Awards 2026
A wonderful evening among the UK's most neuroinclusive organisations
Sensational Minds attended the Neurodiverse Business Awards 2026 as a double finalist, sharing the room with major corporate companies including Lloyds Bank, NatWest, AstraZeneca, Airbus and Ocado. We were not successful on the night, but the experience of being there, and the recognition of reaching a national shortlist, means a great deal to our whole team. We are also a double finalist at the UK Small Business Awards 2026 for Best Small Business and Best Social Impact, representing Essex.
Neurodiverse Business Awards 2026
A double finalist on a national stage
The Neurodiverse Business Awards 2026 took place on 18 March 2026 at the Grand Hall, Grand Connaught Rooms in London. Sensational Minds was proud to attend as a finalist in two categories, Campaign or Initiative of the Year and Young Leader of the Year for Rhiann Marchant. Although we were not successful on the night, being in the room with large corporate organisations such as Lloyds Bank, NatWest, AstraZeneca, Airbus, Ocado and many more was a powerful reminder of how far neuroinclusive practice has travelled, and how much momentum there is behind it.
- Finalist, Campaign or Initiative of the Year, Sensational Minds
- Finalist, Young Leader of the Year, Rhiann Marchant
- Attended alongside major organisations including Lloyds Bank, NatWest, AstraZeneca, Airbus and Ocado
- A wonderful evening celebrating neurodiversity across the UK workforce
The two shortlists
Recognised for the work and for the leadership behind it
One shortlist recognises what the organisation has built. The other recognises the person who started it in a spare hour after school, with a laptop and a waiting list she could not accept.
Campaign or Initiative of the Year
For our work widening access to neurodevelopmental assessment and post diagnostic support, including our free screening route, our sensory considered Quiet Space and our partnership pricing with schools and virtual academies.
Young Leader of the Year
For founder and CEO Rhiann Marchant, an educator, specialist SENCO and neurodevelopmental clinician who built a multidisciplinary service around one simple belief, that understanding should not depend on a postcode or a waiting list.
UK Small Business Awards 2026
Shortlisted twice for Best Small Business and Best Social Impact, representing Essex
Sensational Minds Ltd has been named a finalist at the UK Small Business Awards 2026 in two categories, Best Small Business and Best Social Impact, both representing Essex. Out of tens of thousands of small businesses across the UK, and against tougher entry criteria this year, reaching the finalist stage twice is recognition of a small team doing careful work at scale, and of the difference that work makes to the families, adults, schools and employers we support.
- Finalist, Best Small Business, UK Small Business Awards 2026
- Finalist, Best Social Impact, UK Small Business Awards 2026
- Representing Essex on a national shortlist
- Selected from tens of thousands of UK small business entries
What sits behind the nominations
Assessment is the beginning, not the destination
Sensational Minds is a specialist neurodevelopmental assessment and support organisation based in Colchester, working with families across Essex and, through our online pathway, across the UK. We assess for autism, ADHD, dyslexia and specific learning differences in children and adults, and we stay alongside people afterwards with post diagnostic support, coaching, parent guidance and school and workplace consultancy.
What makes the work different is the combination in the room. Our team brings clinical expertise from nursing, psychology and psychotherapy together with classroom and SENCO experience, so a report is never just a diagnostic conclusion. It is a description of a real person in a real school, home or workplace, with recommendations the people around them can actually use on Monday morning.
For children and families
A calm, play informed assessment experience, school observations as standard in our children's ADHD pathway, and parents who leave understanding their child rather than holding a label they cannot interpret.
For adults
Online assessment with a clinician followed by multidisciplinary review, plus coaching that turns new self knowledge into workable strategies for study, work and relationships.
For schools and workplaces
Training, consultancy and reasonable adjustment advice that helps staff recognise need earlier and respond well, so fewer people reach crisis before anyone notices.
From our founder
A reflection from our founder
When I founded Sensational Minds, I wasn't trying to create an award-winning business. I was trying to create the service that so many individuals and families were struggling to find.
Throughout my career as a specialist SENCO, educator and neurodevelopmental professional, I repeatedly met people who were exhausted by the process of seeking support. Families were waiting for answers. Adults were questioning themselves after years of feeling different. Schools wanted to help but often lacked access to specialist guidance.
Behind every referral was a person trying to make sense of their experiences and find a way forward.
My own journey also shaped the vision behind Sensational Minds.
Receiving an ADHD diagnosis as an adult brought both clarity and reflection. Like many late-diagnosed neurodivergent adults, I found myself looking back on years of experiences through a completely different lens. It reinforced something I had already witnessed professionally: understanding changes everything.
Not because a diagnosis solves every challenge, but because understanding creates opportunities for self-acceptance, support and growth.
That belief became the foundation of Sensational Minds.
From the beginning, I wanted to build a service that combined expertise with humanity. A place where people felt listened to, not processed. A service that recognised that assessment is only one part of the journey and that meaningful support afterwards is equally important.
Today, that's still what drives us.
Every assessment, every report and every conversation is an opportunity to help someone better understand themselves, their strengths and the support that will enable them to thrive.
Being named a finalist in the Neurodiverse Business Awards was a proud moment, not because of the possibility of winning, but because it represented recognition of the values that underpin everything we do.
The award acknowledged the importance of accessible, person-centred and neuroaffirming support. It recognised the efforts of a team that genuinely cares about the individuals and families we work with.
While we didn't take home the award itself, being selected as a finalist felt like confirmation that we are making a meaningful difference.
For me, success has never been measured by trophies or titles.
It is measured in the parent who finally feels heard, the young person who begins to understand themselves with confidence, the adult who realises they are not broken and the educator or employer who gains the knowledge to create more inclusive environments.
Those moments are why Sensational Minds exists.
And they remain the reason we continue to grow, learn and strive to do better every day.
Rhiann Marchant
Founder and CEO, Sensational Minds
The story so far
From one clinician to a multidisciplinary team
Sensational Minds grew out of the classroom. Rhiann saw the same pattern again and again, bright, capable children losing confidence while they waited, and adults reaching their thirties or fifties still wondering why life felt harder than it looked for everyone else. The organisation began as a way to shorten that wait and has grown into a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, specialist teachers, an ADHD mental health nurse specialist and a dyslexia specialist, supported by a clinic space designed to feel nothing like a clinic.
Growth has been deliberate rather than fast. Every step, our free screening call, online assessment for adults, school observations as standard, partnership rates with schools and virtual academies, worldwide online post diagnostic support and our sensory considered Quiet Space, has come from the same question, what is stopping people getting the help they need, and can we remove it.
The vision from here is straightforward. More accessible assessment, more support after diagnosis, and more schools and employers who understand neurodivergence well enough that fewer people need to fight to be believed. Being shortlisted for accessibility, inclusion, innovation and excellence is encouragement to keep going, not a finish line.
"Receiving our son's autism diagnosis has made such a positive difference. It has given us a much deeper understanding of him, the way he experiences the world and why certain things can be challenging for him. Instead of feeling unsure or worried, we now feel empowered to support him in the right ways so he can thrive and be fully understood. What also meant so much to us was that the care didn't stop once the diagnosis was given."
Wondering whether an assessment is the right next step?
Start with a free screening call. We will listen, explain the options honestly and tell you if we are not the right service for you.