Carrie Wilkens, Ph.D., Jeffrey Foote, Ph.D., and Ken Carpenter Ph.D.

Carrie Wilkens, Ph.D., is the co-founder and clinical director of the Center for Motivation and Change in NYC, Long Island, Washington, DC, and San Diego, CA. She is co-founder of CMC: Berkshires, a private, inpatient/residential program employing the same treatment approaches in Massachusetts. She coauthored an award-winning book, Beyond Addiction: How Science and Kindness Help People Change, and, along with other CMC psychologists, cowrote a user-friendly workbook for parents: The 20 Minute Guide: A Guide for Parents about How to Help a Child Change their Substance Use. She is the co-founder and president of the CMC: Foundation for Change, a not-for-profit organization with the mission of disseminating evidence-based ideas and strategies to professionals and loved ones of persons struggling with substance use. She co-developed the Invitation to Change approach, a unique approach for families, blending components of community reinforcement and family training (CRAFT), motivational interviewing (MI), and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) together into an accessible set of understandings and practices that empower families to remain engaged and effective in helping their struggling loved one. The approach has been widely used across the country and is utilized in peer and professionally led support groups across the continental US, Alaska, Canada, the UK, and most recently being implemented in Uganda and Zambia. Along with Drs. Foote and Carpenter, she coauthored: The Beyond Addiction Workbook for Family and Friends: Evidence-Based Skills to Help a Loved One Make Positive Change, a full-length publication of the Invitation to Change approach.

Prior to CMC, 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. Dr. Wilkens is a member of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies and the American Association of Addiction Psychiatrists.

Jeff Foote, Ph.D., is the co-founder and executive director of the Center for Motivation and Change (CMC) outpatient programs in NYC, Long Island, Washington, DC, and San Diego, CA, and a residential program CMC: Berkshires 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 implementing evidence-based treatments. Dr. Foote is co-author of the award-winning book Beyond Addiction: How Science and Kindness Help People Change, a practical guide for families dealing with addiction and substance problems in a loved one, based on principles of community reinforcement and family training (CRAFT). He is also a contributor to 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.

He is also the co-founder and executive director of the CMC: Foundation for Change, a not-for-profit organization with the mission of improving the dissemination of evidence-based ideas and strategies to the families of persons struggling with substance use. The CMC: Foundation for Change and Dr. Foote have developed a unique approach for families, blending components of CRAFT, MI, and ACT together into the Invitation to Change approach, an accessible set of understandings and practices that empower families to remain engaged and effective in helping their struggling loved one. The approach has been widely used across the country and is utilized in peer and professionally led support groups across the continental US, Alaska, Canada, the UK, and most recently being implemented in Uganda and Zambia. Along with Drs. Wilkens and Carpenter, he coauthored: The Beyond Addiction Workbook for Family and Friends: Evidence-Based Skills to Help a Loved One Make Positive Change.

Ken Carpenter, Ph.D., is the director of training at the Center for Motivation and Change and CMC: Foundation for Change. He is a clinical psychologist and research scientist who has received federal and private foundation grant money for investigating the psychological, behavioral, and neurobiological factors associated with addictive behaviors and their treatment. He has over 20 years of experience developing, implementing, and evaluating evidence-based motivational and cognitive-behavioral strategies for facilitating important lifestyle changes. He has held academic and research scientist positions at NY-based universities and state agencies. Dr. Carpenter has authored over 70 journal articles and chapters, including The 20 Minute Guide, a workbook for people who have a loved one struggling with substance use.

Dr. Carpenter also holds an academic appointment in Columbia University’s department of psychiatry and is a research scientist in the division on substance use disorders at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (M.I.N.T).