Alasdair Churchard is a Clinical Psychologist and NIHR pre-doctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford. He carried out the first published research into links between autism and homelessness, showing that autistic people may be over-represented among the homeless population. Since publishing that research he has led on the development of the Autism & Homelessness Toolkit, a guidance document about autism for workers in the homelessness field which was created in collaboration with organisations such as the National Autistic Society and St Mungo’s. Clinically he works in an older people’s service in Buckinghamshire and he is also Research Tutor at the Oxford Institute of Clinical Psychology Training and Research.
Training will cover:
- Why autistic people are probably at higher risk of homelessness
- Why autistic people may find it more challenging to take up support offered by homeless professionals
- Guidance on how to identify if a person living with homelessness might be autistic
- How professionals can adapt their practice to better support autistic people living with homelessness
