Our Community Advice Services offer advice, support and guidance to autistic people, their families and professionals across Scotland. We can also help find and signpost to other relevant organisations and services. 

We create opportunities for autistic people and their families to connect with others. 

Autistic People, their families and professionals do not need an autism diagnosis to access our services. We focus on individual and family needs and can support at any stage of a diagnosis journey. Some services also support individuals and families with other forms of neurodivergence. 

Each service has different funding arrangements, so who it supports and where it is available may vary. 

Our services include: 

• Autism Advice Line (National) 

• Get Set 4 Autism (National) 

• Click and Connect (National) 

• Fife One Stop Shop 

• Fife Family Flourish 

• Dundee Connections 

We offer free, impartial advice, support and guidance. Our approach is: 

• Neuro-affirming: we respect and value different ways of thinking and experiencing the world. 

• Person-centred and led by your needs: we tailor our support, and how individuals may use our services may also vary. 

• Trauma-informed: we take account of how current or past experiences may affect individuals. 

We can provide: 

• Opportunities to connect through organised peer networks and social groups. 

• Help to find and connect with other relevant organisations and services. 

• Space to explore strategies that may help. 

• A listening ear and a safe space to explore and reflect. 

• Recognition of experiences and feelings.

Our Community Advice Services do not provide: 

• Assessments, including autism or functional assessments. 

• Clinical or therapeutic services. 

• Recommendations for paid services, such as private assessment providers or private counsellors. We can suggest questions to ask and things to consider when exploring these services. 

• Individual advocacy. We can provide information to help make informed choices and support connection with other services where needed. 

• Information or guidance that promotes or supports corrective behaviour strategies, such as Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). Our advice is informed by Scottish Autism’s Practice Framework and Studio 3’s Low Arousal Approach.

Our Community Advice Services are free to access and confidential, with the exceptions explained below. 

Our services are free to access but rely on funding from a range of sources. If you are able to donate, we would welcome your support to help us continue elements of our services and the support we provide for autistic people and their families. Donations are optional — you do not need to donate to use our services. 

We respect those who contact our services privacy. We will not share personal details or information that could identify individuals without their permission, unless: 

• We believe an individual or someone else is at risk of harm. 

• We are legally required to share the information. 

If we need to share information without permission, we will explain what needs to be shared, who we will share it with and why, wherever possible. 

Our Community Advice Services do not provide urgent or crisis support. If you, or an individual you know needs urgent help, please visit our webpage on accessing urgent support. 

We understand that individuals may contact us when feeling distressed or when things are difficult, because they feel understood by our team. Our Community Advisors are trained to support people experiencing distress, but this does not replace urgent or crisis support. 

Our advisors have a duty of care. If they believe an individual or someone else is at risk of harm, they must share information with relevant agencies, such as emergency services or social work, even without permission.