Verna Burden, MS, RD
Motivational Interviewing Trainer and Consultant
[email protected]
Verna Burden provides curriculum development and training for the Clinical Health Coach® Training Program in facilitating behavior change with a specific focus on Motivational Interviewing (MI).
Currently, Verna works with a variety of organizations on utilizing Motivational Interviewing to support health behavior change. She started out as a health coach in 2001 and in that same year attended her first Motivational Interviewing (MI) training. This was the beginning of a significant career shift for Verna. The patient empowering approach of MI hit a strong cord in her. She joined the international Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers in 2006. Since that time she has utilized MI as a manager, educator, trainer and consultant. Alongside training to improve the one-to-one health coaching conversations, Verna consults with organizations on opportunities to implement a more fully patient empowering approach in every aspect of their systems.
Verna received her MS in Nutrition degree from the University of Georgia where her research focused on the relationship between extreme exercise and food intake.