I had the honor of being introduced to Motivational Interviewing during graduate school under the supervision of Patricia Juarez. My trajectory with MI began through learning to code with the MISC 2.5 and MITI 4.2.1, which I strongly believe helped me learn MI as a practitioner, and has ultimately supported my confidence in learning MI as a trainer.
After receiving my Masters in Clinical Psychology in 2017 from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), I worked at the Latino Alcohol and Health Disparities Reseach and Training Center in the Psychology Department at UTEP as Training Coordinator, where my primary functions were to develop and provide training and supervision in Motivational Interviewing and Brief Motivational Interventions for alcohol use to community providers. I have also had the priviledge of working as a consultant with organizations around the country to develop and provide training and supervision to address organizational needs and implement sustainable practice of Motivational Interviewing. Through my experiences as a consultant, I have worked in a variety of person-oriented settings (e.g., probation/corrections, protective services, medical/clinical, university, counseling, social work) to address a range of behavior changes (e.g., program compliance, treatment adherence, risk and harm reduction, client engagement, resource utilization).
I was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, a diverse city on the western-most edge of Texas that sits on the border with our Mexican counterpart, Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. I am a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Texas, and my experiences with MI in both English and Spanish have helped me to better connect with and serve my community and the Latino population.
When it comes to long-lasting behavior change, there is no "how" without first understanding "why"
