Toolkit to Enhance Mental Health Treatment for Autistic Teens with Mental Health Conditions

What this Trial Is About

This research aims to improve mental health treatment for autistic individuals by developing and testing a toolkit for therapists. The study is divided into two phases first, remote focus groups with autistic individuals and licensed therapists will explore barriers to mental health care and ways to enhance it. The goal is to create a resource that helps therapists adapt evidence-based treatments for autistic clients. In the second phase, therapists at a community clinic will be randomly assigned to either continue their usual psychotherapy approach or to use the new toolkit while treating autistic adolescents. This toolkit includes strategies designed to improve therapists knowledge, confidence, and the quality of care they provide. The study will compare outcomes between the two groups over time. Participants will include autistic adolescents aged 13 to 17 with co-occurring mental health conditions, and therapists from the community clinic. The study will collect data through measures of intervention acceptability, feasibility, and appropriateness at baseline and one month. Additional assessments will examine therapist knowledge, confidence, client satisfaction, goal attainment, and clinical impressions up to four months. The study will run from April 2026 to December 2027.

A Toolkit to Improve Mental Health Treatment for Autistic Individuals