Within this setting, Dr. Carli had a rotation in Family Therapy which supported her Minor in Family Systems and her love of working withcouples and families.

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Dr. Carli began her professional career at Southlake Center for Mental Health as she was hired following the completion of her Internship. In this setting she gained much experience working with families and couples. These services were funded by a grant to reunite families were physical abuse, sexual abuse or neglect. This experience exposed Dr. Carli to families in the state of crisis. She also took on the challenge of Co-Leading a group of Male Incest Offenders. Dr. Carli was able to study this population in depth as this became the population for the research necessary for her Dissertation Attachment Styles of Male Sex Offenders. Dr. Carli felt that this was a very important as when researching this population as there were significantly more studies of the victims of sexual abuse when compared to offenders.
 

Also during her time at Southlake Center for Mental Health, gained expertise in Couple’s therapy with a challenging population. Some of her first work as a couple’s therapist came from the Indiana mandate that the completion of Couples Therapy was a perquisite to obtaining a divorce. Her experience with family and couples therapy has honed her skills in conflict resolution, implementing strategies to create positive and effective communication as well as developing the empathy skills to benefit their relationship with their significant others as well as relationships with others.
 

After moving from the South Suburbs to the Western Suburbs, Dr. Carli took a position as the Clinical Director for Hillside Academy, a therapeutic school for children and adolescents diagnosed with a behavior disorder. As the Clinical Director, Dr. was responsible for the supervision of Psychology Doctoral Interns as well as Master’s Level Clinicians. This program was APA approved and had intensive requirements for supervision, education and training. This experience fostered Dr. Carli’s skills as a mentor and consultant to other professionals within the field.

 

While working within a therapeutic day school setting, Dr. Carli was able to utilize her skills and interventions with students and families in crisis. She provided consultation with teachers, the school system within Hillside Academy as well as the students’ home school. Dr. Carli regularly attended IEP meetings, providing reports and feedback and recommendation in order to assist in planning intervention for students to support a successful re-integration back to the public school systems. Dr. Carli gained experience with engaged learning, clinical crisis intervention as well as engaged learning.
 

Following her position as Clinical Director, Dr. Carli worked for over 20 years with patients in their later stages of life. She worked as a consulting psychologist for First Senior Care. Dr. Carli was a consultant to nursing staff, families, physicians as well as other supportive staff. She provided weekly individual psychological therapy with the residents of North Aurora Care Center, Batavia Rehabilitation Center, Aurora Supportive Living, Elmhurst Extended Care Center, The Grove of Elmhurst and Oak Trace in Darien. This work was highly satisfying and inspired Dr. Carli to pursue more intensive experience with patients who recovering from a physical injury or condition that requires rehabilitation.
 

Dr. Carli took a position at the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab (formally RIC) as a Clinical Rehabilitation Psychologist. This position as allowed Dr. Carli to specializes in patients who have suffered from physical/neurological injuries. She has over 7 years of experience working with patients who have suffered a stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, brain tumor or neurological disorders.

Over 3 years ago, Dr. Carli launched in to a private practice of therapy. This has been a very rewarding experience as there has been more of an opportunity to provide Couple’s and Family which continues to be a passion in her professional career. Private Practice also provides more of an opportunity to work with children and adolescents.

 

Finally, Dr. Carli has also developed a specialty in the psychological aspects of Sleep Disorders. This has developed from an understanding of how physical health (diet, exercise, sleep) is intertwined with to mental health and well-being.