OT-MBA Grad Thrives in Career by Turning Opportunities into Action
Some students go to college undecided on a major, and that’s just fine. Others, like 2016 Rockhurst graduate Kaitlin Doyle, know exactly what they want to do.
Doyle’s mother grew up as a child of a deaf adult (CODA) and Kaitlin had an uncle who had cerebral palsy and spent a lot of time in therapy. She saw how her grandparents took care of him and guided him through everyday tasks.
That sparked her interest in the field of occupational therapy.
She knew what she wanted to do, but wasn’t sure where to go to receive the appropriate training. After earning her undergraduate degree, Doyle wanted to get her graduate degree close to home in Odessa, Missouri. Kaitlin knew about Rockhurst's renowned occupational therapy program because her brother earned both a DPT and MBA from RU, which inspired Kaitlin to consider pursuing an MBA to go with a graduate degree in OT.
“I didn’t have interest in business, but my brother said the programs work together and give you an advantage on the business side of things,” she said. “It helps you understand how they all work together. I got really excited about what the two programs had to offer together.”
Kaitlin graduated with both an Masters in Occupational Therapy and MBA with an emphasis in healthcare leadership. That degree combination turned out to be crucial for her as today Kaitlin co-owns the Children With Opportunity (CWO) clinic in Grain Valley, Missouri. The clinic provides therapy for kids and their families, early learners/birth to school age. Among those she works with are kids with autism and additional developmental disorders.
Doyle is living out her passion for helping families and getting them engaged in the therapeutic process.
“It is absolutely what I am most passionate about, and I would say ultimately what I am driven to do," she said. "I went into Rockhurst with just the clinical mindset and I came out with both the business and clinical mind. It has really set me up for success to do what I love most with both the clinical and operational side, and that’s what I’m doing here with CWO.”
Doyle developed her love for working with kids while at Rockhurst, where she had the opportunity to work in Saint Elizabeth’s program to get hands-on pediatric OT experience. She did fieldwork at the Lee Ann Britain Infant Development Center, which is well-known in Kansas City for its work with young children with special needs.
“I was able to work with families and learn about supporting them in not only a clinical setting, but also in the home, working in specialty areas of feeding, aquatics, and kids with autism,” Doyle said.
While Doyle was pursuing her MBA at Rockhurst she was connected with the original founder of TheraWe Connect. The HIPAA-compliant mobile platform “helps parents of children with developmental disabilities bridge the gap between home and the therapy setting.” Doyle helped create and develop TheraWe before it was sold to a larger company, at which point she and her co-founder opened CWO.
Her time at Rockhurst was instrumental in establishing many of her business priorities at CWO.
“At Rockhurst, one of the biggest things is looking at the whole person and thinking about the whole person, and I think that has been instilled as a core value here and why we use an interdisciplinary approach here, really looking at the whole child. It’s not just one specific area; we are really thinking of the child as the whole person.”
The product of walking through open doors in her education and career, Doyle has similar advice for the next generation of Communications Science Disorders (CSD) professionals.
“When you are starting your career and clinicals, it can be really challenging and confusing," she said. "The biggest thing across the board is to try to understand the whole picture, whether that’s a challenge being presented to you, a person, or a coordinator, try to understand the whole scenario. Be flexible. Don’t be afraid to take an opportunity when it’s presented to you.”
