Team Aspie is a community group (non profit organisation) based in Cookstown, specifically for 11-18 year olds with Aspergers, a form of Autism.

Based in Cookstown, Team Aspie was an idea of Richard Collins, who at the time was a 13 year old boy with Asperger’s Syndrome. He wanted to have somewhere he could go and meet people that had similar interests, feelings, anxieties and experiences that he had and found that there was really nothing specifically out there for his age group. He therefore decided to rectify this and held an information night back at the end of June 2014 to find out local feeling on this matter and 3 children signed up.

We then started in September 2015 with the 3 children and since then our numbers have been growing steadily, and just over 2 years on from that first night we have over 50 kids and counting, the majority travelling 10+ miles to attend.

In the past 2 years, our kids have been participating in music workshops, art workshops, drama workshops, dance workshops, cooking schools, surfing schools, fun runs, gaming and computer coding nights, bowling nights and accredited courses (like First Aid, food hygiene and Creative Arts) to name but a few. We've also had movie quizzes, hosted fundraising events, produced and performed in huge gala concert, held social skills workshops in addition to career and information nights for kids and parents.

Our aim is to help our kids and their parents to accept and celebrate their Aspergers. We as a team - achieve, support, promote, inspire and empower and have a lot of fun doing so.

For the kids this group is a fantastic support, providing many opportunities to grow, develop and look after their well being. For the parents it's a chance to see their child thrive, make friends and grow in confidence.

We really want to expand our programme and help younger aspies and young aspie adults develop friendships, life skills and self pride.