This has been another successful year for NDSA in achieving our mission and making a difference for autistic and neurodivergent people in the UK and beyond. Our scope of activities has expanded further with the Phoenix mentoring programme for autistic people with convictions and the continued successful implementation of our first Pathway peer mentoring program contract, which delivered fantastic outcomes including significantly improved wellbeing, confidence, and positive identity for autistic individuals. Additionally, we extended until end of March 2025 our contract for autism training for frontline professionals, autistic individuals, and their support networks. Our contracts for service delivery included the Pathway Mentoring Program and post-diagnostic referrals management, funded by the Derbyshire Integrated Care Board. Another contract with Derbyshire County Council involved delivering the "Living Well with Autism" training and support group, targeting both autistic individuals and their support networks, as well as frontline professionals. The Pathway program featured twenty 1-to-1 mentoring sessions, an online support group, and a meticulously curated online course aimed at enhancing wellbeing and empowerment. The demand for the Pathway programme was very strong with exceedingly high impact of 37 points higher overall life satisfaction on the Positive Wellbeing Index scale, recommended by OECD. This has improved the wellbeing of 70% of participants from ‘severely challenged’ to ‘normal wellbeing’ combined with significantly higher scores on satisfaction with feeling of future security, indicative of reduced anxiety. This year we continued to innovate, designing our Criminal Justice Offer with our Project Phoenix mentoring program for autistic people with convictions, funded by Innovate UK. The project successfully completed in September 2024. Our advocacy efforts remained robust, particularly in promoting autistic-led peer support within the Autism Communities of Practice and on Autism Partnership Boards, where we consistently opposed ABA practices. Our social media outreach continued strongly, with 100 posts per month generating 500,000 post impressions annually. Our content, which provides advice and resources on wellbeing, employment, diagnosis, and coping strategies, has grown our following to over 5,500 on Twitter and Facebook. We supported autistic individuals through our website and forum, which by September 2024 boasted over 3,500 active users engaged in discussions and peer support. Topics often included navigating the diagnostic assessment process, post-diagnostic support, and workplace accommodations. The Company stakeholders are: - Autistic people - Our mentees and mentors - Our employees - Family members and support networks - Our advisory group - Professionals such as commissioners - Our partners Our annual autism strategy consultation, which identifies user priorities, needs, and service gaps, informed the design of our programs and delivery methods. This year’s consultation, involving 370 responses from autistic individuals and their support networks, reinforced the importance of mental health, wellbeing, and employment. We also conducted a consultation forum in the form of an open focus group that attracted 10 participants. It highlighted a preference for autistic peer-led support over that provided by neurotypical professionals, favouring a mix of one-to-one and group support, both online and face-to-face. The group discussed the difficulty for some individuals of filling out online forms and participating online. In response to this feedback we have introduced face to face drop ins where individuals are supported filling the forms and navigating technology like Zoom. These insights affirm that our mentoring programs align with the priorities and preferences of autistic people. We continued listening to the autistic community on our social media channels and on the forum, findings contributing to the content development for our autism training. The research also identified the need for face-to-face services which we addressed by the introduction of drop-ins in Derbyshire and partnering with SpectrumHeads, AutAngel, AIM, Autism Bucks, A2ndvoice, AutismVoice, and SWAN. We continued to consult with mentors and mentees through the evaluation of the Pathway and Tool Up programmes and through the mentors and mentees’ support groups. The feedback confirmed the need for our programmes and that they were operating effectively. We employed 4 autistic project managers throughout the year. Our employees were regularly consulted on the working practices, which we updated by rebalancing the duties of project managers. The consultation with professionals and commissioners was ongoing in the Derbyshire Autism Partnership board and Community of Practice. We also participated in the Buckinghamshire Disability Employment Forum, emphasising the importance of employer engagement. Our advisory group was formally established, we benefited from consultations with Prof Geraldine Ackerman, Claire Allely, and Prof Richard Mills who helped to improve the evaluation of Tool Up and Pathway and the design of the Project Phoenix. The consultations with our partners were ongoing through monthly meetings leading to a better joined collaboration. We welcomed five new volunteers, and 18 new mentors. Overall, with the delivery of the "Living Well with Autism" training for autistic individuals and their support networks, the delivery of the Pathway program, the delivery of post-diagnostic referral management, and the completion of project Phoenix, we have made tangible progress in advancing our mission. Our efforts enable neurodivergent individuals to lead healthy, fulfilling lives, achieve their goals, and realize their potential, contributing to equality and full societal participation. The funding environment has grown increasingly more challenging as local authorities have stretched budgets and some grant making trusts have closed for strategic reviews. As an organisation we evaluated our response to that, took expert advice and participated in training on writing grants applications. We have addressed perceived challenges regarding funding in our organisation. The 2024/25 year has started positively with funding in place and project Phoenix progressing.

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