Autism support
Autism support for adults whose needs have outgrown standard care.
We support autistic adults across Bristol and South Gloucestershire with the same small team, week after week — building routines, confidence and independence, and reducing distress, uncertainty and unnecessary change. From a few hours a week to live-in and round-the-clock support, with the continuity and planning that standard home care rarely provides.
Why families come to us
Most families who contact us are tired of explaining the same story to a new face every week.
Perhaps support has broken down again. Perhaps your son or daughter is masking all day and crashing at home. Perhaps anxiety about strangers in the house, or sensory overload from rotating staff, has made daily life smaller and smaller. Perhaps a placement collapsed and the distress that followed was read as “behaviour” rather than as someone telling you something was wrong.
And perhaps, quietly, you have begun to ask the hardest question: what happens when you are no longer able to provide this support yourself?
If any of that sounds familiar, you are not alone — and you do not need it all worked out before you call. The first conversation is confidential, unhurried, and commits you to nothing.
Our approach
Autism is not something to be managed. It is something to be understood.
A lot of support fails autistic adults not because people don’t care, but because it is built for the service rather than the person — a new face every week, routines broken without warning, environments that overwhelm. We work the other way round: we learn how a person experiences the world — sensory thresholds, communication, executive function, the things that trigger anxiety — and we build support that fits it. We listen to the person who lives it, and we involve the family who often know them best.
How we work
Built around how the person experiences the world
Sensory needs taken seriously
We pay attention to light, noise, touch and environment — and adjust how and where we support, so daily life feels manageable rather than overwhelming.
Communication on the person’s terms
Spoken, written, visual or AAC — we learn how someone communicates and meet them there, rather than expecting them to meet us.
Predictable routines, the same faces
The same two or three people, week after week — not fifteen different carers. Predictability is what makes everything else possible.
Executive function and everyday life
Help with routines, appointments, money and the planning that can be exhausting — structured support that lightens the daily load without taking over.
Distress understood, not labelled
We rarely find people “challenging.” Distress is almost always communicating something — pain, overload, an unmet need. We work patiently to understand and reduce it, with 24-hour escalation routes when needed.
Independence and community, at the person’s pace
Building daily-living skills, getting out, staying connected — moving toward a fuller life on the person’s own terms, with support that can step back as confidence grows.
Who we support
Some of the autistic adults we support live independently with a few hours of support each week. Others need daily support, waking nights or twenty-four-hour services. Some have additional learning disabilities, mental health needs, behavioural distress or physical health conditions alongside their autism.
Many come to us after previous arrangements have broken down. Others come because their parents are getting older, and future planning can no longer wait. What they have in common is a need for stability, continuity, and a team willing to stay for the long term.
We are built for autistic adults — and older teens moving into adulthood — whose needs are complex enough that standard providers struggle to keep things safe and stable, often alongside mental health, learning disabilities or long-term conditions. We are not a counselling service, a crisis-only response, or a once-a-week pop-in provider.
We don’t take every autism referral. When we do, it is because we believe we can build a small, stable team around the person and commit to them over years, not weeks.
When parents are thinking about the future
“What happens when I am no longer able to provide this support myself?”
It is one of the most difficult questions a parent can ask — and one most providers never raise. We help families plan before a crisis forces decisions to be made. Sometimes that means quietly building independence over years. Sometimes it means creating a long-term support arrangement around the person. Often it means both.
This is exactly the kind of long-horizon thinking we are built for. See also Planning for the future.
A real story
Long-term support, shaped around a life
Learning disability & autism · shared with permission
Before
Kristian, 46, lives with a moderate learning disability and is on the autistic spectrum. He has a large, close family and loves to walk, swim and stay active — but needed support that understood him and stayed consistent over time.
What we did
We provided long-term, consistent support shaped around his life and the things he enjoys, working alongside his family rather than around them.
What changed
That continuity has helped Kristian stay active, connected and confident over many years.
Today
A long-standing client who has shared publicly how Care Horizons has changed his life.
Shared with Kristian’s and his family’s permission. More on our Real stories page.
What happens if you contact us
An honest, unhurried first step
We don’t take every case — and that is exactly what makes us right for the ones we do. Here is how it works.
A confidential conversation
Tell us, in your own words, what is happening and what you are worried about. No forms, no pressure, no commitment.
We listen and gather the picture
We take time to understand the person, their history, the situation and what good support would actually look like for them.
An honest decision
If we are the right fit, we plan support around the person. If we are not, we say so plainly and point you toward who might be — because saying yes to everyone is how standards slip.
“We don’t take every case. When we do, we stay — and for autistic adults, staying is the whole point.”
Vierka Hiscock, Director & Registered ManagerWorried about an autistic adult you love?
Whether you are a family member or a professional making a referral, the first conversation is confidential, unhurried, and commits you to nothing.
0117 405 4320 [email protected] Send a confidential message There is no call centre. Enquiries are handled by our Service Manager Joe Sparrow and Deputy Manager Jessica White, with Director Vierka Hiscock overseeing every case. We normally respond within one working day.Specialist support