THE SAFE DIGITAL COMMUNITY FOR ANYONE AGED 11+ WHO IS WAITING FOR AN AUTISM DIAGNOSIS
Nothing about us without us
‘A’ IS THE RESULT OF THREE YEARS RESEARCH AND CO-CREATION WITH 1,800 AUTISTIC YOUNG PEOPLE AGED 11-25.
“I’m really grateful to be a part of this wonderful project and have the chance to have my voice heard and my ideas listened to. Being autistic with complex mental health issues I never thought I’d have any opportunity like this. I have appreciated being treated like an adult, listened to, have my thoughts shared and appreciated. It’s great being able to help produce something and contribute my ideas to something that I can see being able to positively impact others.”
Jayden, 17
Why ‘A’ matters
‘A’ de-risks lengthy autism waiting lists
In the UK, 118,000 young people are on a waiting list for an autism diagnosis; some will wait up to four years. Waiting list mental health support is crucial because undiagnosed young people with autistic traits are 21% more likely to experience a life-threatening mental health crisis than diagnosed peers.
ACE, 2024
‘A’ reduces reliance on other NHS services
In 2024, 20,839 autistic young people received emergency hospital care for their mental health compared to 11,197 in 2020 (NHS, 2025). Crisis support for young people who have experienced a deterioration in their mental health while on waiting lists is costing the UK £295 million P.A.
Centre for Mental Health, 2025
‘A’ aligns with NHS Core20+5 objectives
Children from disadvantaged or minority ethnic backgrounds are less likely to be diagnosed or will receive a diagnosis two years later than their peers. They are also more likely to experience more severe difficulties. Failure to provide appropriate autism support leads to poor long-term outcomes.
Centre For Young Lives, 2024.
What ‘A’ does
PRE-MODERATED PEER AND COUNSELLOR SUPPORT
Autistic young people can:
Connect to an anonymous, age-banded community of autistic peers and SuperPeer® Volunteers; inclusion in a safe, supportive community boosts confidence and self-esteem.
Feel confident to talk about anything because all posts and replies are checked by autism-friendly moderators before going live.
Benefits for the NHS:
A de-risks the waiting list by providing access to immediate high risk support which prevents mental health issues escalating to crisis and reduces reliance on other NHS services.
A provides 365-day, 8:30am - 11pm risk assessment and supervision by autism trained moderators.
MHSDS integration means ‘CYP Access Metrics’ are increased in line with 2025/26 NHS Priorities.
'A' team outreach increases Core20+5 engagement through outreach and training for the NHS, VCSFE services, schools and community groups.
TAILORED RESOURCES AND HIGH RISK SUPPORT
How ‘A’ helps
Autistic young people can:
Feel safe and protected because autism trained counsellors respond directly to all high-risk posts within 30 minutes.
Build personalised, interactive digital safety plans to use during mental health episodes.
Learn about autism, access a range of tools and resources and find helpful information about the diagnosis pathway.
Connect to local resources and services.
Benefits for the NHS:
Continuous risk assessment informs integration with local safeguarding teams to improve patient safety.
Reduce your workload by providing young people with self-service access to timely information to help them prepare for assessment and diagnosis.
Transparent reporting on service usage, topics and risk levels demonstrates value for money and aids future planning.
Why ‘A’ works
EVIDENCE OF OUTCOMES
Research with 1,800 autistic young people found:
Research conducted in collaboration with the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge found that using Tellmi reduced isolation and broke down barriers to communication for speaking and non-speaking autistic young people.
Secondary analysis of Tellmi data by the Autism Research Centre is informing research into characteristic predictors of suicide risk in autistic young people.
Evidence for the NHS:
In 2022 Tellmi was independently evaluated by the Evidence Based Practice Unit. They found that using Tellmi improves mental health in young people by increasing confidence and connectedness, reduced loneliness and improving mental health self management skills.
In 2023, Tellmi was economically evaluated by York Health Economics Consortium who found that Tellmi reduces reliance on GP services, A&E attendance and use of school nurses and counsellors.
“I think Ruby likes it because it makes her feel safe and it has allowed her to connect with other people her age who have similar problems, so she doesn’t feel so alone now. She has been a different kid since she started using Tellmi.”
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“Tellmi has helped me, so many amazing people have reached out and helped me when I needed it and I’m so thankful for them. It’s really helpful because there’s people who can relate to you and know what you’re going through and know how to help you and there’s moderators who make sure that what people are saying is okay in case it could be inappropriate for younger ages.”
Autistic Tellmi user, age 16
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![Tellmi mental health support]()
“I just wanted to say thank you to everyone in the Tellmi community for being so kind and caring. I don’t know if I would be alive right now if I never downloaded Tellmi, so thank you so much to everyone who has helped me.”
Autistic Tellmi user, age 14
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We are so pleased to be working with Tellmi. This is one of the few platforms where young autistic people can connect with each other, feel less isolated, and benefit from peer support. Our ongoing research is evaluating if Tellmi is reducing the mental health crisis that so many autistic people experience.”
Professor Simon Baron Cohen, Director of the Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University
What ‘A’ offers
Co-created with autistic young people, ‘A’ is specifically designed to support the 118,000 young people who could be waiting up to four years for an autism assessment. ‘A’ provides continuous support to increase resilience and prevent mental health deteriorating while young people wait for an outcome.
‘A’ can be purchased by ICBs, Public Health, Autism specific care teams and charities. There is a minimum spend of £24,000 per annum; a cost of £250 per person for 365 day support.
Easy procurement through the NHS Dynamic Purchasing System.
AUTISM SPECIFIC PEER SUPPORT
Autism specific peer and SuperPeer volunteer® support
Community feed, 100% pre-moderation by humans
Outreach, training and engagement
Waiting list specific data reporting on platform usage
HIGH RISK SUPPORT
Continuous risk monitoring
Pre-emptive counsellor intervention for high-risk
Integration with local safeguarding teams and escalate to local services when an individual is identified as needing immediate crisis support
TAILORED RESOURCES
Personalised interactive digital safety plans designed for autistic young people
Mapping of relevant local services and resources for those on the waiting list
Extensive resources on autism and the diagnosis pathway
Questions people often ask us
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In 2022, we began to notice that lots of our users were talking about autism. We decided to investigate. We teamed up with the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge and conducted a year long study which involved more than 1,800 autistic young people. We discovered that 18% of Tellmi users have an autism diagnosis compared to just 2% of young people in the general population and for 39% of them, Tellmi was their only source of support.
The study showed us that Tellmi was meeting the needs of autistic young people in ways that other digital mental health providers were not, but there were lots of things that needed to be improved. That’s when we began thinking about developing ‘A’.
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In 2024, Innovate UK funding enabled us to address the issues we had identified in our early research. We worked closely with human centred design company Mima and autism charity Ambitious About Autism but most of the co-creation work was done in once a week meetings with a core team of autistic young people who helped us to design, test, revise and develop what is, almost certainly, the world’s first pre-moderated peer-to-peer digital mental health support solution designed with, and for, autistic young people.
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‘A’ by Tellmi will be launching this summer. We have initial capacity to provide services in two regions. If your ICB or Trust would like to be the first to benefit from this innovative new solution please get in touch.
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