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CORALVILLE, IOWA, May 10, 2020 — Alli Center, a privately-owned mental health practice in Coralville, is pleased to announce that therapist Trisha Dean has earned the Registered Play Therapist (RPT) credential conferred by the Association for Play Therapy.
Play therapy credentialing is a natural extension of Dean’s professional path. Her early career focused on working with teens. She often found herself wishing her adolescent clients could have had the opportunity to learn certain skills much earlier in their lives, believing that doing so could have lessened many of the difficulties they came to face as teens. This led Dean to seek opportunities to work with younger children and their families.
“Play is the language kids use. They show us rather than tell us about their feelings and experiences,” says Dean. When she and her young clients communicate via play therapy, it provides an effective, age-appropriate way for her to teach them skills that help them navigate their challenges.
Dean observes that there are not many preventative behavioral health programs for young people. “It can be helpful to start therapy and learning earlier in life. This helps encourage resiliency and can help children learn to cope better with trauma.”
Dean is a licensed marriage and family therapist who works with individuals and groups, particularly with children, adolescents, and couples. Her clients include people experiencing a wide range of concerns, including anxiety, depression, ADHD, and bipolar disorder, as well as emotional and behavioral concerns. She collaborates with clients to identify the approach that is most helpful to them in addressing their concerns, such as play therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, trauma-informed approaches, and more.
The Alli Center counselors, therapists, and doctor serve clients and patients from throughout the Corridor region. Co-founder Jason Knight, LISW, comments on the value of Dean’s areas of expertise to the Center as a whole: “One of the unique elements of our practice is the variety of specialties our providers have to address the range of client needs in the community.”
Play therapy is one of many options among the broad range of services available to Alli Center clients.
The credentialing process for play therapy is intensive and takes several years to complete. More information is available at www.a4pt.org.