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.
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.
Andrew Turner, DMin, BCC, ACPE Certified Educator, serves as a National Program Coordinator with the VA National Chaplain Service. Formerly Chief Chaplain at the VA Portland HCS, Andrew now works with chaplains nationwide in professional development contexts wherein ACT, Motivational Interviewing, and PST influences all continue to inform his practice. Chaplain Turner is a third-generation Veteran and a MHICS and VDS alum.
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.
Joe White, DMin, BCC-MH, serves as staff chaplain at the Lexington VAHCS spending much of his time in the Acute Care Mental Health Unit and Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Program. ACT, Motivational Interviewing, and PST inform his care through the healthcare center. Chaplain White is a proud alum of MHICS and the Vanderbilt DMin program and is a third-generation veteran, having served both as an enlisted soldier and an officer, and has retired from the Army Reserves after 21 years.
Nicole Tota, DMin, BCC-MH, serves as a staff chaplain at the Greenville/Durham VAHCS. Chaplain Tota is a MHICS and VDS alumna, class of 2023. Her passion is creating spiritual community and connection which informed her doctoral paper focusing on contemplative practices as a tool for spiritual connection within the SMI veteran population. ACT, Motivational Interviewing, and PST have informed her work navigating places of spiritual crisis and isolation through her VA career at the Maryland VA HCS, Sioux Falls VA HCS and currently the Durham VAHCS.
To read about the Vanderbilt faculty, view the Faculty Directory in the menu on the Vanderbilt Divinity School DMin website.
