How do you engage with clients who are using marijuana heavily, but not interested in treatment? This webinar will focus on the Check-Up model of intervention designed to attract voluntary participation from non-treatment seeking marijuana users. The elements of the intervention will be described with a focus on topics of conversation utilized to enhance motivation to change marijuana use.

About the presenter: Denise Walker, PhD is a Research Associate Professor at the University of Washington, Director of the Innovative Programs Research Group, and a licensed clinical psychologist. A main area of her research expertise is on the development and evaluation of interventions for marijuana disorders for both adults and adolescents, utilizing brief interventions (Motivational Enhancement Therapy, MET), longer courses of treatment (MET+CBT), and, more recently, aftercare. She has been involved in the development and evaluation of the Teen Marijuana Check-Up (TMCU), a school-based intervention to elicit self-referral by heavy using adolescents. The TMCU has been the focus of five clinical trials and is identified as an “Evidence Based” intervention on the NREPP. Another focus of her work is on adapting the Check-Up model for other high risk populations including active duty military with an alcohol disorder, active duty military with untreated PTSD, domestic violence perpetrators.