Supporting autistic children at risk of harming others Conference February 2025

We welcomed an array of professionals from across the UK to our FCAMHS Conference on Thursday 13 February.

On Thursday 13 February, we welcomed delegates from across the UK to our ‘Thinking about the inner-world of autistic young people at risk of harming others’ conference. The event was hosted in-person and online and received a vast amount of interest.

The event gave delegates the opportunity to network with health, social care and youth justice professionals to promote better collaboration and joint work in the future, as well as the chance to reflect on the inequalities experienced by this marginalised group of young people. Forensic child and mental health services (FCAMHS) helps professional networks think about the inner worlds of young people at risk to harming others. So, we invited our referrers and colleagues to join us for a day of learning from world class experts.

The day began with some light refreshments and a welcome talk from our hosts Dr Mike Shaw and Dr Louisa Stokou. It was great to see the lecture theatre fill up as delegates arrived and began networking.

The first presentation of the day, ‘Through the eyes of a young autistic forensic client – 10 tips for professionals’, gave attendees the opportunity to hear from a leading academic in the field of Forensic Psychology specialising in terrorism and forensic mental health. It provided an insight into the challenges faced by professionals and invoked intriguing questions and discussions from the delegates.

Our second speaker, Dr Ariel Nathanson, spoke on ‘Organisational challenges in the care of autistic children who harm others’. Dr Nathanson is a Consultant Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychotherapist specialising in the assessment and treatment of children, adolescents, and young adults who display sexually harmful, delinquent, and violent behaviours. This fascinating lecture resonated with many of the attendees and offered them an opportunity to share their own challenges.

Over lunch, our delegates took the opportunity to network and discuss the poignant topics with one another.

Dr Ellena Cooke and Maria O’Mahoney then delivered the third lecture, ‘Attempting to meet the needs of Autistic children in custody’. Speaking about their lecture, Dr Ellena said “We talk a little about the complexity of the assessment and diagnosis in the prison world and I think that just bringing that awareness to people will hopefully have some positive outcomes for children and be things for staff to hold in mind when working with children with autism who come into contact with forensic services”.

Maria added to this, saying “Bringing together different professions [and] different services who might be interacting with young people at different parts of their journey can only be beneficial to share all of that learning and to make sure that we’re not coming from one lens — that we are creating the whole picture”.

The final speaker, Dr Anne Alvarez, delivered a lecture entitled ‘What or who causes harmful behaviour: issues of diagnosis, etiology and addiction’. Dr Alvarez is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist and teacher at The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. Her lecture delved deeper into the causes of harmful behaviour and invoked further thought and discussion from the attendees.

The day finished with a plenary that offered delegates the opportunity to discuss, question, and learn from one another and the visiting speakers, and demonstrated the vast array of professions that benefit from such events. Upon closure of the plenary, there was a networking session that closed the day nicely.

Attendees left the event with a wealth of knowledge regarding the challenges of Autistic young people at risk of harming others, as well as a broad network of professionals to discuss the topic further with.

A huge thank you to all of the organising committee, speakers, operations team, and the delegates that made the journey to join us. We hope to see you at our future events.