Assessment and Support Terms Overview

Services are provided by Item to confirm before publication: [CONFIRM BEFORE PUBLICATION: full legal company name and company registration number]. This overview applies to individuals and families. Work commissioned by schools, education settings and employers is arranged separately under its own agreement.

• Autism assessment for children, young people and adults
• ADHD assessment for children, young people and adults
• Combined neurodevelopmental assessment pathways
• Dyslexia and specific learning difficulty assessment
• Post-diagnostic support
• Coaching and mentoring for children, young people, parents and adults
• Parent and family support
• Education navigation and school consultation
• Education and corporate training, and workplace neuroinclusion consultancy

Not every service is suitable for everyone, and we will say so if we do not think we are the right fit.

Assessment pathways begin with referral information, an enrolment form and pre-assessment questionnaires. For children and young people, school or education forms are usually needed as well. The information you give us shapes the assessment, so please complete forms as fully and honestly as you can.

Where a referral from a GP, health professional or SENCO is required, we will tell you at enquiry stage and explain what is acceptable.

Our clinical team reviews the information before an assessment is confirmed. Sometimes we ask for more information, suggest a different pathway, or recommend that mental health needs are addressed first. This is about giving you an assessment that will be useful and safe, rather than one that answers the wrong question.

We may decline or pause a service where we do not believe we can provide it safely or appropriately, and we will explain why and where else you might go.

For children and young people, consent is given by a person with parental responsibility. We also involve the young person themselves at a level that fits their age and understanding, and we consider a young person's own capacity to consent where that applies.

Adults consent to their own assessment. Where an adult would like an informant, such as a family member, to contribute, we will explain how that information is used.

Sensational Minds works with an associate practitioner model. This means that some of the people who work with you are associates rather than employees. Everyone working with us is expected to meet our standards for qualification, professional registration, supervision, safeguarding and information handling.

We will tell you who is involved in your assessment, and assessments are typically discussed by more than one member of the team before an outcome is reached.

Appointments may be online, at our Colchester location, or in a school setting depending on the service. Our Colchester venue is a shared space, so attendance is by appointment only.

Online appointments use Microsoft Teams. Conversations may be transcribed in line with our policies, to support accurate clinical recording. We will explain this to you and what it means before it happens. More detail is in our privacy notice.

Arrangements for late arrival, non-attendance and rescheduling: Item to confirm before publication: [CONFIRM BEFORE PUBLICATION: the organisation's arrangements for lateness, non-attendance and rescheduling, including any charges]

Assessment outcomes are usually shared in a feedback session first, followed by a written report. Timescales differ by pathway and are set out on the relevant service page and in the documents we send you.

• An assessment may or may not result in a diagnosis, and we cannot promise a particular outcome
• Reports describe findings, formulation and recommendations, and are written to be useful to families, schools and other professionals
• Recommendations are advice, and other organisations decide for themselves whether to act on them

• We are not an emergency or crisis service, and our contact routes are not monitored around the clock
• We do not prescribe or manage medication
• We do not provide ongoing psychiatric or mental health treatment
• We cannot guarantee that a school, employer, local authority or NHS service will accept or act on a report
• We do not offer standalone dyscalculia or dysgraphia assessments

Fees are shown on the relevant service page and confirmed in writing before your service begins. We will not add charges you have not been told about.

Payment stages, payment plans, cancellation notice periods, refunds and the statutory cancellation rights that apply: Item to confirm before publication: [CONFIRM BEFORE PUBLICATION: the confirmed payment schedule, deposit arrangements, payment plan terms, cancellation notice periods, refund position and consumer cancellation rights, as approved by a legal adviser]

We sometimes tell you about other organisations, for example medication providers, educational psychology input or digital support platforms. Those organisations are independent of us. They set their own fees, decide their own next steps, and are responsible for their own service and information handling.

We only share your report or details with a partner where you have given written consent, and we do not share raw recordings or transcripts.

How we handle your information is explained in our privacy notice. If something goes wrong, our complaints policy explains how to raise it, and our safeguarding statement explains how we respond to concerns about someone's welfare.