About Us

Mind The Gap is a love story between two people, their passion, and their community. 

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Kaylin and Dakota met in 2013 in Florida, both freshly out of college and freshly into their careers. Dakota was working in a crisis stabilization unit, providing group and activity services to community members in crisis. Kaylin was working as an OTA in a neuro-rehabilitation setting, helping those with TBI's, stroke, and the like gain functional independence. At the time, it didn't seem like our jobs had much to do with each other. 

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But we were so wrong! We learned as we got to know each other that the space between mental health and physical health wasn't as large as either of us thought. How many people recovering from a stroked experience depression and anxiety? How many people struggling with a mental health crisis have occurring physical health problems? 

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A whole lot. 

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In 2016, we moved to Nashville to attend graduate school. Kaylin went to Belmont University for her Master's in Occupational Therapy and Dakota went to Vanderbilt University for his Master's in Human Development Counseling. We fell in love a second time: with the Middle Tennessee Community. We got to know our neighbors and found that Nashville and Murfreesboro are both full of humble, hard working, and compassionate people.

 

After graduation in 2016, we each began our careers anew. Kaylin developed and started the first occupational therapy program of it's kind in the entire nation by implementing OT services in a recovery court setting. Dakota began interdisciplinary practice, seeing mental health clients in a medical setting. 

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It was in these places that we ran into the same problem.

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Health professions traditionally exist in silos: isolated from one another and deeply specialized. This isn't inherently a bad thing, but it means that important pieces of our clients overall healthcare slipped through the gaps between services. So an idea was born: to offer mental health services that spanned the space between mental and physical domains. OT is often utilized in a physical health setting and counseling is primarily utilized in a mental health setting. By combining and collaborating, we weave together a safety net.

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We invite you to join us in cultivating a soft landing place for all those that slip through the gaps in our healthcare system. We invite you to Mind The Gap.