## About Mary Stanley

## About Mary Stanley

Mary Stanley is an Army veteran, Certified Autism Specialist, trauma-informed practitioner, neurodiversity advocate, speaker, educator, and founder of **Supportive Minds™** and **Freedom Route Travel**.

With both professional training and lived experience as a parent of neurodivergent children, Mary brings a practical, whole-person perspective to autism, behavior, nervous-system regulation, trauma, family advocacy, and inclusive travel.

Her work focuses on helping families and professionals look **beneath behavior** to understand what the nervous system may be communicating. She teaches that meltdowns, aggression, shutdowns, avoidance, and other challenging behaviors are often signals of overwhelm, sensory needs, communication difficulties, pain, stress, or unmet support needs—not simply behaviors that need to be stopped.

Through **Supportive Minds™**, Mary helps parents, caregivers, educators, and professionals build practical tools for co-regulation, communication, sensory support, emotional regulation, advocacy, and greater independence.

Through **Freedom Route Travel**, she helps neurodivergent families, special-needs travelers, veterans, and military families experience travel with greater confidence by considering sensory needs, accessibility, predictability, safety, and regulation.

Mary's background also includes extensive training in trauma, NLP, hypnotherapy, functional neurology, kinesiology, integrative behavior, neuroplasticity, and nervous-system regulation. She holds a degree in Business Management and graduated summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA.

Having served approximately 15 years in the United States Army, Mary also brings a strong understanding of military culture, resilience, identity, leadership, and the challenges veterans can experience when transitioning into civilian life.

Whether she is speaking to parents, educators, professionals, veterans, or community organizations, Mary's message remains centered on one principle:

**Understand the person first. Understand what the nervous system is communicating. Then build the support, skills, and environment that make growth possible.**