Neurodiversity Celebration Week
It’s Neurodiversity Celebration Week, a moment to recognise the strengths that neurodivergent people bring to our workplaces and to think about how organisations can create environments where everyone can thrive.
One simple but powerful tool is mentoring.
Research from the Cygnet Mentoring Project at London South Bank University, funded by Research Autism, explored how mentoring can support autistic adults. The two-year pilot programme , carried out in 2015, paired 12 trained mentors with autistic mentees and found that structured mentoring helped participants build confidence, develop coping strategies and navigate everyday challenges in work and life.
Government data suggests around 15% of autistic adults are in full-time paid employment in the UK, initiatives like mentoring can make a real difference.
Some practical lessons from the research include:
Psychological Safety
Focus on trust and psychological safety – participants highlighted the importance of a non-judgemental relationship where they felt comfortable discussing challenges.
Support
Support mentors as well as mentees – supervision and reflective practice were built into the programme so mentors could learn and adapt.
Training
Provide mentor training – mentors in the project received training on autism, communication differences and mentoring practice, which helped them provide more effective support.
Co-Design
Co-design programmes with neurodivergent people – this project involved autistic adults in designing and evaluating the mentoring approach.
Flexibility
Keep mentoring flexible – the programme found that shorter, more frequent sessions (for example two 30-minute meetings per week) sometimes worked better than longer sessions.
The research makes an important point that mentoring isn’t about “fixing” people, it’s about providing a supportive relationship that helps individuals navigate systems, build confidence and realise their strengths.