Co-Founder & CEO of the Center for Motivation & Change, Licensed Psychologist, & Award Winning Author

Carrie Wilkens, Ph.D.

Carrie Wilkens, Ph.D., is a psychologist with over 25 years of experience in the practice and dissemination of evidence-based treatments for substance use and Post-Traumatic Stress. Dr. Wilkens is the Co-President and CEO of the CMC:Foundation for Change, a not-for-profit with the mission of improving the dissemination of evidence-based ideas and strategies to professionals and loved ones of persons struggling with substance use. The CMC:FFC team’s Invitation to Change approach is an accessible set of understandings and practices that empower families to remain engaged and be effective in helping their struggling loved one make positive changes. The approach has been widely used across the country and is utilized in trainings with laypeople and professionals.

She 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), and co-author of The Beyond Addiction Workbook for Family and Friends: Evidence-Based Skills to Help a Loved-One Make Positive Change.

Dr. Wilkens is also the Co-Founder and Clinical Director of the Center for Motivation and Change, a group of clinicians serving all ages in NYC, Long Island, Washington, DC, San Diego, CA, and CMC:Berkshires, a private, inpatient/residential program for adults.

Dr. Wilkens has been a Project Director on a large federally-funded Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grant 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, frequent NPR segments, and podcasts, including Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris. She is also in the HBO documentary Risky Drinking. Dr. Wilkens is a member of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies and the American Association of Addiction Psychiatrists.

Chaplaincy Trained Buddhist Leader, Author, Speaker, & Visiting Fellow - University of Michigan

Chenxing Han

​​​​​Chenxing Han (she/her) is the author of “Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists (2021)”; “One Long Listening: A Memoir of Grief, Friendship, and Spiritual Care (2023)”; and over twenty articles and book chapters for both academic and mainstream audiences. She is a regular contributor to Lion’s Roar and Tricycle magazines and a frequent speaker and workshop leader at schools, universities, and Buddhist communities across the nation. She has received fellowships from Hedgebrook, Hemera Foundation, the Lenz Foundation, and elsewhere.

Chenxing holds a BA from Stanford University, an MA in Buddhist Studies from the Graduate Theological Union, and a certificate in Buddhist chaplaincy from the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California. She is co-teacher of Listening to the Buddhists in Our Backyard at Phillips Academy Andover; a co-organizer of May We Gather: A National Buddhist Memorial for Asian American Ancestors; and founding facilitator of Roots and Refuge: An Asian American Buddhist Writing Retreat at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. For the 2023–2024 academic year, she is the Khyentse Visitor in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan.

Co-Director - Center for Trauma & Embodiment

Jenn Turner, LMHC, TCTSY-F

Jenn has had the honor of working with survivors of trauma for all of her career. Along with working in private practice as a trauma-informed therapist, Jenn is the Co-Director of the Center for Trauma and Embodiment where she works to oversee training and supports the development of body-first interventions for healing from trauma. Jenn also leads trainings in Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) throughout the U.S, provides consultation to organizations on how to become more trauma informed at all levels. In 2021, Jenn edited the book Embodied Healing: Survivor and Facilitator voices from the practice of Trauma Sensitive Yoga.

Licensed Psychologist, Mental Health Counselor, Author, & Adjunct Professor at Columbia University

Dr. Debbie Joffe Ellis

Dr Debbie Joffe Ellis was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia. New York City has been her home base for the past two decades. She is a licensed psychologist (Australia), licensed mental health counselor (New York), presenter, writer and adjunct professor at Columbia University in New York City where she teaches Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and Comparative Psychotherapies. For years she worked with her husband, the brilliant and renowned pioneer of modern cognitive therapies: Dr Albert Ellis, giving public presentations and professional trainings in his approach of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), as well as collaborating with him on writing and research projects until his death in 2007. She is recognized as a world-renowned expert on REBT, and regularly presents, throughout the USA and in countries around the world, to students, academics, practitioners in the helping professions, and to members of the general public. She wrote the second edition of the book Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (published 2019) that she co-wrote with her husband in its first edition. She is also featured in a DVD produced by the American Psychological Association (APA) demonstrating and discussing the REBT approach. She has written chapters for various text books, articles, and has reviewed publications for APA’s PsycCritiques Journal.

In 2014 she was named “Legend in Counseling” at the American Counseling Association annual conference, and has received various other awards and acknowledgments for her work. In 2023 she was nominated by former American Psychological Association President, Dr Frank Farley, and renowned psychologist and author, Dr Stanley Krippner, to receive the American Psychological Association’s International Division’s “Global Citizen Award”. She joyfully and passionately continues her mission of informing as many people as possible – through her presentations, teaching, writing, and the ways she strives to ‘walk her talk’ – that each one of us has the power to create our emotional destinies despite and including challenging circumstances, and through teaching the ‘how-to’s’ of doing so!

Nationally Renowned Poet, Storyteller, Educator & Entrepreneur

Tucker Bryant

After spending a decade alongside world-class innovators at institutions like Stanford and Google, Tucker Bryant discovered an unexpected solution to help people confront an uncertain future with confidence — the outlook of a poet. As a nationally renowned poet himself, Bryant shows audiences how to unshackle themselves from their comfort zones and enhance creativity, collaboration, and authenticity in our lives and in the lives of the people we serve. Audiences will leave equipped with the tools to build a culture of creative disruption and bold exploration.

Bryant is an entrepreneur and innovation strategist. After nurturing his craft at Stanford University, he went on to become a lead product marketing manager at Google. This was where he discovered the potential of applying creative tools that poets have relied on for millennia to help drive personal exploration and growth.

Bryant’s innovative keynotes blend poetic storytelling with insights that will be tailored to our mental health audience. His performances have garnered millions of views online and been featured at TEDx and in The New York Times. Bryant has shared the stage with such influential individuals as Mark Cuban, Bill Belichick, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and Mel Robbins, as well as governors and executives from scores of Fortune 500 companies.

Award Winning American Singer & Songwriter

Chase Bryant

“This is my shot at redemption,” says Chase Bryant. “This is the second chance I never thought I’d have.”

In fact, by all objective measures, Chase Bryant shouldn’t be here right now, and yet he’s never sounded more alive, more vital, more himself than he does on his extraordinary new album, ‘Upbringing.’ Recorded in the aftermath of a season of darkness and despair, the record is a searing, honest portrait of struggle and resilience from a songwriter finally learning to love and trust himself, flaws and all. Though the journey to this moment nearly put him in the grave, Bryant’s stronger now for his struggles, with a clear head, an open heart, and a remarkable full-length debut to show for it. Some may call it a comeback, but truth be told, it’s really more like a homecoming.

Born and raised in rural Orange Grove, Bryant grew up dreaming of a life in music, inspired in part by his grandfather, who performed with Roy Orbison and Waylon Jennings, and his uncles, who co-founded the chart-topping band Ricochet. Those dreams came true faster than Bryant could have anticipated, though, and fame and success arrived with a hefty price. By 21, he already had two Top 10 singles and tours with the likes of Brantley Gilbert and Tim McGraw under his belt, but it all felt inauthentic, like he was playing a character with expectations he could never live up to. The harder he pushed back, the worse things got, and soon, Bryant barely recognized the man he saw in the mirror.

“I was a very confused individual,” he confesses. “I was cocky. I was arrogant, I was sick. And that led me down a pretty dark hole.” Rock bottom came in a gas station parking lot, when Bryant’s anxiety and depression led him to put a loaded .357 revolver to his head. When no sign arrived from above, Bryant screamed that he was sorry and pulled the trigger. He opened his eyes a few moments later, certain he was dead and waking up on some alternate plane of existence only to realize that something miraculous had happened, that he was somehow still alive. Opening the cylinder on the revolver, he found only five bullets instead of the six he was sure he’d loaded. The empty chamber had spared his life.

And so Bryant began the long and arduous road to recovery, checking into a mental rehabilitation center and enrolling in intensive therapy. He spent the next several years facing his demons head on, learning to be comfortable in his own skin, to make peace with being alone, to be okay with not being okay all the time. In search of perspective, he eventually left Nashville altogether, moving back to Texas and purchasing an old ranch house that had been in his family since the 1960s. There, far removed from the trappings of the music industry and all the baggage that came with it, Bryant felt a weightlessness he hadn’t experienced since childhood, a release from the pressure and expectation that had dogged him ever since he landed his first record deal at the age of 15. With the floodgates open, Bryant entered one of the most prolific creative periods of his life. This time around, though, he wasn’t writing for the radio or the charts; he was writing for himself and anyone else who needed to hear what he had to say.

“I wanted to be that empty chamber for somebody else,” Bryant explains. “I wanted to help people realize that they’re not alone in this fight, that somebody’s out there listening and has their back.”

Clinical Coordinator and Therapist - Cirque Lodge

Aaron Olson, CMHC, SUDC

Aaron has been with Cirque Lodge since 2009 and has more than 25 years of experience working in the behavioral health field, including time working with the juvenile justice system, inpatient psychiatry, and community mental health. He has specialized in substance use issues and has worked in the residential, outpatient, and intensive outpatient levels of care.

Aaron utilizes an eclectic approach to treatment with a strong foundation in rational emotive behavioral therapy, family systems therapy, and contextual therapy. He has a significant interest in understanding the impact of transgenerational trauma on families and has lectured around the country on this topic.

As the clinical coordinator for the lodge, Aaron oversees the overall clinical experience of residents while carrying a caseload and supervising the other clinical staff. Aaron is a member of the faculty at the University of Utah, College of Social Work, teaching in the Substance Abuse Counseling Program.

Co-Founder & CEO of the Center for Motivation & Change, Licensed Psychologist, Clinical Research Scientist, & Award Winning Author

Jeffrey Foote, Ph.D.

Jeff Foote, PhD is a psychologist and nationally-recognized clinical research scientist with over 30 years of experience utilizing evidence-based treatment approaches for the treatment of substance use issues and Post-traumatic Stress.

Dr. Foote is the Co-President and CEO of the CMC:Foundation for Change (CMC:FFC), 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:FFC team’s Invitation to Change approach is an accessible set of understandings and practices that empower families to remain engaged and be effective in helping their struggling loved one make positive changes. The approach has been widely used across the country and is utilized in trainings with laypeople and professionals. He 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), and co-author of The Beyond Addiction Workbook for Family and Friends: Evidence-Based Skills to Help a Loved-One Make Positive Change.

He is also the Co-Founder of the Center for Motivation and Change (CMC) outpatient programs in NYC, Long Island, Washington, DC, and San Diego, CA, and the residential program CMC:Berkshires in Western Massachusetts.

Dr. Foote was a psychologist for the NY Mets for 11 years and has continued 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 and Senior Research Associate at The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) in NYC. From 1994 to 2001, Dr. Foote served as Chief of the Smithers Addiction Treatment and Research Center and Director of Evaluation and Research. Dr. Foote is a member of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies and the American Association of Addiction Psychiatrists.