What does your role involve?

As the branch treasurer, I do the accounting behind the scenes, funding and facilitating the branch’s activities and peer support it offers.

The branch has three peer support groups: the Autism Plymouth Parent Support Group, the Plymouth Adult Autism Group and the West Devon Autistic Women’s Group. I manage and oversee the group’s finances, paying invoices for their venue hire, projects and resources.

I spend around 45 hours a month volunteering. This includes filling in monthly returns to the National Autistic Society’s Branches Finance Officer, giving monthly financial updates at branch committee meetings, plus showing my support for our groups by attending events like the Christmas quiz.

I’m always looking for ways to help the branch and raise money. During lockdown, I applied for a local grant to pay for Zoom, keeping the groups running during this uncertain and lonely time for many autistic adults and families. In 2023, I completed the St Tropez marathon and raised £1,000 for the branch.

What’s the most rewarding part of your role?

I get a great sense of satisfaction knowing that the groups can function worry free. I feel that I am doing my bit to support them, so that they can do what they are amazing at, which is providing peer support and friendship to the autistic community in Plymouth and West Devon.

I realise that I bring a different set of skills to the branch, so by working together we really can help autistic people feel connected and less alone.

What’s coming up for the branch this year?

In the pipeline is a new Plymouth youth group and a collaboration with Marjon University for a student group. I’ll be overseeing their finances, knowing that these groups will make such a difference to the autistic people who attend.