Mary Houliston, LPES

Mary Houliston is a Licensed Psychoeducational Specialist and Certified School Psychologist who has experience working with a wide range of children, adolescents, and college students. She is a Florida native who completed her undergraduate and graduate studies at Florida State University (FSU). Mary completed a year-long practicum at FSU’s Multidisciplinary Center and in a local school district, where she received training in assessment, report writing, consultation, counseling, and intervention design and implementation. As a graduate assistant, Mary conducted psychoeducational evaluations of young adults/college students to determine the presence of ADHD, learning disabilities, and other mental health disorders. She also worked with the Florida Center for Reading Research, collecting reading benchmark and intervention data at local elementary schools to assist with a National Institute of Health grant project.

Mary moved to Greenville to complete her graduate internship in school psychology with Greenville County Schools. She fell in love with all that Greenville has to offer and happily accepted a position as a school psychologist upon completion of her internship. Mary worked for Greenville County Schools for 10 years where she served a variety of preschool, elementary, middle, and high schools. Her work in the schools focused on supporting students’ learning and social-emotional functioning by conducting psychoeducational evaluations, consulting with staff and parents, identifying disabilities, and helping develop 504 plans and IEP’s. Mary developed a particular interest in working with preschool children and their families. In addition, she enjoyed teaching mindfulness lessons, mentoring students, and volunteering with Girls on the Run. During her time with GCSD, Mary served as an intern supervisor, created a mental health parent resource page during COVID closures, and assisted in the development of a parent academy to support parents of children who recently qualified for special education. Mary also completed Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) training through a collaboration with MUSC, Prisma Health, and University of SC. The year-long interdisciplinary program provided further training to advance knowledge and skills to improve health outcomes for children with disabilities.

While Mary grew up on the beaches of Destin, Florida, she considers herself a mountain girl at heart. She and her husband enjoy hiking and traveling so much that they got married in the remote Scottish Highlands. They feel incredibly blessed to have welcomed miracle twin boys into their family and are soaking up every minute as new parents. Mary considers herself a trivia buff, tells great “dad” jokes, and is a fierce dominos player- all three of which her husband would disagree with. She is excited to be working with the wonderful group of collaborative, empathetic, and skilled practitioners at GALS.