About Silk Helix

Silk Helix is a UK neurodiversity and HR consultancy founded in 2019 by me, Jenefer Livings, a Chartered MCIPD HR professional with an MA in Personnel and Development and a PGCert in Neurodiversity. Based in Essex and working UK-wide, Silk Helix specialises in neurodiversity awareness training, Workplace Needs Assessments and consultancy for employers. Clients include NHS trusts, fire and rescue services, public sector bodies, charities and private sector employers ranging from small businesses to large corporations. The team combines lived experience and neurodiversity qualifications with HR and employment law expertise and is led personally by me with support from a small team of associates.

How Silk Helix started

Silk Helix started in 2019 with a clear purpose: to offer something different.

After years working in HR, I’d become frustrated with how often advice focused only on legal compliance and overlooked the real human dynamics that shape a workplace. I wanted to work in a way that valued depth, nuance and long-term impact. That’s how Silk Helix was born.

In the early days it was me, a laptop and a broad HR consultancy offer. Like many small businesses it evolved, shaped by my own experiences and the clients I was most drawn to working with. Today Silk Helix is focused on one thing:

Helping organisations understand and embrace neurodiversity.

Neurodiversity at the heart

Neurodiversity isn’t an add-on to what we do. It’s the core.

As a neurodivergent person and the parent of a wonderfully neurodivergent child, I bring academic and professional expertise alongside deep personal understanding. I know how powerful it is when workplaces understand and support neurodivergent minds. I also know how damaging it can be when they don’t.

That understanding shapes everything we do, from how we design training to how we run Workplace Needs Assessments. Our work is rooted in empathy, evidence and a belief in the value of difference.

A small specialist team

Silk Helix is no longer just me.

I lead the work and remain personally involved in every client relationship but I’m joined by carefully selected associates who conduct Workplace Needs Assessments and support HR project work. Every piece of work is reviewed and signed off by me before it reaches a client. The standard is consistent because the quality control is consistent.

What this means in practice:

Faster availability for workplace needs assessments. No long waiting lists.
Capacity for larger consultancy and project work.
The same Silk Helix approach, voice and standards every time.

What we do

Our focus is neurodiversity and the way we deliver it falls into three areas:

Training for managers, HR professionals and whole teams. Practical, interactive sessions that build confidence rather than overwhelm. Managers leave knowing what to do, not just what the law says.
Workplace Needs Assessments for individual employees. Clear, documented recommendations that give the employee what they need and give the employer a defensible record.
Consultancy for organisations ready to take a strategic view, including policy work and culture change.

How we work

Our clients tell us they value three things in particular:

We are practical. We don’t deliver theory for the sake of theory. Every session, report and conversation is designed to give you something you can use on Monday morning.
We are calm. Most of our clients come to us when something has gone wrong or feels uncertain. A disclosure has landed, a manager is panicking, a performance issue isn’t quite adding up. Our job is to take the pressure down and give you a clear next step.
We are honest. If training isn’t the right answer we will say so. If a Workplace Needs Assessment isn’t going to help, we will tell you. We would rather give you the right advice than the most expensive one.

What’s next

Alongside the day-to-day work, I’m writing a book for HR professionals on supporting neurodivergent employees, built around the SHAPE Method we use with clients. It’s due in 2027. If you’d like to be among the first to hear when it launches, the easiest way is to join our newsletter.

Silk Helix is built on more than 20 years of HR experience, a strong academic foundation and a personal commitment to inclusion that goes beyond the professional.

This work matters deeply. That’s what makes it meaningful.

Meet the Founder