triple a (all about autism)
Penrith
Triple A is an autism charity working across all of Cumbria. It was set up as a
charity in 2016 as a response to a perceived ‘360 degree’ vulnerability within
the autism community in Cumbria, and to provide better support among autistic
adults living in Cumbria. Triple A was founded by Helen Storey, who has a long
and successful record of developing projects to support marginalised
communities. Helen has first-hand experience in the field of autism, underpinned
by accredited learning (University Of Cumbria). Helen went on to become our
first CEO, overseeing our incorporation as a CIO (a Charitable Incorporated
Organisation) in 2018 and leading the charity until 2021. Our journey since 2016
has involved two office moves (we’re now based right next to Penrith bus
station, in a lovely pink building), the development of a range of services to
support autistic people right across Cumbria, and a range of autism awareness
training programs. We now have a small team of dedicated staff, and in 2022 we
welcomed Nick Rosenthal to the team as our new CEO – just in time to help us
roll out two major new projects: running an NHS-funded post-diagnostic course to
support newly diagnosed autistic people and launching a scheme to help autistic
adults across Cumbria into paid, long-term employment. In the background we have
a team of committed Trustees, many of whom are neurodiverse. We don’t want to
point out which of our trustees and staff are autistic, as many people consider
that to be very personal information, but lived experience of autism lies at the
very heart of Triple-A. The Triple A team has designed a pathway of support for
autistic adults (shown below), which focuses on social support, criminal and
social justice but also on health and well-being for autistic people in Cumbria.
Our charity aims to facilitate positive and sustainable change for autistic
people – to raise awareness of the issues & challenges that autistic people
face, and to bring people together to create and develop solutions. We may have
seen a few changes as we’ve grown since 2016, but our core values remain the
same!
