Julie Tennille

Associate Professor

Dr. Julie Tennille is an Associate Professor at West Chester University in the Graduate Department of Social Work and a member of the international Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers. She has taught across the graduate practice curriculum for over 20 years and presently teaches a 5-day elective course on Motivational Interviewing (MI). Dr. Tennille has worked in direct practice, services research, and administration in public mental health and HIV/AIDS services for over 25 years. In 2011, as part of a research study, Dr. Tennille was trained to deliver MI in emergency room settings with women who were experiencing problem drinking and intimate partner violence. This experience led to a renewed interest in MI as an evidence-based practice consonant with social work values and traditions. Dr. Tennille continues to explore MI connections via her research projects and is invited to provide numerous MI workshops to a variety of health provider types. She has published several articles on Field Instructors Extending EBP Learning in Dyads (FIELD), an MI infused teaching intervention, aimed at synchronizing evidence-based practice competencies among field instructors and their social work students. In collaboration with the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion, Dr. Tennille has developed a training toolkit for mental health providers toward enhancing their ability to have discussions with clients about sexuality, intimacy, and dating.