Great Minds Together (GMT) is a not-for-profit community interest company that supports neurodivergent children, young people, and those with complex mental health needs, as well as their families and professional networks. Founded from a place of lived experience and a passion for inclusion, GMT has grown to become a regional and nationally recognised organisation, acting as the North West hub for Autism Central, commissioned by NHS England.
GMT was born out of the belief that no child should be excluded or misunderstood because of neurodiversity or trauma. Our founder, Emma Mande, built the organisation with a team that reflects the communities we serve—many of our staff are neurodivergent, carers, or parents of neurodivergent individuals. We also have a young people’s champions team, and many of the young people have firsthand experience of GMT as young people.
What started as a small outreach project has expanded into a multi-disciplinary service, delivering therapeutic intervention, residential support, crisis response, training, and strategic consultancy to local authorities, ICBs, and schools. We have consistently embedded inclusion, trauma-informed care, and co-production into our practice.
Our policies and practices set clear expectations around adjustments, flexible working, sensory accommodations, peer support, and the use of strengths-based, non-pathologising language. We also provide staff-wide training, drop-in support, and peer mentoring, and have embedded lived experience into our management and HR practice.
This internal inclusion mirrors our external offer—we believe that creating inclusive systems must start from within, and our team culture reflects the same values we promote in our services and training.
In addition, our inclusive recruitment and staff support model ensures we retain a diverse team reflective of the people we support. Staff receive mentoring, sensory-friendly workspaces, wellbeing pathways, one-page profiles, support groups, and the right reasonable adjustments to thrive. We have a dedicated Inclusive Practice team led by an autistic Head of Service that is dedicated to inclusion and diversity across all areas of the organisation.
