Customer preview · £9 digital guide
Recovery Companion
Refill,
gently.
A low-demand companion for times when everything feels like too much.
A gentle beginning
Use this in the way that feels easiest.
This is a wellbeing reflection and a place to begin—not a diagnosis, medical assessment, treatment plan, or emergency service. You know your life best. Take only what feels useful, leave the rest, and come back another day if you want to.
There are no streaks, deadlines, scores, or “right” answers.
Read one panel, tick a box, say it out loud, ask someone to read it with you, or close it.
1 · Notice what is true
Understand what may be happening.
Some autistic people use the phrase autistic burnout for a period of deep depletion after ongoing demands, stress, masking, sensory load, or a lack of enough support. Experiences vary. This guide cannot tell you what is happening, but it can help you notice what feels true for you.
A gentle check-in
Tick anything that feels familiar today.
- I feel more exhausted than rest seems to explain.
- Everyday tasks need more effort, more time, or more support than usual.
- Skills I normally have feel less available right now.
- Noise, light, touch, people, change, or decisions feel harder to tolerate.
- I have less capacity to mask, explain myself, or meet expectations.
- I am withdrawing because interaction or admin feels too costly.
- I have been getting through by pushing, then crashing.
- This has lasted longer than a difficult day or week.
You do not need to prove anything to deserve rest, accommodations, or kinder conditions.
If this feels unfamiliar or worrying, a GP or another trusted professional may be one option to talk through changes in how you feel or function. You do not need to wait until you have the perfect words.
2 · Capacity
Where am I today?
There is no scale to “pass”. Choose the closest place, or none.
Almost empty
I need fewer words, fewer choices, less sensory input, and help with essentials.
Today’s permission: Survival mode is still a mode. Food, water, medication you already take, warmth, sleep, and being left alone can be enough.
Low but here
I can manage one small thing, with pauses and less pressure.
Today’s permission: Do the smallest version. A message can be ‘not today’. A meal can be assembled. A task can become a note for later.
Some room
I have a little more choice, but I do not want to spend it all at once.
Today’s permission: Keep a margin. Feeling a little better does not mean you owe anyone a return to full speed.
3 · Lower the load
Subtract one thing.
Recovery is not another job to complete. Before adding a helpful thing, see whether one demand can get smaller.
Pick one tiny subtraction
- Move or cancel one non-essential plan.
- Send: ‘I don’t have capacity to reply properly today.’
- Put one decision off until tomorrow.
- Use a quieter, dimmer, more familiar space.
- Let a task be ‘good enough’, not finished perfectly.
- Ask someone to handle one piece of admin, food, travel, or communication.
- Wear, eat, or watch the familiar safe thing.
- Turn one expectation into a boundary: ‘I can do X, not Y.’
The load I’m reducing today
The smallest way I can make it lighter
4 · One small step
Choose the lowest-effort option.
You can stop midway. The point is not to do more; it is to make the next moment a little more possible.
Body and basics
- Drink something within reach.
- Eat the easiest acceptable food.
- Change position, temperature, or clothing.
- Lie down with no plan to sleep.
- Take a shower, or skip it without guilt.
Sensory relief
- Lower the light or use a screen filter.
- Use headphones, earplugs, a hood, or silence.
- Move away from one source of noise, smell, touch, or demand.
- Choose a familiar texture, temperature, or pressure.
Connection, only if it helps
- Ask for company without conversation.
- Send: ‘Could you check in tomorrow?’
- Share the Support Circle card with someone safe.
- Let a person know you need practical help, not advice.
One thing I am choosing
It will be enough if I
5 · Share what helps
A few words for people around you.
Copy, point to, or adapt any of these.
- “I’m not ignoring you. I have less processing capacity right now.”
- “Please give me one question at a time.”
- “Advice is hard to take in today. Practical help would help more.”
- “I need the plan to get smaller, not more motivating.”
- “A delayed reply is not a rejection.”
- “I can’t promise a timeline. I’m working on reducing load.”
6 · Notice, don’t grade
Harder days are information.
Recovery can be chronic, uneven, and shaped by access needs, money, care, work, health, housing, and the people around you. A dip is not proof that you have failed or gone backwards.
A soft look-back
Whenever you want, finish one sentence.
Today felt: heavier · similar · a little lighter · unsure
One thing that took less effort
One thing that cost more than expected
One support or condition that helped
One thing I want less of tomorrow
“Something got harder. What would make the next hour less demanding?”
You might return to the almost-empty page, reduce plans again, or ask for more support. That is responding to your reality, not starting from zero.
There is no required frequency. Missing a check-in does not erase anything.
Make it fit you
Sensory-friendly use.
- Print in greyscale or use a dim screen.
- Read one page at a time and cover the rest.
- Increase zoom or font size.
- Use a pen, voice note, AAC, symbols, or a trusted person instead of writing.
- Skip every open question.
- Keep only the pages you need today.
If you need urgent support
This companion is not for emergencies. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, or you cannot stay safe, call 999 or go to A&E.
- In England, Scotland, and Wales, call NHS 111 for urgent health advice when it is not an emergency. In Northern Ireland, use the local urgent-care services available to you.
- Samaritans: call free on 116 123 in the UK and Republic of Ireland, any time, if you need someone to listen.
- Outside the UK and Republic of Ireland, contact your local emergency number, urgent-health service, crisis line, or a trusted person. Findahelpline.com can help locate options by country.
If calling feels hard, you could show this page to someone, use a text-based option where available, or ask another person to make the first call with you.
You are not a problem to optimise. You deserve room to recover at a pace that does not break you.
Neurest — Refill, gently.