chriswagner

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MI Trainer Presentation

Dr
Chris
Wagner
Clinical Psychologist
Business Information
Business name: 
Virginia Commonwealth University / Independent Consulting
Town/City: 
Richmond
State: 
Virginia
Country: 
United States
Contact Information
Email address: 
chriscwagner@gmail.com
Telephone number: 
804-363-7044

More About Me

About Me

I'm a clinical psychologist working mostly in an academic setting. I began practicing MI in 1995, have been a MINT member since 1998 and was involved in MINT leadership from 2000-2008, and became a current member of the MINT board in 2018.  I teach a semester-long graduate MI class twice a year, have offered hundreds of MI trainings and consultations and have co-facilitated four MINT training of trainers events. My focus areas are expanding theory related to MI as well as MI in groups. I have worked in a number of practice settings - outpatient, inpatient, forensic, residential and community-outreach. I have worked with people with mental health, health, addiction, relational and criminal justice problems. To me, people are people and the important thing is helping them build a life they want. I view any pathologies, disabilities and disadvantages they may experience as obstacles to be surmounted, worked around or grown around. These things are not the person.

I frequently collaborate with Karen Ingersoll.

Our Guilford book on MI in Groups is available.  A sample chapter is posted at http://www.guilford.com/excerpts/wagner3.pdf
Even more is previewed on Amazon

Links to a few of our articles that are posted online are listed below:

Wagner, C.C. & Ingersoll, K.S. (2008). Beyond Cognition: Broadening the Emotional Base of Motivational Interviewing. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 18(2):191-206.

Wagner, C. C., & Ingersoll, K. S. (2009). Beyond Behavior: Eliciting Broader Change With Motivational Interviewing. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65(11), 1180-1194.

I have also promoted the idea of collaboratively developing therapeutic goals with clients (vs. agencies or practitioners holding them for clients). A brief article in the new MI-TRIP summarizes some of my thinking on that issue:

Wagner, C.C. (2012). Client-centered direction: Or how to get there when you’re not sure where you’re going. Motivational Interviewing: Training, Research, Implementation, Practice, 1, 36-38.

 

Service Information
Services offered: 
Introductory Training
Intermediate training
Advanced training
Supervision
Coaching
Coding
Training for Groups
Other
Area of practice: 
Health
Addiction
Criminal Justice
Mental Health
Social
Organisational Change
Trainer Statement

I offer a variety of training opportunities, focusing more on facilitating learning experiences than providing didactic presentations. I believe that MI has not yet reached its full potential for application, and that it is not limited to helping clients change discrete individual behaviors, but can help with a variety of life problems and challenges. In training, I focus more on helping participants incorporate MI skills and strategies into their current styles than approaching training as if they are new learners. Participants often already practice in a way that is fairly consistent with MI philosophy and strategies, and I focus on helping refine practice to be more efficient while not sacrificing depth or meaningfulness. I do not believe that MI "cures all" and at the same time I think it is a very useful form of practice to be familiar with and be comfortable providing.

Training Interests
MI Groups. MI in Community Settings (across problem types/populations). Organizational change. Return to work.
Training language 1: 
English

History

Member for
13 years 4 months
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