Stephanie Harris, OTR
President and Owner

Stephanie is the owner of Independent Living Inc. Pediatric Therapy She graduated from Boston University with a degree in Occupational Therapy. In 1996, Stephanie started the business and was providing home based occupational therapy in the Tampa Bay area. The company grew as Stephanie employed occupational, physical and speech therapists throughout several counties. She opened her first pediatric outpatient clinic in 2004, a second clinic in 2009 and a third clinic in 2011. Stephanie now has well over 140 employees, and together they have grown Independent Living Inc. Pediatric Therapy to be one of the largest and most respected pediatric providers in the Tampa Bay area.

Aleisha Linck, MS CCC-SLP
Administrative Director

Aleisha has been employed with the company for eight years. In the beginning, she provided speech-language therapy, and has grown into a leadership role as she is now responsible for the day to day operations of Independent Living Inc. Pediatric Therapy; bid proposals, contracts, project management, business development and expansion, public relations and conflict resolution. She supervises all members of the administrative team, overseeing all therapists. She quickly became a key employee and part of the company’s backbone with her innovative ideas and high motivation. Aleisha developed new hiring procedures and new company guidelines. She has acquired contracts with schools and has completed countless projects that have improved and expanded the business.

Carrie Guise, MS CCC-SLP
Director of Speech-Language Pathology Services

Carrie has been employed with the company for eight years. Her function is to hire, retain, supervise, mentor, collaborate and encourage each therapist. She works her hardest to make sure all staffed therapists can meet their individual and family’s needs while maintaining the integrity of the company and the services we provide to families. While not an easy balance, she has been extremely successful. As part of the administrative team, she has helped develop a graduate externship program with the local universities including the University of South Florida, the University of Florida and NOVA Southeastern. She expanded the continuing education programs within Independent Living Inc. She also collaborates and participates in free community screenings, conducts free screenings within the facility, presents at local conferences, seminars and parent support groups and expands our scope of services.

Chantel Hietler, PT
Director of Occupational and Physical Therapy Services

Chantel has been employed with the company for 11 years. For the first three years, she worked on staff as a Physical Therapist (PT) performing evaluations and treatments in natural environment settings for children and some adults. In 2003, she accepted the position of the Director of Physical Therapy services. She also continues to work with clients in the home and clinic settings. She conducts annual performance reviews for the 23 staff PTs and Physical Therapy Assistants (PTAs) that she supervises. She is the Center Clinical Coordinator for PT Education (CCCE) and acts as a Clinical Instructor (CI) for physical therapy students from several universities. She recruits, interviews, and hires new PTs for Independent Living Inc. She conducts free screenings for children with suspected gross motor delay. She attends conference expos to exhibit for recruiting purposes for Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, and Speech-Language Pathologists. She also completes supervisory visits for PTAs. She assisted in starting our first outpatient clinic. She has been an Early Steps (Early Intervention) provider for 10 years. For the last two years, she has been a member of the Early Steps Local Assistive Technology Team as a Local Assistive Technology Specialists (LATS). We help to find low-tech options for equipment that is needed by “special-needs” children in the Early Steps program.

Pamela Bennetti
Director of Human Resources

Pam started with the company in April of 2008. Previously, she worked as a Human Resources Director for 20 years for a company that started out small and grew to a larger company. Because of that, she brought with her the knowledge of how to start new locations and the importance of growth so that a company does not become complacent. Her and Aleisha [Administration Director] collaborated last year as they quickly started looking for new locations in the areas that had the most potential. Within a few short months we were up and running at our new Wesley Chapel outpatient clinic. She has applied practical experience to her position, from employee motivation, to implementing policies regarding local, state and federal employment guidelines. She has improved the bridge between management and co-workers so that we can become a more efficient company.

Katelyn Bourgoin, MS CCC-SLP
Lead Speech-Language Pathologist

Katie is the Lead School System Therapist. She manages all therapists placed in the school systems on a contractual basis and acts as a liaison between the school system and the administrative staff at Independent Living Inc. Pediatric Therapy. Over the last 4 years, she has also worked as a team member providing speech-language therapy services for pediatric and school-age patients. She works with clients who have a wide variety of delays and diagnoses from infant to adult. Duties have included treatment planning and implementation, documentation maintenance, development and instruction of home exercise program, as well as patient, family and caregiver education. The majority of treatment has been in homes, home based daycare, pre- and primary schools.

Lucy Lopez
Lead Therapy Coordinator

Lucy has been with the company for the past 10 years. She supervises three other therapy coordinators, tracks caseloads, manages reports and submits the status of targeted goals on a monthly basis to Stephanie [owner]. She frequently acts as an interpreter for Spanish speaking families. Her biggest accomplishment has been building relationships with families, referral sources, co-workers and therapists. She has built respect, confidence and trust with our clients and employees. Her contributions throughout the years have been helping many families, connecting them with therapists who are able to provide them with support for their loved ones while accomplishing important goals and building development skills.

Lee Ann Nystrom
Billing Supervisor

Lee Ann has been with the company for the past 10 years. She is very loyal, dedicated and a hardworking employee. She has over 26 years of medical billing experience. One of her major accomplishments was helping Independent Living Inc. become a provider for Blue Cross Blue Shield. She is responsible for ensuring that all services are billed within a few days after receiving timesheets as it helps meet payroll demands each week. She is also responsible for all accounts receivables, overseeing that daily operations run smoothly, i.e. all electronic equipment, keeping stocked with necessary supplies, and problem solving for the needs of the office staff members. She makes every attempt to work directly with families that may struggle with day to day expenses as we try to offer them solutions to continue the affordability of the critical services for their children.

Sarah Guest, MS CCC-SLP
Clinic Coordinator and CFY Supervisor

Sarah has been providing speech-language and early intervention services to children with developmental delays in the Tampa Bay area for over 7 years. Sarah received her B.A. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Florida and her M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of South Florida. She has experience working with children with rare chromosomal anomalies, medically fragile, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Trisomy 21, Apraxia, Augmentative Communication, and other developmental challenges. She is trained in Beckman’s Oral Motor Assessment and Intervention, Greenspan’s DIR/Floortime™ approach, and has attended various Applied Behavior Analysis trainings. Sarah is a clinical supervisor for graduate student interns and she is a CFY supervisor for new SLP graduates in the St. Petersburg area.