You feel overwhelmed
There are too many appointments, recommendations, forms, calls, and opinions—and no clear order for what should happen first.
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Supportive Minds™ Family Navigator
You do not have tonavigate every system alone.
When school, healthcare, services, behavior, safety, and family life all feel connected—but no one is looking at the whole picture—Mary helps you slow the noise, ask better questions, and find a clearer next step.
Start where you are
You may need a navigator when…
You know something is not working, but every system gives you a different answer—or sends you somewhere else.
You are not being heard
Your concerns are minimized, behavior is being blamed on the child, or important details are falling between home, school, and providers.
You need a plan
You have information but need help turning it into questions, priorities, supports, and realistic actions your family can use.
What Mary helps you do
Turn scattered information into a usable path.
Family navigation connects the pieces while keeping the person, the family, and everyday life at the center.
Understand what is happening
Sort through behavior, regulation, communication, sensory needs, health concerns, stress, and changes at home or school.
Prepare for school conversations
Organize concerns, questions, observations, and priorities before IEP, 504, evaluation, or problem-solving meetings.
Explore services and resources
Clarify what different supports do, which options fit your goals, and what questions to ask before choosing a provider.
Build a practical safety plan
Identify patterns and create next steps for elopement, aggression, shutdowns, school refusal, meltdowns, and other safety concerns.
Organize the bigger picture
Bring information from home, school, providers, and daily life into one understandable map instead of disconnected pieces.
Know what to do next
Leave with priorities, questions, resources, and an individualized action plan you can use one step at a time.
The navigation route
Clarity before urgency.
The goal is not to hand you another overwhelming list. It is to understand the situation, identify what matters most, and make the next step manageable.
“We look at the whole picture, then move one useful step at a time.”— Mary Stanley
- 01
Listen
We begin with your story, your concerns, what is working, and what you have already tried.
- 02
Map
We look across environments, needs, strengths, patterns, barriers, and the people or systems involved.
- 03
Prepare
We organize the questions, records, language, resources, and strategies that will help you move forward.
- 04
Navigate
You leave with clear priorities and a realistic next-step plan shaped around your family—not a generic checklist.
School refusal
Before treating refusal as defiance, ask what is happening at school.
School refusal may be connected to anxiety, overload, learning needs, pain, bullying, social stress, unsafe experiences, or supports that are missing or not working. The school environment must be part of the investigation.
Open the School Refusal GuideQuestions worth asking
- When did the refusal begin, and what changed around that time?
- Is it connected to a class, person, place, demand, transition, or time of day?
- Could bullying, exclusion, misunderstanding, restraint, discipline, or an unmet support need be involved?
- What does the child say—or communicate through behavior, body signals, sleep, pain, or shutdown?
- What happens before, during, and after the school day?
- Which supports have been tried, and are they actually being used consistently?
Your first conversation
Bring the questions. We will organize the path.
You do not need to prepare a perfect history. A few notes about what is happening, what has changed, and what feels most urgent are enough to begin.
Share the concern
Tell Mary who needs support, what is happening now, and which systems or decisions feel hardest to navigate.
Connect the pieces
Explore patterns, priorities, strengths, barriers, unanswered questions, and the people who may need to be involved.
Move forward clearly
Leave with practical next steps, better questions, and a plan shaped around your family’s real capacity.
Clear expectations
Navigation, education, and preparation.
Family Navigator services help families understand options, prepare questions, organize information, identify resources, and plan next steps.
They do not provide a medical diagnosis, prescribe treatment, replace licensed medical or mental-health care, provide legal representation, or serve as emergency services.
Take the next step
You do not need every answer before asking for help.
Begin with one conversation about what is happening and what would make the biggest difference right now.
mary@supportiveminds.us