Marsha Martin
Nominee Profile
Location: London
Marsha Martin is an award-winning advocate, neurodiversity consultant, and the Founder and CEO of Black SEN Mamas, a pioneering charity-based company rooted in equity, inclusion, and the lived experiences of Black mothers raising children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Established in 2021, Black SEN Mamas is the manifestation of Marsha’s lived experience as an autistic mother raising three neurodivergent daughters. Coupled with her academic background, holding a First-Class Honours degree in Psychology and a MSc in Behavioural Therapy with distinction, Marsha brings together a powerful combination of professional insight, academic rigour, and deeply personal understanding. Her work is a testament to the transformative power of culturally grounded advocacy.
Black SEN Mamas was created to address a significant gap in the SEND system: the widespread exclusion and marginalisation of Black families whose voices have long been absent from policy decisions and service design. Under Marsha’s visionary leadership, the organisation has grown into a national movement, engaging over 4,000 mothers across the UK through advocacy, training, therapeutic support, and community empowerment.
The organisation’s flagship programme, Mindful Mamas, is a ground-breaking mental health and well-being initiative co-designed with Black mothers. Led by psychotherapists and wellness experts, the programme supports emotional resilience, self-care, and mental health through a culturally responsive lens. Evaluation of this programme has demonstrated significant improvements in maternal well-being, emotional regulation, and self-advocacy, offering mothers the tools to navigate often-hostile systems while prioritising their mental health.
Marsha’s influence reaches far beyond her organisation. Her collaborative work with the National Autistic Society has included delivering keynote addresses, contributing to national forums, and consulting on inclusive policy and practice frameworks. She is a regular contributor to strategic conversations about inclusion and equity in neurodiversity spaces, where her insight is sought for its authenticity, nuance, and evidence-based grounding.
In 2025, Marsha was invited to give oral evidence to the UK Parliament's Autism Act inquiry, where she advocated passionately for more intersectional frameworks in autism policy, calling attention to how race, class, and gender intersect to shape families’ experiences of diagnosis and support. Her contribution was recognised as pivotal in re-centring discussions on equity and representation in SEND reform.
A committed collaborator, Marsha has delivered expert training across Local Authorities, Integrated Care Boards, NHS Trusts, and voluntary sector organisations. Her sessions cover a wide range of topics, including anti-racist practice, inclusive neurodiversity, trauma-informed care, and working effectively with marginalised families. Feedback consistently highlights her ability to challenge systems compassionately but firmly, facilitating space for professionals to reflect, learn, and improve practice.
Black SEN Mamas is also widely respected for its innovative family activity days, which offer non-clinical, joyful, and culturally safe spaces for neurodivergent children and their families to connect, play, and build community. These events, often co-produced with parents, offer respite from judgement, build peer support, and model what accessible, inclusive environments should look like. Marsha’s commitment to co-production means families are not passive recipients of services but active architects of their own support structures.
Her work has received national recognition. The Guardian profiled Marsha’s advocacy in 2024, spotlighting the cultural barriers that prevent Black children from accessing timely diagnoses and appropriate educational support. In MyLondon, her story was celebrated for giving voice to a community too often ignored by mainstream support systems.
Beyond her media presence, Marsha hosts community workshops, podcasts, and online forums that enable honest dialogue around neurodivergence, motherhood, and systemic injustice. She has also led digital campaigns that have mobilised thousands of people to advocate for better SEND provision, amplifying grassroots voices to decision-makers and sector leaders.
Marsha’s commitment to collaborative working extends into policymaking and systems leadership. She is an advisor to various advisory boards, SEND partnerships, and parent-carer forums, offering strategic insight rooted in community mobilisation and real-world challenges. Whether through direct consultation or long-term partnership, she ensures organisations embed inclusive, anti-oppressive approaches to family engagement.
What distinguishes Marsha’s work is not only its impact but its ethos. Black SEN Mamas operates from a trauma-informed, non-judgemental framework that honours the cultural context of Black motherhood. By rejecting deficit-based models and instead celebrating community resilience, Marsha has created a paradigm shift in how services understand and engage marginalised SEND families.
Among her many accolades, Marsha has been nominated for leadership awards in community advocacy and inclusion. She was recently recognised as a leading changemaker in the neurodivergent community, noted for her ability to translate lived experience into meaningful system-wide reform.
Despite these accomplishments, Marsha remains grounded in her mission: to ensure that no Black mother walks the SEND journey alone. She continues to build bridges between families, professionals, and policymakers, creating pathways for trust, transformation, and justice.
In the words of one parent: “Marsha gave me back my voice when the system tried to take it. Through Black SEN Mamas, I found my strength, my community, and my hope.”
Marsha Martin exemplifies courageous, compassionate, and collaborative leadership. Through her vision, tenacity, and unwavering commitment to justice, she has created a legacy that is transforming the future for generations of neurodivergent children and their families across the UK.
Established in 2021, Black SEN Mamas is the manifestation of Marsha’s lived experience as an autistic mother raising three neurodivergent daughters. Coupled with her academic background, holding a First-Class Honours degree in Psychology and a MSc in Behavioural Therapy with distinction, Marsha brings together a powerful combination of professional insight, academic rigour, and deeply personal understanding. Her work is a testament to the transformative power of culturally grounded advocacy.
Black SEN Mamas was created to address a significant gap in the SEND system: the widespread exclusion and marginalisation of Black families whose voices have long been absent from policy decisions and service design. Under Marsha’s visionary leadership, the organisation has grown into a national movement, engaging over 4,000 mothers across the UK through advocacy, training, therapeutic support, and community empowerment.
The organisation’s flagship programme, Mindful Mamas, is a ground-breaking mental health and well-being initiative co-designed with Black mothers. Led by psychotherapists and wellness experts, the programme supports emotional resilience, self-care, and mental health through a culturally responsive lens. Evaluation of this programme has demonstrated significant improvements in maternal well-being, emotional regulation, and self-advocacy, offering mothers the tools to navigate often-hostile systems while prioritising their mental health.
Marsha’s influence reaches far beyond her organisation. Her collaborative work with the National Autistic Society has included delivering keynote addresses, contributing to national forums, and consulting on inclusive policy and practice frameworks. She is a regular contributor to strategic conversations about inclusion and equity in neurodiversity spaces, where her insight is sought for its authenticity, nuance, and evidence-based grounding.
In 2025, Marsha was invited to give oral evidence to the UK Parliament's Autism Act inquiry, where she advocated passionately for more intersectional frameworks in autism policy, calling attention to how race, class, and gender intersect to shape families’ experiences of diagnosis and support. Her contribution was recognised as pivotal in re-centring discussions on equity and representation in SEND reform.
A committed collaborator, Marsha has delivered expert training across Local Authorities, Integrated Care Boards, NHS Trusts, and voluntary sector organisations. Her sessions cover a wide range of topics, including anti-racist practice, inclusive neurodiversity, trauma-informed care, and working effectively with marginalised families. Feedback consistently highlights her ability to challenge systems compassionately but firmly, facilitating space for professionals to reflect, learn, and improve practice.
Black SEN Mamas is also widely respected for its innovative family activity days, which offer non-clinical, joyful, and culturally safe spaces for neurodivergent children and their families to connect, play, and build community. These events, often co-produced with parents, offer respite from judgement, build peer support, and model what accessible, inclusive environments should look like. Marsha’s commitment to co-production means families are not passive recipients of services but active architects of their own support structures.
Her work has received national recognition. The Guardian profiled Marsha’s advocacy in 2024, spotlighting the cultural barriers that prevent Black children from accessing timely diagnoses and appropriate educational support. In MyLondon, her story was celebrated for giving voice to a community too often ignored by mainstream support systems.
Beyond her media presence, Marsha hosts community workshops, podcasts, and online forums that enable honest dialogue around neurodivergence, motherhood, and systemic injustice. She has also led digital campaigns that have mobilised thousands of people to advocate for better SEND provision, amplifying grassroots voices to decision-makers and sector leaders.
Marsha’s commitment to collaborative working extends into policymaking and systems leadership. She is an advisor to various advisory boards, SEND partnerships, and parent-carer forums, offering strategic insight rooted in community mobilisation and real-world challenges. Whether through direct consultation or long-term partnership, she ensures organisations embed inclusive, anti-oppressive approaches to family engagement.
What distinguishes Marsha’s work is not only its impact but its ethos. Black SEN Mamas operates from a trauma-informed, non-judgemental framework that honours the cultural context of Black motherhood. By rejecting deficit-based models and instead celebrating community resilience, Marsha has created a paradigm shift in how services understand and engage marginalised SEND families.
Among her many accolades, Marsha has been nominated for leadership awards in community advocacy and inclusion. She was recently recognised as a leading changemaker in the neurodivergent community, noted for her ability to translate lived experience into meaningful system-wide reform.
Despite these accomplishments, Marsha remains grounded in her mission: to ensure that no Black mother walks the SEND journey alone. She continues to build bridges between families, professionals, and policymakers, creating pathways for trust, transformation, and justice.
In the words of one parent: “Marsha gave me back my voice when the system tried to take it. Through Black SEN Mamas, I found my strength, my community, and my hope.”
Marsha Martin exemplifies courageous, compassionate, and collaborative leadership. Through her vision, tenacity, and unwavering commitment to justice, she has created a legacy that is transforming the future for generations of neurodivergent children and their families across the UK.