National Autism Training Programme for Psychiatrists, Foundation Course - March 2024

The Royal College of Psychiatrists is pleased to invite psychiatrists working in England working with adults to participate in the third National Autism Training Programme for Psychiatrists, Foundation Course.

It will equip psychiatrists to identify the possibility of autism in psychiatric settings and make a working diagnosis in straightforward cases. It will also enable them to formulate a personalised psychiatric support plan which incorporates reasonable adjustments to meet the needs of autistic people with significant co-occurring mental health problems.

The development and delivery of this programme has been funded by National Health Service England – attendance is free. Places are limited and will be awarded on a first come, first-serve basis. If you would like to join the training programme we recommend that you register as soon as possible.

The programme for the third cohort starts on 14 March 2024, with a day of interactive webinar-based training taking place from approximately 9am until 4pm.

To register for the course, delegates must be able to attend most sessions of the webinar on 14 March 2024.

We want the Foundation programme to reach as many psychiatrists as possible and will deliver it remotely by digital learning to achieve this.

The first full day taking place on 14 March 2024 will be webinar-based and participative. The initial day is supported by an eLearning module and further reading that can be accessed whenever and wherever delegates want to learn.

This course lasts for 12 months. During this time, in addition to the initial webinar, participants are expected to complete four evaluations, to study the three sections of the eLearning module and to do the further recommended reading. Course completion will be confirmed at the end of the year. In total the study expectation is c. 12 – 15 hours. Please make sure that you can commit to this before enrolling.

• Community mental health teams
• In-patient services
• Addiction services
• Liaison and diversion services
• Forensic services in the community
• Other community teams

• Understanding the prevalence, characteristics and traits of autism and how it co-occurs with psychiatric and physical health conditions
• Recognising autism in patients in mental health settings
• Awareness of pathways for referral for screening / assessment, diagnosis and associated support
• Making a provisional diagnosis of autism
• Differentiating autism from mental health disorders
• Communicating effectively with autistic people and making reasonable adjustments to interact with them to deliver care effectively
• Developing treatment plans for co-occurring conditions that accommodate the special support needs of the autistic individual
• Evaluating risk and capacity
• Understanding how some autistic people become involved in offending behaviour

The live webinar will take place on 14 March 2024 via a platform called EventsAir. Registered participants will receive their link to join the conference in their joining instructions. Joining instructions will be sent out in the days before the conference is due to take place.

Watch the helpful explainer video

When you join the conference online you will be able to:

• view a video of the speaker alongside any slides
• ask your questions to the speakers and chat with other delegates via the discussion forum.

All registered participants will also have access to this conference recording for 12 weeks post event.

To successfully join the event online you will need:

• access to a reliable internet connection
• a PC, laptop, tablet or phone
• a compatible web browser – we recommend Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.

Please read our terms and conditions before making your booking.