations to RTS games. I've made great friendships through Steam and had great fun spending countless hours on Total War games such as Rome. Now, I tend to play FPS, Hell Let Loose or Arma 3 but have paused because I dislike war games when there's so much tension going on in the World. Not to mention, why can't these countries sort their indifferences out via Esports or competitive sport.

Podcasts; I've started listening to an old BBC podcast called '1800 Seconds on Autism' but have been frequently using the CALM app for meditations and sleep aid. I've also started to use Audible more frequently as I started to listen to Future of Humanity by Michio Kaku.

Does Scope have its own Discord community? The reason I ask is I've found some brilliant health and wellbeing communities from around the World.

@Teddybear12 @SueHeath @woodbine

How I'm feeling:

Okay sort-of, felt like I've crashed/relapsed last night and am feeling very fatigued this morning. If I still feel the same by Monday I will contact my GP again, as I did want to self-refer myself for support from community mental health teams. However, the weather is looking great outside so I might go out for a walk or spend some time in the garden.

How are you lot feeling?

Tori_Scope

It sounds as though you're busy with your gaming and podcasts @CaptainGingerBeard! I can imagine that playing war games could be difficult considering the current climate, so it's great that you've realised that and paused for the time being to protect your mental health.

The Mind course sounds good

You'll have to let us know how you get on with it.

We don't have an official Discord community, no. I haven't used Discord a lot, but I know that many find likeminded people on there.

I'm sorry to hear that you were feeling fatigued this morning. How are you feeling this afternoon?

The weather's been a bit brighter where I am, too. Have you been out for a walk? I find that really helps me to clear my head, and lifts my mood.

SueHeath

Hi @CaptainGingerBeard I'm not to bad to day thanks for asking.
Did you manage to spend some time outside today, it makes me feel better with spring starting and knowing summer is around the corner.

66Mustang

Hi @CaptainGingerBeard

I also have autism and can relate to some of what you say.

I'm interested to hear more about your dismissal from your apprenticeship, do you think you were dismissed because of traits/behaviours that existed due to your autism?

I like how you say one of your hobbies is collecting banknotes as I think we all strive to do that though none of us manage it too well

In all seriousness though I find that interesting as I used to collect the UK coins with different pictures on them when I was younger. I had about £100 of coins just going by the currency value - I don't know what they were worth really - sadly I spent them all when I went through a bad time.

CaptainGingerBeard

Hi @Tori_Scope @SueHeath and @66Mustang

Yes, I did manage to get outside this weekend but only for a car ride with a family member for a cup of coffee and to talk about my current state of health. The highlight was probably feeding a crow some crumbs from a dessert. Although, I still feel tense, have been watching a lot of documentaries on Youtube and Netflix. I'm also glad that Spring is on the horizon as I do have plenty of things to do in my garden planner. Sow a variety of seeds, maintain my wildflower lawn and tidy up my shed.

@66Mustang

I would like to write a lot about my formal diagnosis of autism and what caused me to seek diagnosis e.g. being dismissed for gross misconduct from apprenticeship. I am just feeling so tense at moment with the current climate and wouldn't want to dwell on the past as I've done previously. I sometimes feel my autism diagnosis is a bit like a double-edged sword, helped me understand difficulties in different aspects of daily life but gave insight into my strengths.

2018 was a very difficult year for me for losing employment, re-applying for benefits and having to say goodbye to my favourite pet dog to canine cancer. I can understand how talking about experiences may help other autistic people who may get themselves in similar situations but I feel I'm already helping others with voluntary work and participating in autism research via National Centre for Mental Health.

Regarding my collecting, it has become a similar situation with my PC gaming and I've paused. I have quite a collection of currency from 1920's Germany, Soviet to Modern countries. I collect for the fun of it and it helps with my passion for history. I can also relate to having to spend a few of my notes when I was in difficult circumstances as I have contemplated starting to collect stamps as a cheaper alternative.

Tori_Scope

I like watching documentaries too @CaptainGingerBeard

Have you seen any good ones lately?

CaptainGingerBeard

Yeah @Tori_Scope plenty DW documentary, Wendover Productions, RealLifeLore and Tracks is great on YouTube, I also watched Obsessive cat ladies last night which was bizarre. If you have a VPN I would subscribe to Curiosity Stream they have an amazing underground documentary series for US viewers, try to find curiositystream with Nebula package too! I can recommend more but not at top of my head, I also watch a number of YouTube travel vloggers.

Tori_Scope

Thanks for the recommendations @CaptainGingerBeard! I'm familiar with DW Documentary, but not the others.

Which travel vloggers do you enjoy on YouTube? I watch some occasionally, but not regularly.

66Mustang

Sorry for the late reply, I hope you’re still doing all right at the moment.

I understand and think that’s fair enough about not wanting to dwell on past issues especially with everything that’s going on at the moment. Apologies if I caused any stress by asking.

That’s interesting about the collecting, especially the old defunct money! I imagine there is a bit of mystery with it i.e. how many times the currency has changed hands, where it’s been and what it’s been used for.

Just wondering but have you ever played World of Warcraft? I’m really into that game myself. I’ve played since about 2007 - I know it’s meant to have gone downhill in recent years but I’m not finding that I want to give it up, and still enjoy it.