The Integrative Mental Health instructional team anchors the first three semesters (i.e., the MHICS portion) of the Integrative Chaplaincy DMin. The team brings diverse identities (as mental health professionals and chaplains) and experiences (in clinical, research, and educational settings) to help foster a highly interactive training experience.
Mental Health Instructors
Keith Meador, MD, ThM, MPH, is a psychiatrist and practical theologian who founded Integrative Mental Health (initially Mental Health and Chaplaincy) for VA in 2008. He has been at Vanderbilt University since 2010, serving as Director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society along with holding faculty appointments in the School of Medicine and Divinity School. Dr. Meador provides programmatic leadership and instruction for the Integrative Chaplaincy DMin.
Jen Wortmann, PhD, is a clinical psychologist who has worked with Integrative Mental Health since 2016. She provides instruction, guidance, and consultation with students as part of the Integrative Chaplaincy DMin, facilitating practicum groups with chaplain coaches and evaluating coursework.
Jason Nieuwsma, PhD, is a clinical psychologist who has worked with Integrative Mental Health since its inception in 2009 and played a substantial role in the initial development of the MHICS curriculum and development into a DMin offering. He provides instruction, guidance, and consultation with students as part of the Integrative Chaplaincy DMin.
Chaplain Coaches
Chaplain coaches interact with subsets of students in the Integrative Chaplaincy DMin through co-facilitation of practicum consultation groups.
Paul Dordal, DMin, BCC-MH, serves as the Chief, Chaplain Service at VA Pittsburgh HCS and served as an Army Chaplain from 2008 to 2015. Chaplain Dordal is a MHICS alum and has extensive clinical experience integrating principles and practices from ACT and PST in his spiritual care, including co-facilitated PST groups.
Valerie Sanders, DMin, LMFT, serves as a mental health chaplain at the Atlanta VAHCS. Chaplain Sanders is a MHICS alum and has extensive clinical experience integrating principles and practices from ACT and Motivational Interviewing in her spiritual care and educating CPE students in principles and practices of ACT and Motivational Interviewing.
Brynn White, MDiv, BCC-MH, is a 2016 MHICS alum who serves as Acting Chief, Chaplain Service at the Coatesville VA Medical Center in Pennsylvania. She embodies and integrates principles and practices from ACT and Motivational Interviewing into her spiritual care and is passionate about making spiritual space for Veterans who do not consider themselves “traditional,” “orthodox,” or “religious.”
Robin D. Booth, DMin, ACPE Certified Educator, BCC, serves as the Director of Clinical Pastoral Education at the VA North Texas Health Care System. Chaplain Booth is a MHICS alum and integrates ACT and Motivational Interviewing principles into his spiritual care and educational offerings to students. He is an instructor at UT Southwest Medical School and offers a course on spirituality and mental health for Psychiatric Residents.
Jim Duke, DMin, BCC, ACPE Certified Educator, serves as the Director of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center. He served as an Army Chaplain from 1989 to 2015 and continues to serve as a CPE Educator for the US Army. Chaplain Duke is a MHICS alum and integrates Motivational Interviewing into his spiritual care regularly; he also brings ACT and PST to bear in his care and in his educational offerings to CPE students.
To read about the Vanderbilt faculty, view the Faculty Directory in the menu on the Vanderbilt Divinity School DMin website.
