Aim Forward - Neurodiversity Support at Work

Aim Forward is a Leeds-based provider of neurodiversity assessment, coaching and workplace consultancy, working with both organisations and individuals across England and Wales. Founded by Matthew and Joanna Timmis, the company began by supporting university students through government-funded programmes before extending its work into workplace settings, having recognised that the same barriers and unmet needs that show up in education persist once people move into employment. Over more than a decade of operation, the team states it has completed upwards of 10,000 assessments, and its client base spans NHS trusts, local authorities including Leeds City Council, universities such as the University of York, private employers and individuals seeking a diagnosis or workplace support in their own right.

The organisation’s core offer is built around assessment. Diagnostic assessments are aimed at adults seeking formal confirmation of conditions such as dyslexia, ADHD, dyscalculia and dyspraxia, and are carried out by assessors who are either Educational Psychologists registered with the HCPC or the British Psychological Society, or specialist assessors holding the relevant qualifications. These assessments combine background questionnaires with cognitive tasks covering verbal and visual ability, working memory, phonological awareness and processing speed, and are intended to give people a clearer understanding of themselves as well as a route into workplace or educational support schemes. Separately, Aim Forward offers workplace needs assessments for people aged 14 and up, which do not require a formal diagnosis to access. These are described as relaxed, conversational evaluations that look at how someone works best — covering reading, writing, meetings, presentations, note-taking, time management, attention, social interaction and the physical environment — and that produce practical recommendations covering adjustments, assistive technology and strategies for working with existing strengths rather than against them.

Beyond assessment, the organisation provides coaching intended to help people put recommendations into practice: working through how to adapt strategies to daily routines, building confidence, and embedding change over time rather than leaving someone with a report and no follow-up. It also offers training and consultancy to organisations, and online screening tools covering ADHD, autism, dyslexia and broader neurodivergence for people who want an initial indication before deciding whether to pursue a fuller assessment. Taken together, the range covers the full pathway from first screening through formal diagnosis to workplace implementation, which is a reasonably unusual breadth for a single provider to hold under one roof.

The areas of support named on the site extend past the commonly covered conditions — ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia — to also include mental health conditions, physical and health conditions, menopause, and sensory impairments, suggesting the practice frames neuroinclusion as sitting within a wider set of fluctuating or non-visible workplace needs rather than treating it as an isolated category. The stated aim is to make workplaces and learning environments neuroinclusive as a default rather than as something granted case by case, which lands as a reasonably firm framing for an organisation that also does substantial work for large institutional clients such as NHS trusts and local government, where standardisation of process can otherwise pull against individualised support.

A notable feature of the team’s positioning is that a number of its psychologists, assessors, coaches and consultants describe themselves as neurodivergent, or as having close personal experience of ADHD, autism, dyslexia or mental health conditions, which the organisation presents as directly informing how assessments and coaching are delivered rather than as a separate diversity statement. Client-facing material on the site includes brief testimonials describing improved productivity, confidence and self-understanding following assessment and coaching, though these are presented as short quotes rather than case studies with detail on method or outcome. On the whole, the site sets out a service that is assessment-led, credential-backed, and oriented toward giving both individuals and employers a concrete, actionable route from identifying a need to putting workplace adjustments in place.