Meet Marcela Teran | Pediatric Occupational Therapist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Marcela Teran and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Marcela, how does your business help the community?
My organization helps children with multiple types of disabilities to achieve their highest potential. Whether it is children that have just a mild developmental delay, to children with very complex medical diagnosis. My goal as a clinic director and owner is to offer the best therapy service so that these children can become active part of society one fine day and they can contribute to our community in ways they and their families hadn’t previously imagined. When children with disabilities develop over time into adults that can be more self-sufficient, independent, and proactive/happy members of society, our whole world benefits.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I inmigrated to Miami 17 years ago with nothing but a bag full of dreams and my whole year savings: $200. I have been a Pediatric Occupational Therapist for 20 years. For the first five years of my career in the US, I would travel all day long to see children at their homes or preschools all around Miami. My days started at 8 am and I would be done past 9 pm often. My caseload consisted primarily of children on the autistic spectrum, and it became very evident for me that these children needed to come to an actual Therapy Center for better outcomes. Generally, children benefit more from having an interdisciplinary team treating them, which is easier to do when you can offer multiple services like speech, occupational and physical therapy under the same roof. I always prioritized our patient’s well-being and identified the growing demand for quality therapy in Miami, so I explored the possibility of opening my own therapy center early in my career. I had the good fortune to find an amazing business partner (another inmigrant therapist) to start and grow this dream together. Her name is Martinica Barrionuevo and she is by far the most beautiful gift this whole journey has given me! We have a wonderful friendship besides being partners. We opened together MY TIME, IN Brickell Key in 11 years ago. MY TIME is different than other therapy centers because our clients perceive that we put true love and passion behind everything we do. It shows in the way our clinic looks, how much time and effort we put on meetings and treatment planning, and in the kind of therapists we hire. I always hire attitude, disposition and passion, before just clinical knowledge. My profession is something you must do from the heart as well as from your brain, otherwise children perceive you are disconnected and it’s very difficult to help them to connect with the treatment plan. Working in the healthcare industry is extremely challenging. Constant changes with insurance markets make it often difficult to economically grow at the healthy pace we would like to. Basically, every decision to grow the business and to move forward includes a lot of risk. We try to realistically assess what’s a good pace and speed to take on such risks, and if we are mentally and emotionally prepared for more work without jeopardizing quality of our services for our patients and without sacrificing quality time with our families. After years of seeing hundreds of families with young children, we realized there was a need for a toddler program that would focus on play and sensory based play. We created TOTS right before the pandemic, TOTS is an early stimulation boutique program. We are the only educational program in Miami with very small child/adult ratios, that only hires teachers with college background and run by two experts in toddler development with almost 5o years experience combined. TOTS is a wonderful new use of our extensive knowledge in child development, and a fantastic adittion to our Miami community where pre-school programs tend to be run primarily as business and not necessarily having the child well-being at the center of their business model.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Me and my family recently moved to Coconut Grove, we are in love with this area. I would encourage visitors to explore Coconut Grove Historical places like The Barnacle or Vizcaya. For dinner we love Little Havana , as it has the best latin food, my favorite restaurants are Old’s Havana and Toro Loco, family own, good prices and the food is outstanding. For a fun night out and drinks, Ball and Chain is a must. A sunset cruise in Biscayne Bay is a wonderful idea as well.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would have not been able to achieve what I have if two other amazing Colombian inmigrant women, would have not believed in me when I first inmmigrated 17 years ago. My first employer ( Adriana Tilley) and my moms best friend ( Martha Abreo) who hosted me at her home, are the reasons I was able to make it through the most difficult years as a inmigrant.

Website: www.totsmytime.com

Instagram: @totsmytime

Other: www.mytimepediatrictherapy.com