Welcome to the combined April/May edition of Tips and Topics. This edition starts the 24th year of publishing Tips and Topics. Why a combined April/May edition?

• Firstly, guest writer Kristin Dempsey has presented a lot of important information that deserves your thoughtful attention.

• She agreed to step in since I was returning from three weeks away in Japan and it would have been a squeeze for me to rustle up the April edition.

• Then I realized I am off to the Greek Islands in just over two weeks, leaving a short window to get out the May edition.

So it is fitting that we all “win” to allow you time to digest Kristin’s comprehensive information and for me to ease into the next joyful event of living the life of retirement.

In SAVVY, Kristin shares tips on the constant construction of Motivational Interviewing (MI) skills so she talks of Advancing MI, not Advanced MI; the usefulness of the Four Tasks of MI as a map; and if the session is not going well, first check your own agenda.

In SKILLS, Kristin writes about the importance of creating psychological safety for clients; of changing our perspective as helpers that can make a difference in how we approach our work; and getting curious about what creates a client’s stuckness.

In SOUL, Kristin selected one of her favorite attitudes that support MI, and her choice was curiosity. She defines curiosity as the wonder that comes from an ongoing desire to learn, which typically requires that we are open and flexible.

In my SOUL section, I remind myself and you as to why I started Tips and Topics 23 years ago. Whether you are a longtime reader or new to Tips and Topics, the mission hasn’t changed. I remain a resource for your questions or comments on person-centered services.

Welcome to the March edition of Tips and Topics.

In SAVVY, parents of older teens face dilemmas on what to do with their children who don’t want to go to school. Stage of change work and motivational interviewing can help. But should parents just allow their child to drop out of school and turn their focus to preparing their teen for adulthood and self support?

In SKILLS, two case examples illustrate the questions and decisions parents and teachers face on how to proceed with soon-to-be-adult teens who don’t want to go to school or who want to drop out. How two families dealt with the situation.

In SOUL, for children of any age and for anyone who is still working to make a living, become an effective learner and builder. In the rapidly changing era of AI, the career you are training for or already working in could well morph into something unrecognizable or even disappear.

 

Welcome to the February edition of Tips and Topics.

In SAVVY AND SKILLS, my son Taylor shares his reflections on where he and his sisters are seven years after losing their mother. They allowed their lives to be reconstituted around a new north star: Die Smiling. I highlight three tips that arose as I observed the process of three siblings creating a business together.

In SOUL, since I want to live a long, healthy, active life, this article excerpt caught my eye: “Your relationships have a huge impact on biological aging...” My grief update is that I am not stuck in paralyzed lonely grief.  To the contrary, I am thriving with a second chance to craft what life partnership means in body, mind and soul.

 

Welcome to the January edition of Tips and Topics and a joyful, healthy 2026.

In SAVVY, I am always on the lookout for research and studies that compare and contrast medications with other helping methods and techniques. Three SAVVY Tips on research that does just that for depression, opioid withdrawal and dementia.

In SKILLS, Tips that can help you think about your New Year’s resolutions; what to do in tense family gatherings or any situation where conflict might arise about politics and religion; and how to deal with uncertainty and its related anxiety and depression.

In SOUL, did you know that on a cellular level, we are re-making ourselves every moment of every day? By 2027, you will have lost and replaced a mass of cells equal to your entire body weight. I was surprised and heartened by some biological facts in the January 1, 2026 edition of Science Friday.

Welcome to the December edition of Tips and Topics. Wishing you a healthy, happy holiday season.

In SAVVY, Angela Haupt wrote about “5 phrases that drive therapists up a wall.” Clients demonstrate a variety of issues that become the work of therapy. I organized those phrases under three SAVVY tips.

In SKILLS, I wrote 20 years ago about how to develop a truly participatory treatment plan, one most likely to succeed in being followed. Exploring the “what, why, how, where and when” with a client focuses on how to develop the Treatment Contract.

In SOUL, I address issues relevant to paying a fee for therapy. It is an investment in the current process of therapy and in the future wellbeing it can bring. If you are a therapist, counselor or coach, the personal work you do sharpens your effectiveness for the good of your therapy clients.

Welcome to the November edition of Tips and Topics.

In SAVVY and SKILLS, pay attention to the services, systems, policies and staff that can advance ten recommendations from a paper “Clinical Considerations for Engagement and Retention of Nonabstinent Patients in Care” published in the latest edition of the Journal of Addiction Medicine.

In SOUL, when I looked at the speakers’ list for an upcoming conference at which I had previously presented a keynote, there was a momentary tinge of nostalgia for those speaking days. But with papers like the one in this month’s Tips and Topics, I am reassured that the younger generation has “got this.”  What I long advocated for in addiction treatment systems is in good hands.

Welcome to the October edition of Tips and Topics.

In SAVVY, Dr. Mike McGee, psychiatrist, shares thoughts on what is a good formulation and explains some of his Formulation “C’s”: Clinicians Collaboratively and Curiously Co-creating a Comprehensive, Compassionate, Coherent, Chronicle of a Client’s life and their Current and past Conditions, Concerns, Capacities, and their Conception of a better life.

In SKILLS, Mike continues with tips on what it looks like to have "Clinicians Collaboratively” work with clients; to be "Curiously Co-creating;” and how to cultivate and maintain, in the busyness of work demands, the attitudes and values to live the Formulation “C’s.”

In SOUL, Ellen Eatough, MA poses one question to help you quickly discern if someone has the emotional depth for a truly fulfilling partnership or friendship. “Pay attention not just to what they say, but how they say it. Humility combined with self-awareness is the sweet spot.” 

Welcome to the September edition of Tips and Topics.

In SAVVY, I offer antidotes to workaholism and the drive for productivity; to rampant and growing income inequality; and to political divisions and polar opposite visions for America.

In SKILLS, what does it mean to be a “mountain person” versus a “beach person”? There is value in each type. We don’t have to divide ourselves into mountain people and beach people. We need both. And if we’re lucky, we get to be both.

In SOUL, why it’s hard to give a simple heartfelt apology to those we offend. It takes a lot of trust - not trust in the person offended, but trust in yourself that you are a good person who wouldn’t intentionally be hurtful. When that trust is living in you, there is no need for defensive explanations and complaints.

 

Welcome to the August edition of Tips and Topics.

In SAVVY, Alice Walton, the world’s richest woman opened a medical school in Bentonville, Arkansas. At the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine (AWSOM), “they will get all the science and disease knowledge they need to manage the ‘sick-care’ side of things,” Walton says. But “I wanted to create a school that really gives doctors the ability to focus on how to keep their patients healthy.”

In SKILLS, the new medical students are being trained in skills not emphasized in traditional medical schools. Besides learning the SKILLS of traditional medicine, they will have nutrition-related training and opportunities to integrate high-tech tools to improve home-based care and address health care gaps.

In SOUL, changing values, beliefs and behaviors on an individual level is hard enough. But doing that at a systems level is even more difficult. Add in financial incentives to keep the current system cemented in and it almost seems like an impossible dream. Bright-eyed, enthusiastic, new medical students have their chance at “changing the world” and Alice Walton is kick-starting the process.

 

Volume 23, No. 4 July 2025

Welcome to the July edition of Tips and Topics.

In SAVVY, I share excerpts from the farewell speeches of the CEO and Clinical Director of
an agency with which I consulted since 1998. In our work together, here are some TIPS
about Supervision and Mission and Values.

In SKILLS, some TIPS on skills to provide person-centered services inspired by the farewell speeches ending my 27 years of work with the National Center for Advocacy and Recovery (NCAAR).

In SOUL, cute stories on chance meetups and what it’s like to be in the honeymoon of retirement. There will be a time when my legacy will live on in the work of people who never knew me and would rightly say, “Dr. Who???”