Harley Counselling

18/02/2026

Team night out celebrating a very special birthday 🫶⭐️ 🥳 Harley Counselling

13/02/2026

13/02/2026

Children are still feeling the mental health impact of lockdown.

Our survey found that four in five therapists working with children are seeing rising anxiety, more complex mental health needs and growing pressure on already overstretched services.

This , we are calling on the Government to act by funding counselling in all schools and expanding Mental Health Support Teams so every child can access timely, professional support wherever they live.

Read the full story 👉 https://orlo.uk/mMGi4

13/02/2026

It is always great to revisit ‘On Becoming A Person’

07/02/2026

07/02/2026

Autistic Burnout: You Don’t Lose Skills.
You Lose the Ability to Fake Them.

Let me start this post by explaining the title.
When I use the word fake, I am not talking about lying or pretending you have skills that you really don’t.

I am talking about the constant effort it takes to keep up with household, workplace, and social expectations.

“Fake” can mean:

• Forcing eye contact when it feels uncomfortable

• Sounding just fine to others when you speak, while your brain is searching and struggling to find the right words

• Doing your daily chores when only blasting rock music or a podcast allows you to get through them

• Keeping up with tasks by running on anxiety, adrenaline, or perfectionism

• Looking fine because you constantly mask to hide your struggle

None of those high-masking behaviours are without consequence. They can drain us emotionally, cognitively, and physically.

Before Autistic burnout, many Autistic people manage life by stacking these strategies on top of each other.

We script, we push through, and we prioritize the expectations of others while ignoring our own well-being. Autistic burnout is often the result, and then this can happen:

• Words come slower

• Tasks feel impossible to take on

• Sensory experiences are heightened

• Social interaction takes more than you have to give

• The workday feels suffocating and oppressive

This is what Autistic burnout can do, and to those on the outside, it looks like you’ve lost your skills or abilities.

On the inside, though, you’ve been forced to drop the mask. You can no longer manage under the weight of effort required to “pass for non-Autistic.”

Our burnout is not a loss of knowledge or intelligence. It is the tipping point where masking, acting, and performing non-Autistic expectations become impossible to maintain.

The energy required to meet these expectations is gone.

Of course, this post addresses only part of the picture.

Autistic burnout often also includes social withdrawal, a need to isolate just to cope, deep exhaustion that does not improve with rest, depression-like symptoms, increased anxiety, loss of motivation, and a reduced ability to tolerate everyday demands.

That is what happens when we are immersed for too long in environments that require us to constantly adapt.

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be doing posts that look into each of these areas as they relate to Autistic burnout.

Stay tuned and spread the word.

**I could not find any research that measured the return of skills across time. Most research shows that we report improvement when demands are reduced, and that we feel more capable after a break from demands, true rest, and some support.

That said, some commenter are saying they have lost abilities that have not returned to pre-burnout skill levels. Autistic voices count the most in this discussion, so the final word on this topic is yet. to be determined.

— Max
Autism Goggles

07/02/2026

For urgent mental health support call 111 and press OPTION 2.

For advice and support from a mental health professional in your area 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week.

Healthcare advice you can trust. https://111.wales.nhs.uk/?locale=en&term=A

05/02/2026

02/02/2026