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AboutTwenty years of asking a better question
I am Nikki Mitchell. I assess how minds work, and I change what happens around them.
How I got here
I have spent more than twenty years in education, leadership and psychology, most of it in schools, watching capable children be misunderstood as disengaged, disruptive or lazy, because the environment around them was not built for how they think. Capable adults describe themselves the same way. The question being asked was almost always some version of why can they not do this. It is the wrong question, and it produces nothing useful.
The better question is how this particular mind works best, and what we can put in place to let it do that. That question produces answers you can act on by Monday.
Nikki Mitchell LLC grew out of that. I work across the whole picture rather than one slice of it, because a child with a beautiful report and no way to put it into practice in the classroom has gained nothing, and an employee with a diagnosis and a manager who is frightened of the topic has gained less.
Reveal. Reframe. Realise.
The same three movements underpin every engagement, whatever the age of the client and whatever the setting.
Reveal
We find out how the mind in question actually works. Formal assessment where that is useful, observation and conversation where it is not. No assumptions carried in from anyone else.
Reframe
We change the story being told about that mind. Difference becomes distinct ability. The person stops being explained and becomes the one doing the explaining, the expert on their own thinking.
Realise
We put strategies in place that hold up on a Tuesday afternoon. Realise carries both meanings here. Realise the strengths, and make them real in the classroom, the home, the office.
Credentials that stand up to scrutiny
Neurodiversity coaching is a largely unregulated field. These are the qualifications that let me carry out formal assessment and write reports that schools and examination boards accept.
ACCPH Fellow
Fellowship of the Accredited Counsellors, Coaches, Psychotherapists and Hypnotherapists, a fully recognised professional register with a transparent accreditation process designed to protect clients and promote high-quality practice. Fellowship status is only awarded once a minimum of 2,500 hours of practice has been confirmed.
BPS Registered Test User
British Psychological Society registration, granted only after obtaining the CPT3A qualification, which is a Level 7 qualification equivalent to a master's degree or postgraduate diploma. It places me on the BPS Register of Qualifications in Test Use, allowing me to conduct, evaluate, write and submit psychometric assessment tests and reports which are accepted by examination boards and accepted by schools.
Leadership
Postgraduate Certificate in Educational Leadership from the Institute of Education, UCL, completed with a distinction in every module, and the National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership. Together these give me a leader's view of how schools make decisions, which shapes the practical, school-ready advice I give to families and businesses.
The working assumptions
Disability is a distinct ability
Not a slogan for a wall. A working assumption that changes what you look for in an assessment and what you recommend at the end of one.
A diagnosis is not required
Plenty of neurodivergent people have no formal identification and never will. The strategies work regardless, because they come from the profile.
The environment is usually the variable
You can rarely change how someone processes information. You can almost always change the lighting, the noise, the way instructions are given, how a meeting is run and the format work is delivered in.
A report nobody acts on is worthless
Which is why the work does not end at the document. It ends when something has changed in the room the person is actually in.
Shall we talk?
The first conversation is free, and I will tell you honestly if I am not the right person.