Hi, I’m Jessie Royal!

I grew up in Northern Virginia just outside of Washington DC and enjoyed traveling to visit extended family scattered across the United States. Frequent trips to New England fostered my affection for the Boston Red Sox and ultimately prompted me to attend Boston University for both undergraduate and graduate school. As a Volunteer fan for life within a family of multiple UT alumni, numerous visits to Tennessee inspired me to move to Nashville in my adult life.

I received a Bachelor of Science degree in Therapeutic Studies and a Master of Science degree in Occupational Therapy from Boston University. I left OT school with the skillset and determination to help others successfully engage in their desired “occupations,” which are defined as activities and tasks of daily life that we want and/or need to do.

After school, I felt drawn to work with the pediatric population and have experience working in multiple different settings with children and adolescents with learning differences, ADHD, ASD, sensory processing disorder, anxiety, and depression. I have had the privilege to provide them, and their families, with the knowledge, tools, skills, and confidence to increase their success and independence in academic, pre-vocational, social, leisure/play, and self-care activities. I am incredibly passionate about helping my clients achieve those little victories and make what may seem or feel like the impossible possible, whether it’s establishing a routine incorporating sensory input and movement into a client’s daily life to promote self-regulation, collaborating with a client’s teachers, caregivers, and/or other professionals to alter a client’s environment to improve attention or reduce the effect of sensory overload, or finding the right method or technique for note-taking in class.

In my free time, I enjoy cuddling up on the couch with my furry family members, Dany and Shuler, while reading or watching a movie or TV show; exploring all of the unique areas and amazing restaurants in Nashville; and spending time with family and friends.