I am a psychologist and Certified Group Psychotherapist in clinical practice in Houston, Texas, USA. I hold the title Dean Emeritus, School of Health Professions, at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), having retired after 40+ years on faculty. For more than 15 years at BCM, I have taught health behavioral counseling from an MI perspective, mentored student research projects, and spent way too much time in administrative meetings. I still teach in the course--as a volunteer co-instructor--and relish the teaching enterprise. While "retired" from BCM, I maintain a clinical practice focused on adolescents, families, adults, and couples, and conduct MI trainings by contract for varied audiences. My clinical focus has included child trauma, adolescent sexual and other behavioral issues, and couples’ and families’ adjustment to the emergence of transgender and non-binary identities of their children and other loved ones.
MI Spirit defines my approach to my work. I am increasingly attuned to how my work, life, and relationships are foundationally influenced by my own inersectional identity as an English-speaking, cisgender (prounouns: he/him/his), gay white man “of a certain age," reared in small-town New England and the mid-western USA, privileged through higher education, professional training, and mentorship, grounded in a 40+ year relationship/marriage, working in an academic health center, and living in the fourth-largest and most diverse city in the USA. My journey is enriched by delightful and humble discoveries when I remind myself to pay attention to them.
I joined MINT following training at Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA, in 2012. Before then and to the present, I have taught MI in a Health Behavioral Counseling (HBC) graduate course attended by students in Physician Assistant studies, Orthotics and Prosthetics, and Genetic Counseling. In this course, students video-record encounters with MI-trained simulated patients who provide real-time feedback on MI skills and spirit. Student peers review, code, and discuss their recordings to promote deep reflection and enrich their learning and goal setting. I also provide MI introductory training to medical students and to groups outside of BCM.
In addition to learners in medicine and health professions, I have taught MI skills and principles to mental health providers and other professionals, teachers, child advocates, members of the military, and corrections officers, and have provided limited coaching. Recent trainings include tailored experiential MI workshops for a variety of professional learner groups in the community, both virtually and in person.
