Amaze CEO launches Autism Connect: Australia’s First National Autism Helpline

Amaze is proud to announce the launch of Autism Connect: Australia’s first national autism helpline.

Formerly the Victorian-based service called Autism Advisor, this new helpline is now available in Victoria, the ACT region and Tasmania.

Amaze CEO Fiona Sharkie shares a special message on how the helpline will make a positive difference to the lives of autistic people in Victoria and across Australia. 

Video Transcript

Hi, I’m Fiona Sharkie, Chief Executive of Amaze and I’m thrilled to let you know that we launched Australia’s first autism national information helpline this week. 

Earlier this year, Amaze was awarded a grant from the NDIS to expand our Autism Advisor service Australia wide. That new service is called AUTISM CONNECT.

Many of you will have experienced first-hand the compassion, advice and support from our wonderful autism advisors over the last 12 years, and I’m always so grateful for the glowing feedback I often receive from our community.

Autism Connect will continue the same service providing advice, support and referral to autistic people and their families and others who support them.  But now we’ve enhanced the service – its open for longer hours from 8am to 7pm and you can contact us by email and webchat too. We have found the new webchat facility is very popular with autistic people.

The Australian autism community deserves a national helpline that can provide a one-stop-shop for advice and personalised support to autistic people of all ages that is free, independent and trustworthy and delivered by people who really understand autism. Some of our autism advisers are autistic themselves and others re parents of autistic people.

Autism Connect will be fully rolled out Australia-wide by mid next year.  By that time, we aim to build the most comprehensive, resource bank of evidence based information and resources in Australia. This information and resources will be developed by Amaze but also sourced from Australia and around the world, to provide our community with all its information needs.

I’m also delighted to mention our first two Autism Connect partners – Marymead Autism Centre in the ACT and Autism Tasmania – who will provide the same Autism Connect service with the added benefits of a local connection.

I look forward to telling you more about Autism Connect in the months to follow and would be delighted to hear any feedback or answer any questions you may have.

I hope you’ll connect with Autism Connect very soon.

Thank you.