BEYOND ADDICTION

Meet the Authors

Jeffrey Foote, PhDCo-Founder and Executive Director of The Center for Motivation and Change

Jeff Foote, PhD, is Co-Founder of the Center for Motivation and Change (CMC) in Manhattan, an outpatient substance abuse treatment center, as well as CMC:Berkshires, an inpatient substance abuse treatment center in western Massachusetts. Dr. Foote is a nationally recognized clinical research scientist who has received federal grant funding for his work on motivational treatment approaches and substance abuse treatment research, focused on the implementation of evidence-based treatments. Dr. Foote was also Psychologist for the NY Mets for 11 years, and continues in sports psychology as an independent performance consultant to professional athletes. Before co-founding CMC in 2003, Dr. Foote was the Deputy Director of the Division of Alcohol Treatment and Research at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in NYC, as well as Senior Research Associate at The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) in NYC. Dr. Foote also served as Chief of the Smithers Addiction Treatment and Research Center as well as Director of Evaluation and Research between 1994 and 2001.

Dr. Foote is also co-author of two workbooks combining strategies from CRAFT and Motivational Interviewing: The Parent’s 20 Minute Guide and The Partner’s 20 Minute Guide, which offer specific tools and practice in evidence-based strategies for helping a loved one change.

Carrie Wilkens, PhDCo-Founder and Clinical Director of The Center for Motivation and Change

Carrie Wilkens, PhD, is the Co-Founder and Clinical Director of the Center for Motivation and Change in NYC, a private practice of psychologists who specialize in the treatment of substance use/compulsive behavior disorders and trauma using a variety of evidence-based treatments. She, along with her partners Dr. Jeffrey Foote and Will Regan, recently opened a private, inpatient/residential program employing the same evidence-based approaches in the Berkshires. . Also with Drs. Foote and Kosanke, Dr. Wilkens co-wrote a user-friendly workbook for parents: The 20 Minute Guide, a Guide for Parents and partners about how to help their child change their substance use. In collaboration with the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, Dr. Wilkens and the CMC team is developing a national parent training program (the Parent Support Network) to provide parent coaches to families in need of support through a free hotline.

Prior to these ventures, Dr. Wilkens was the Project Director on a large federally-funded Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grant examining the effectiveness of motivational interventions in addressing the problems associated with binge drinking among college students. She is regularly sought out by the media to discuss issues related to substance use disorders and has been on the CBS Morning Show, Katie Couric Show, and Fox News as well as a variety of radio shows including frequent NPR segments such as the People’s Pharmacy and The Diane Rehm Show.

Nicole Kosanke, PhDDirector of Family Services at the Center for Motivation and Change

Nicole Kosanke, PhD, is a Clinical Psychologist and Director of Family Services at the Center for Motivation and Change’s outpatient division in NYC, where she specializes in working with family members of people abusing substances and in the assessment process for families and individuals. Dr Kosanke has been working in the research and clinical practice of treating substance use disorders for many years and utilizes the principles of CRAFT (Community Reinforcement and Family Training), MI (Motivational Interviewing), and CBT (cognitive behavior therapy) in different therapeutic modalities and resources: group, individual, family, video training, and written materials. She recently co-authored the award-winning book, Beyond Addiction: How Science and Kindness Help People Change, which is a compassionate and science-based family guide for navigating the addiction treatment world, understanding motivation, and using CRAFT skills. She also co-wrote The 20 Minute Guide: A Guide for Parents about How to Help their Child Change their Substance Use. She has been interviewed on radio programs about substance abuse issues and her writing on these topics has also been featured most recently in Huffington Post, The Observer, and Counselor Magazine.