Glenn and Sebastian welcomed Kristin Dempsey and Ali Hall to the podcast to discuss their new book entitled Advancing Motivational Interviewing: An Experiential Skills Guide for Mental Health Providers.

Kristin Dempsey is a psychotherapist, trainer, and counselor educator in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has over 30 years’ experience working with individuals, youth, and families with challenging behavioral issues that impact their lives such as substance use disorders, co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, trauma symptoms, and unresolved grief. Kristin believes that each individual has unlimited ability to change and grow, and she enjoys exploring the complexities of complex challenges and how to approach them with compassion and curiosity. Kristin has taught many classes in the counselor education curriculum, and she is currently focused on practitioner skill development, substance use disorder treatment, and effective practices in community mental health. Kristin is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT), and she currently teaches MI to behavioral health and other allied human services professionals. She is an adjunct professor at the Wright Institute’s Counseling Psychology Program and lecturing faculty at San Francisco State University. Kristin is the author of The Harm Reduction Workbook for Addiction (New Harbinger, 2024), co-author of Advancing Motivational Interviewing: An Experiential Skills Guide for Mental Health Professionals (PESI, April 2026), and a writer for The Mental Health and Substance Use Recovery Workbook (New Harbinger, May 2027).

Ali Hall is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT), a MINT Certified Trainer, and an independent consultant and trainer.

Ali has designed and facilitated thousands of MI workshops for a wide variety of providers, including those who serve within criminal justice systems, behavioral health, substance use recovery, mental health, health care, children/family services and wraparound, and has served multiple Training for New Trainers events. Ali regularly provides skill development coaching for interdisciplinary provider teams. Ali is the co-developer of the Motivational Interviewing Competency Assessment (MICA), a coding and coaching tool for MI skill improvement, co-author of the book Motivational Interviewing for Mental Health Clinicians: A Toolkit for Skill Development (2021), developer of the Cultivating Hope activity deck (2025) and co-author of Advancing Motivational Interviewing: An Experiential Skills Guide for Mental Health Providers (2026).