Mississippi-based · Pre-Head Start through 12th Grade · Serving Statewide
Practical behavioral support, family engagement, and staff training for schools, districts, families, and individual children — delivered locally, where Mississippi needs it most.
A team that stays involved, works alongside your teachers, and measures the difference — on-site, virtual, or a blend that fits your district.
Do You Need Our Services?
Check any that apply to your school, program, or family — there's no wrong answer.
Next Step provides behavioral support, family engagement, and staff training — for schools, programs, families, and individual children, from pre-Head Start through 12th grade.
Why Next Step
Most programs test, evaluate, advise, or deliver a one-time training — and then leave. Next Step is built differently: we provide ongoing, in-the-classroom, work-alongside-the-teacher support, and we bring families into the plan.
We focus on the early-grades and family-navigation needs that larger, secondary-focused programs often overlook — and we serve districts of every size, including smaller and rural schools whose multi-grade special-education classrooms span several grade levels at once.
"My teachers want practical tools for behavior — not more theory." → That's exactly what we deliver.
Core Services
Delivered through flexible on-site, hybrid, and virtual formats based on district needs and contract scope. We provide educational, training, and family-support services — not clinical diagnosis or treatment.
Classroom behavior strategies, student engagement support, behavioral intervention guidance, and positive behavior support practices.
Calmer classrooms, fewer disruptions, protected instructional time.Parent education workshops, family resource navigation, advocacy support, IEP-process understanding, and family needs assessments.
Stronger school-home communication and parent confidence.Autism and developmental-disability support education, family guidance and resources, and community awareness initiatives.
Earlier identification and stronger family-to-service connections.Emotional-regulation strategies, relationship-building skills, and student engagement supports.
Better regulation, focus, and readiness to learn.Post-secondary planning guidance, community resource navigation, and independent-living readiness for older students.
Smoother transitions and readiness for life after school.Teacher training, parent-communication strategies, student-support practices, and family-engagement techniques — led by experienced classroom educators.
Greater teacher confidence, consistent practices, stronger retention.Our Approach
We start by understanding your needs, then design a service calendar around them — so districts invest in exactly what their students and staff require.
We begin by learning your district's specific challenges, students, and goals.
A tailored plan: training before the semester, coaching and workshops across the year.
A knowledgeable point of contact during school-week hours, between visits.
Quarterly, data-informed reviews showing impact and where to grow.
Our Team
Expertise spanning healthcare and nursing, special education, master's-level behavioral support (ABA emphasis, BCBA in progress), social emotional learning, family systems, youth development, and resource navigation.
A healthcare operations professional, nonprofit founder, and autism advocate with 25+ years of healthcare experience. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Healthcare Administration (Jackson State University) and is a Licensed Practical Nurse with active Mississippi and multistate (Nurse Licensure Compact) licensure. As a contracted healthcare consultant with a multi-state firm, she has led residential-facility buildouts and served in temporary management, receivership, and regulatory crisis response — including engagements involving youth behavioral settings. While contracting as a nurse consultant, she authored a company-wide standard operating procedure and compliance manual adopted across the firm's multi-state operations. She is Founder and President of Micah's Walk for Autism. This operations background anchors Next Step's standards for accountability, compliance, and sustainability.
Holds a Master of Arts in Special Education with an emphasis in Applied Behavior Analysis (Arizona State University) and a Bachelor of Science in Educational Studies and Recreational Sports, and is accruing supervised fieldwork toward BCBA certification. He brings nine years of classroom teaching as an ELA teacher across grades 1, 3, 5, and 12 — direct experience with the instructional and literacy challenges districts face, including early grades tied to reading-proficiency benchmarks. He also holds a program-leadership role with a youth-serving nonprofit, developing strength-based wraparound plans for at-risk and court-involved youth (ages 13–18).
Holds a Master of Arts in Special Education with an emphasis in Applied Behavior Analysis (Arizona State University) and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, and is accruing supervised fieldwork toward BCBA certification. She brings hands-on experience as a Lead RBT Supervisor and currently serves as a Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Instructional Coach within an early-childhood and Head Start setting — coaching educators on SEL, behavioral intervention strategies, teacher support, and staff development. Her work centers on equipping teachers and families with practical, evidence-informed strategies that strengthen behavior, engagement, and emotional regulation across school, home, and community settings.
Beyond our core leadership, Next Step's model is supported by a network of credentialed professionals engaged based on district needs and program scope. As programs are secured and grow, we formally bring on the personnel each contract requires.
Who We Serve
We serve the full range, from pre-Head Start and Pre-K through high school, including teacher development for every one of those grades and ages. We also work directly with individual families and children, not only through districts. And we design for how smaller and rural schools are actually set up — where special-education classrooms often combine several grade levels in one room because there aren't the student numbers or certified staff to separate them. The grades that often get overlooked don't get left behind.
Get Started
Tell us what you need and we'll follow up — usually within one to two business days. No obligation, no cost to ask.
For school districts, schools, and organizations exploring a partnership. Share a little about your needs and we'll set up a conversation.
For educators, staff, or community partners referring a student or family who could benefit from support. With appropriate consent, we'll coordinate next steps.
For parents and caregivers who'd like to learn how Next Step can support their family. Share what you're comfortable with — we'll reach out to talk through options.
Contact
Supporting families. Strengthening communities.
We help educators feel equipped, families feel supported, and students succeed — with a special focus on the early-grades and family-navigation needs that larger, secondary-focused programs often leave unmet.