Currently, I am an assistant professor at North Dakota State University. My primary teaching responsibilities are in health promotion for the Master of Public Health graduate program. I entered this role with 25 years of work experience promoting health in various settings and with diverse populations. For 10 years I worked in outpatient, clinical care at a large federally qualified primary care clinic where I headed up the lifestyle medicine department. I am a certified diabetes educator, registered dietitian, and certified health education specialist. Prior to this clinical work, I promoted health at local colleges and universities with a focus on chemical health and provided leadership in first year student success and retention.
For the past 5 years I have provided effective training in motivational interviewing for health care professionals who want to help their patients improve their health. I use my 10 years of clinal experience to connect with health care professionals. My first exposure to MI was in 1998 while working with college student alcohol and other drug prevention and interventions. Since then I took multiple trainings and practiced using MI In my work. I participated in the Training of New Trainers and became a member of MINT in 2012. Learning how to use motivational interviewing as a clinical skill is a health care profeasional's adaptive work in order to help facilitate patients' adaptive work. This clinical skill is missing from most health care professionals' toolboxes. Teaching this skill is a passion and a calling for me.
