Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Gillian Givens.
Hi Dr. Givens, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
From an early age, I was always interested in working with children and knew I wanted to be involved in healthcare in some capacity. When I was a young child, my mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in her early 30s, and seeing her struggles and victories while growing up really nurtured my heart and mind to want to help others with their health journeys also. While a junior in high school playing basketball, I tore my ACL and that was my first real interaction with a physical therapist. I knew then that I also wanted to be a physical therapist to help others move and gain independence.
Throughout my schooling and into my college/graduate school years, I always nannied or volunteered with children in some capacity. While I was a senior in college, I applied to The Peace Corps and was accepted to serve in West Africa. The very next day, I was accepted into graduate school to complete my Doctorate in Physical Therapy at Wheeling Jesuit University (now Wheeling University) and knew that God blessed me with this opportunity to be able to better help others with my education and degree.
Following my completion of graduate school, I landed my dream job working in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas. I worked there for three wonderful years gaining acute pediatric experience before working in home health pediatrics in both Houston and now Dallas. After 10 years of clinical experience treating hundreds of patients and answered prayers, I am opening my own PLLC called Consider Your Kids Physical Therapy in partnership with The Wellness Hive in Dallas, Texas. I am so excited to offer pediatric physical therapy to my patients and provide them with the support and excellent care that they deserve. Our children deserve the best care and opportunities to make them successful, independent, and most importantly, happy adults.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Like many things in life, the road to get to where I am now definitely has had its challenges and struggles both personally as well as professionally. While going through these challenges and difficulties, I was not always thankful for the opportunity to grow and learn, but I have tried to change that mindset. COVID was a very hard time for those in healthcare, and really taught me how to persevere and continue to pursue my passion despite the adversity.
It is amazing that we can always choose to thrive and learn following tough life situations; I often remind myself that with God’s grace and strength, I can get through anything. Witnessing and actively participating in the lives and challenges of my patients and their families is truly a humbling experience. I remind myself daily of the fortitude and grace of my patients and their families when I feel down or the need to complain about my normal daily “life struggles.”
I have also worked hard to surround myself both professionally and personally with a strong circle of friends and coworkers that are positive, supportive people. My wonderful husband, Phillip is my number one supporter, and I am so thankful for him and of course my family!
We’ve been impressed with Consider Your Kids Physical Therapy PLLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Consider Your Kids Physical Therapy PLLC offers individualized comprehensive physical therapy care to help address the WHOLE child with family-focused goals. Our mission is to help support families and their children to learn to move and facilitate functional independence. We want to support children to be better able to interact with their world, friends, and family. We believe that building a community around your child will help them grow into being happy, thriving adults.
The name “Consider Your Kids” comes from a family saying dear to my heart. Members of my family often say “CYK,” meaning “Consider Yourself Kissed,” to one another to demonstrate their love and appreciation for one another. This company name symbolizes our mission of practicing physical therapy from the heart. We strive to provide excellent care and build long-lasting relationships with our patients and their families.
Consider Your Kids Physical Therapy is passionate about empowering and educating parents and caregivers to better understand what is going on with their child and how to help. This practice model is vitally important to treatment success rates and alleviating caregiver stress regarding gross motor delay and developmental concerns. We are all meant to move and thrive, and it is our mission to facilitate that!
Our difference is that we focus on meeting realistic, meaningful goals and outcomes to ensure that the needs of our families and patients are TRULY being met. We pride ourselves on our partnership with Dr. Brandy Simmons Chiropractic at The Wellness Hive to work as a team to meet ALL of the needs of your child. While we treat a variety of medical diagnoses and presentations, we believe that providing holistic, comprehensive care to infants and toddlers ages 0-2, better ensures successful outcomes and rapid changes in gross motor delay and function. Early PROACTIVE intervention results in the best scenario for our patients.
Our hybrid treatment model of utilizing both chiropractic and physical therapy care to provide early intervention (ages 0-2) for MD-diagnosed issues such as plagiocephaly, torticollis, and reflux, allows for significant positive outcomes with improving head shape, reduced use/not requiring use of orthotic helmet for flat head, decreasing pain and promoting ease of gross motor skill acquisition associated with torticollis. The sooner these issues are addressed, the sooner we see significant changes. We are here to meet your needs!
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
I think there is always an element of correct timing (or some may say luck) with everything in life. I have had many instances in life where an opportunity has fallen through, or something that I have really wanted (either personally or professionally) has not come to light. I have realized that if you keep approaching your life and dreams with a good heart and mind, God’s timing will always be perfect though we may not realize it at the time. I often think the best things come when we least expect them when we are just practicing being grateful for being alive and making the most of every moment (both good and bad).
Contact Info:
- Website: consideryourkidspt.com
- Instagram: cyk_pt
