MEET KARLI COVERDALE
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Licensed Mental Health Counselor
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Board Certified Behavior Analyst
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Certified FirstPlay® Practitioner
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Infant Mental Health Professional
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Registered Play Therapist™
Through the manifestation of About Building Connections, Karli continues to advocate for early identification, proactive treatment, early childhood mental health and family empowerment by practicing counseling & applied behavior analysis.
KARLI'S INTERACTIVE BIO:
EDUCATION & CREDENTIALS
Karli graduated from Old Dominion University in 2011 with a Bachelors of Science (B.S.) in Sociology, emphasis in child development; in 2014 with a Masters degree (M.S.Ed.) in Mental Health Counseling; and in 2018 with a certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis.
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CREDENTIALS
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Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC), New York
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Registered Play Therapist™ (RPT™)
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Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA)
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Infant Mental Health Professional
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Certified FirstPlay® Practitioner
CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER
Karli started her career focusing on child development in 2009 at Old Dominion's Child Development Center. Initially, Karli worked in the 20-24 month old classroom. Karli was the lead assistant and primary contact for parents, given the absence of the teacher. She later shifted to the 3-5 year old classroom, an honor, as it came per request of the 20-24 month classroom lead teacher. During this time, Karli excelled at captivating the attention of little learners through art, song, dance and play, occurring naturally within daily routines.
In 2013, Karli left the Child Development Center to fulfill a graduate assistantship position within the School of Education, focusing on child policy, art programs as part of education and an early childhood education/family engagement outreach program. A few short months later, Karli was contacted by the then Child Development Center director, to fulfill a substitute lead teacher position for the 20-24 month old classroom.
RESIDENTIAL YOUTH COUNSELOR
While working towards her Masters degree in 2013-2014, Karli completed an internship at a residential shelter for youth males, primarily 9-18 years.
The shelter was voluntary and housed youth struggling with: anger management, self-injury, school expulsion or alternative school, run away from home or homelessness. There was a sister shelter, that housed adolescent females, which Karli had the opportunity to volunteer at on multiple occasions.
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While at the shelter, Karli provided individual, peer group and family counseling for her clients.
EARLY INTERVENTION
Nearing the end of 2013, Karli took her competence in child development and entered the field of early intervention.
Early intervention programs are home-based services that provide speech, occupational, physical and/or other specialized therapies to children, who exhibit a developmental delay. In the state of Virginia, children have to be 0-3 years and have a 25% delay in at least one area of development (receptive language, expressive language, cognitive, social emotional, self help, gross motor & fine motor) or, have a qualifying diagnosis (i.e. prematurity).
Typically, Karli worked in home with young children to support development of language, cognitive and play skills. Sessions occurred during mealtime, nap/bed time, play time, bath time and community outings. Karli became dedicated to empowering families on "how to" use the skills taught, outside of sessions, to help children master skills. This art of coaching was a topic Karli commonly talked about by simply telling families, "the real learning will take place after I leave."
In 2018, at the peak of her early intervention career, Karli fulfilled the role of Developmental Services Supervisor and oversaw providers working in homes. Full of passion, Karli continued to work with children 0-3 while supervising, of course, just on a much smaller scale.
INTENSIVE IN-HOME COUNSELING
Karli simultaneously worked as an intensive In-Home Counselor, in Virginia, from 2015-2017. In-home counseling is a service that is provided for children that are at-risk of out of home placement, due to marked challenging behaviors such as: self injury, aggression towards others, anger management, running away or behaviors contributing to school expulsion. While fulfilling this role, Karli worked in homes of youth 4-15 years old.
Like other in-home positions mentioned, this role included participation in daily routines such as dinner and community outings. Additionally, this role included crisis response.
From 2014-2017, Karli simultaneously worked another in-home position, as respite provider for families in the military. This role was also in Virginia.
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If a military family included a child that had a diagnosis qualifying them for the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP), they were eligible to receive such service for the qualifying child and siblings. Some examples of qualifying diagnoses included: Autism, hearing loss, down syndrome and/or developmental delay(s).
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This experience provided the ability to become a trusted individual for family units as they combated deployments, reunifications and/or frequent travel. Additionally, Karli was able to gain clinical insight on preparation and identification of how these family circumstances may impact a child's development.
