Community Highlights: Meet Kelly Reardon of Playabilities

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly Reardon.

Hi Kelly, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up in Leawood, Kansas and am the middle child in my family of four siblings. I am part of a large extended catholic family, and grew up with many aunts, uncles, and cousins around! One of my aunts introduced me to the profession of occupational therapy when I was in 7th grade. I had a relative who was diagnosed with Autism and was working with an OT, and my aunt explained to me the support that the OT provided their family. From that point on, I knew that was the career path that I wanted to follow. I went to school at Mizzou, where I obtained my bachelor’s degree and my master’s degree in Occupational Therapy. Right out of school, I worked in an outpatient rehabilitation facility working with children and adolescents with various neurodevelopmental disabilities. I loved this setting, but I felt called to meet the needs of each client on a deeper level than I was able to in that setting. I decided to venture into the private practice world and started “Playabilities for sensational Kids” in 2013, the same year that I married my high school sweetheart. When I first started, I reached out to pediatricians and local preschools to market my services.

At the time, I was renting space from another facility and was providing individualized and intensive OT services to children and adolescents with various needs. My caseload grew from 1 kiddo to 20 kiddos over the first few months and I quickly realized that in order to continue to meet the needs of our community, I needed to expand the services that Playabilities offered. The first speech therapist and physical therapist that I hired in 2014 are still working with Playabilities today. Over the past eight years, we have grown into a team of 24 occupational therapists, 15 speech therapists, six physical therapists, and six administrative team members. We now have two clinic locations (Leawood, KS and Prairie Village, KS) and we are currently providing therapy services to over 350 children in the Kansas City area. Over the last eight years, we have worked with over 1,000 families in the Kansas City and surrounding areas.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been an incredible blessing to watch the business flourish into what it is today. Some of my greatest relationships have come from coworkers and clients. Seeing the passion of the parents that we work with gives me so much motivation to provide the best care that we can for their child. It’s been a rewarding path, for sure, but it has not come without hardship. As an OT, I did not go to school to learn the ins and outs of running a business. Thankfully, my husband and co-owner of Playabilities compliments my skillset and is able to put my big thoughts and ideas into a logical framework with running a business. One of our highest objectives is to go out of our way to meet the needs of the children in our community who need therapy services. There are many obstacles that get in our way of being able to achieve this at times, but financial means is one of the biggest hurdles. We accept several insurance plans, both in and out of network. Being a small business and working with insurance companies is one of our biggest challenges.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Playabilities is a multi-disciplinary pediatric occupational, physical, and speech therapy clinic with two clinic locations in Leawood, Kansas and Prairie Village, KS. We provide personalized, intensive, and client-centered therapy services for children with various neurodevelopmental disabilities including developmental delays, autism, and sensory processing disorder. We work with children of all ages, from babies all the way up to young adults learning transitional life skills. Playabilities provides a relaxed yet professional work environment comprised of a collection of highly motivated, self-driven therapists who feed off of each other’s love for their job and compassion for helping our families. The culture of our clinic is service-oriented, and our highest objective is providing the best possible treatment and care for our clients every step of the way.

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
When you have a gut feeling that there is a need for something in the community, follow it! To me, if you value the relationships surrounding your work above all else, success is sure to follow.

I started Playabilities when I was 25 years old. Eight years later, I have three kiddos ages four and under. I wish I knew how much TIME existed in my life to execute my ideas back then! If you are young, motivated, and have time on your hands, embrace it!

Contact Info:

• Email: therapy@playabilities.org
• Website: www.playabilities.org

Image Credits
Brooke Buck Photography