April graduated from UMKC with a Bachelors of Arts. In school, she studied English Literature with a true passion for writing. In her personal time, there is nothing she enjoys more than taking her experiences and turning them into testimonies of herself and the lives she encounters. Her professional career has been centered around helping people—another great passion of hers. April’s most rewarding professional endeavors have been in the social work and human services fields working with minorities and at risk populations. She loves being able to be hands-on in a job that she can put her belief in, and really feel and see the positive impact her efforts have.
Whether April is writing or working, her biggest aspiration is to be a comforting face, voice, and helping hand to the people who encounter her.
Jessica has dedicated the last 15 years of her career to the field of credentialing and medical billing. Her previous experiences include credentialing, authorizations, scheduling, medical records, and health care operations. Jessica has partnered with insurance companies to improve the process to obtain authorizarions and reduce claim denials. Jessica enjoys being able to work with a team that can ensure that families are getting the services they need. In her free time, Jessica enjoys watching her two children play sports, going to the lake, and spending time as a family.
Olivia holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Missouri State University and is a Certified Human Resource Professional through the Society for Human Resource Management. Her passion for human resources is evident in her dedication to fostering inclusive and supportive workplace environments. Olivia’s commitment to the HR profession shines through in her work, as she continuously seeks to create spaces where employees feel valued and heard. She has been recognized with the Human Resources Specialist award from AASPA and has received a Letter of Commendation from Johnson County, accolades that underscore her expertise and dedication. Before joining Playabilities, Olivia served as the HR Manager for a non-profit medical rehabilitation center in the KC Metro area, where she successfully implemented numerous diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. She is passionate about fostering a sense of belonging and advocating for ability inclusion.
Olivia’s passion for working with children has led her to roles in juvenile corrections and special education classrooms. At Playabilities, she finds fulfillment in merging her HR expertise with her dedication to positively impacting children’s lives. Outside of work, Olivia volunteers with Be My Eyes, The Learning Club, and Ability KC. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, visiting the dog park, or hiking with her Goldendoodle, Bear.
Kendra is a Revenue Cycle Manager with more than 20 years experience in medical billing. She has a passion for billing and helping families understand and navigate the complex process and challenges people occasionally face with health insurance coverage. Prior to Playabilites, Kendra lead various teams across multiple clinical outpatient therapy settings to improve cash flow, reduce denials, and working collaboratively with insurance carriers to ensure successful resolution of claims processing projects. In her limited spare time Kendra enjoys traveling, gardening and visiting her family and friends in Nebraska.
Carleigh has a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Kansas. She started working with the disability community straight out of high school, and has continued doing so over the last 16 years. Her greatest passion lies in serving individuals with disabilities and their families to ensure top quality services are always accessible.
Carleigh lives in Roeland Park with her husband and two sons, Oliver and Theo. In her free time she enjoys reading and hanging out with her boys. She also loves hiking and anything else that involves being outside in the fresh air and sunshine.
Hannah has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Kansas. She joins Playabilities team after eight years in fundraising. Hannah supports with coordinating schedules across our clinic locations and helps ensure each family’s needs are met with high touch services! Hannah lives in Overland Park with her husband and their dog.
In her free time, you can find Hannah cheering on the Jayhawks, on walks with her dog, and playing board games with her family.
Becky has an Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature from Truman State University. She grew up in KC and after living in Milwaukee, St. Louis and Indianapolis working for the same company, she settled back down in KC. She brings a unique perspective to our team – being a parent of a special needs child. She is a strong advocate of play-based therapy and inclusion for all children. She has a passion for helping families on their parenting journey and believes it takes a village. Becky plays a vital part of overseeing our entire client experience, as well as developing relationships with community-based partners and overseeing our facilities and marketing priorities. She has worn many “hats” at Playabilities over the years to support various operational needs of Playabilities.
Becky finds joy supporting her 3 children in their unique passions and activities, wishing time would slow down. Family nights always include pizza and a board game.
Laura is a graduate of the University of Missouri – Kansas City’s Bloch School of Management, where she received both her Bachelor’s degree and her MBA with an emphasis in Finance. She also holds a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification. Prior to joining Playabilities, Laura was the VP and Chief Operating Officer at the largest community based brain injury rehabilitation agency in the Midwest. Here, Laura found her passion of building an efficient and positive work environment to allow therapists to provide the best services possible to patients and their families. Other experience includes business analysis at a private equity firm specializing in home health care. Laura has also been involved in business operations at a federally qualified health center.
Laura enjoys sharing her passion of the Kansas City area by engaging with community organizations such as the Zonta Club of Kansas City and a local elementary school’s Educational Enhancement Fund. Laura previously served on the Bloch School of Management Alumni Board for six years, as well as the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s genKC Steering Committee, the Starlight Young Professionals, and the Prom Planning Committee for the Down Syndrome Guild. Laura is a certified running coach through RRCA and she completed her first marathon in October 2022. In her free time, Laura enjoys baking, traveling, and spending time with her husband and two sons.
Jeremiah began working with Playabilities as he collaborated with his wife, Kelly, on growing the clinic and expanding services. With finance and real estate degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia, Jeremiah spends his time on the business aspects of Playabilities looking for ways to improve upon the client experience. Jeremiah gets the most enjoyment working with a collection of people dedicated towards improving the lives of their clients and, of course, eavesdropping on all hilarious things that the kids say during treatment sessions. If he is not seen around the clinic, he can be found working at MCR Companies where he is a co-owner.
Kelly holds a Master’s degree from the University of Missouri’s Occupational Therapy Program in Columbia, Missouri. She is a licensed and registered occupational therapist in both Kansas and Missouri. Kelly is board certified in pediatric occupational therapy through the national board for certification in OT. Her areas of expertise include relationship-based therapy and treatment of children with sensory processing disorders and neurodevelopmental disabilities. Kelly has completed advanced training in specialty areas including sensory processing disorder (SPD), constraint-induced movement therapy, splinting, Interactive Metronome, DIR/floortime (play-based therapy), Neurodevelopmental Therapy (NDT), vision rehabilitation, and feeding difficulties. She has advanced certification in evaluating and treating children with Sensory Processing Disorders.
She participated in SPD mentorship training level 1 (August 2014) and level 2 (December 2015) at the STAR center in Denver, Colorado under Dr. Lucy Jane Miller (author of Sensational Kids) and Dr. Sarah Schoen. Kelly holds certification for being trained in administering the ADOS (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule) through the Thompson Center for Neurological Disorders in January of 2017. She has completed the Sequential Oral Sensory (SOS) approach to feeding course.
Kelly’s work experiences have been across hospitals, schools, outpatient rehabilitation clinics, and most recently private practice. She is the founder and co-owner of PlayABILITIES for Sensational Kids. Her passion is to provide comprehensive, individualized, and relationship-based therapy services, education, and support to the families and children that she serves. She feels extremely lucky to be building a knowledgeable, passionate team of therapists at PlayABILITIES who thrive on collaboration with each other and each have their own areas of strength and expertise to contribute to PlayABILITIES.
Kelly has three children, Lily, Colton, and Emmy. Her daughter, Lily, was born at 32 weeks gestation in March of 2017. She has learned the value of trust that it takes parents when seeking help with their children from her own experiences of being in the NICU with her daughter. Kelly finds the most joy spending time with her kiddos and laughing at all of the funny things they say and do. She enjoys spending time with her family outdoors, and hanging out with family and friends.
