I’m an addiction medicine physician (MD MPH) in southeastern Vermont. Nearly all my patients present with severe substance use disorders. Many have coexisting mental health and/or medical problems. I follow several individuals in long term recovery from opioid use disorder who are on buprenorphine. Ambivalence is everywhere. MI is integral to much of my patient interaction, as I seek to help people sort out what to do about their relationships with substances, people, treatment resources, their past, and their future. My first encounter with MI was in the 1990s at the Annual Conference of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. It’s value motivated me to seek additional training, to invite a MINT trainer to all three hospitals where I've worked since 2000, and to pass along MI myself. I am also a writer, teacher, and advocate for recovery plus have lots of other interests that include downhill skiing, mountain biking, and photogrphy.
Over the past 20+ years, I have introduced clinicians to motivational interviewing and promoted its spirit in their work. Now, as a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers, I look forward to assisting clinicians cultivate and maintain MI skills that will enable them to help others find greater safety, balance, and satisfaction in their lives.
