Every Journey Is Unique. Every Person Has Strengths. Every Family Deserves a Trusted Partner.
Pathways Support Partners was created to provide knowledgeable, compassionate support for individuals and families navigating developmental, behavioral, and educational challenges. We bring professional expertise, practical strategies, and lived understanding together in a partnership that respects each person’s strengths, choices, and goals.
At Pathways, we do more than provide services—we build partnerships.
Our Mission
We partner with individuals, families, educators, and communities to create meaningful pathways toward greater independence, learning, and lifelong success. Through evidence-based practices, person-centered support, and collaborative partnerships, we empower people to build skills, achieve their goals, and reach their full potential.
Our Philosophy
We believe every person has unique strengths, abilities, and the capacity to grow when provided with meaningful opportunities, individualized support, and authentic partnerships. By working alongside individuals, families, educators, providers, and community partners, we develop practical solutions that promote independence, self-determination, and meaningful participation in everyday life.
Our work is guided by evidence-based and research-informed practices that are ethical, effective, and responsive to each person’s needs, preferences, culture, and goals. We draw from Positive Behavior Support, person-centered planning, trauma-informed practices, and other appropriate frameworks to build skills, strengthen relationships, and create supportive environments.
We approach behavior thoughtfully and compassionately, seeking to understand the individual needs, experiences, and environmental factors that influence it. This understanding guides proactive, skill-building support that strengthens communication, regulation, relationships, independence, and participation in everyday life.
We are committed to lifelong learning, reflective practice, and continuous improvement. Above all, we believe every person deserves dignity, respect, choice, inclusion, and the opportunity to pursue a meaningful life within their community.
Meet the Founder
Alisa Rhead, M.Ed.
Founder and Executive Director
Alisa Rhead is a master’s-level education and developmental-services professional with specialized expertise in special education and more than a decade of experience in behavioral intervention, parent and family support, educational consultation, assessment, individualized planning, staff supervision, and program development. She has supported individuals, families, educators, and service teams across home, school, service, and community settings.
Alisa understands this journey not only as a professional, but as a parent who has lived it—and continues to live it. She knows the exhaustion of searching for answers, encountering roadblocks, questioning whether you are making the right decisions, and trying to hold everything together while advocating for someone you love.
These experiences shape the way she supports families: with honesty, compassion, and no judgment. She understands how much it matters to have a knowledgeable partner who truly listens, explains options clearly, and recognizes both the whole person and the family walking beside them.
She founded Pathways Support Partners to bring professional expertise and lived understanding together. For Alisa, support is not about defining another person’s pathway or deciding what success should look like. It is about walking alongside individuals and families, recognizing strengths, removing barriers, and helping them pursue goals that reflect their own priorities and hopes.