Published 24 March 2025

In the spring to summer of 2022, I was introduced to a service that was for people with autism like me called Autism Hertfordshire. I was told that this service helps people with the autism understand things that they didn’t know or gain more confidence within attending these groups.

It wasn’t quite as big at the start as it was new, but then it started to get a bit more popular and has many activities to do when attending this service.

Transitions group (for 16 – 25 year olds)

I attend the transitions groups that have young people aged 16 – 25, and that was my starting point when I was attending this service.

Workshops

The service has workshops that you can sign up for that last about an hour. Here’s a link to take a look of upcoming events: Support for Adults in Hertfordshire

 They are usually topics about methods that can be useful in life such as money management. I learnt about Things that you should try to avoid, preventing things and even some interesting facts that you probably wouldn’t have known about.

Social groups

But I believe one thing that people will mostly enjoy is the social groups that happen once a month across the county in Stevenage, Hemel Hempstead, St Albans, Cheshunt and Watford. So, one day is an in-person social and another is an online social. The in-person socials each month are different as Hertfordshire is spread out, we might go for a meal out or go to a fun place to do an activity such as bowling or a trampoline park.

School holidays activities

Another in-person thing that Autism Hertfordshire does is a course which is about six hours with breaks in between that would occur in the half term and summer holidays. They also do activities during the summer such as going on a trip somewhere or do something altogether.

Adult social groups 18+

As well as the transitions socials there is also social groups at Autism Herts for anyone over the age of 18 with no upper age limit. In these socials it’s mostly the same as the transitions,  but a slight difference from the transitions, they are bigger trips, for example trips out to far places such as Brighton and Thorpe Park.

Why I think Autism Hertfordshire is great for young people.

I think this service is a good opportunity for young people to gain more confidence and knowledge as well as making new friends by attending this service. It had given me a very positive insight and made me look forward for the next activity. I believe that all of this is just the start and that there are more exciting things to come to this service in the future.

Here's a link to their official page: Support for Adults in Hertfordshire » Autism Bedfordshire