Healthcare Services.

An accomplished speaker, therapist and consultant, Elizabeth brings years of experience helping a wide array of healthcare entities advance toward their goals, and strengthen the human connections in care provision.

Elizabeth has over a decade of experience in developing effective and sustainable Integrated Behavioral Health (IBH) services, both in primary care organizations as well as within health plans. She is an expert Motivational Interviewing Trainer, and provides research-based training in MI and other empathy-based communications for healthcare professionals. She has successfully worked with MediCal health plans in California, leading integration and complex care initiatives in their provider network, as well as providing interactive, evidenced-based communication learning and development activities.

Elizabeth and her team have a strength-based philosophy that informs their approach to organizational consultation. They strives to understand each organization’s unique purpose, culture and experience, and collaboratively develop evidence-based strategies, tailored to meet the goals of each organization. The core principle of facilitating, supporting and elevating the human connection in healthcare provision is central to EMConsulting’s strategy.

Influential in her field, Elizabeth wrote the first widely distributed ‘how to’ manual on IBH services, was a mentor for grantees in one of the earliest and most successful IBH initiatives, the Integrated Behavioral Health Project and co-led the Blue Shield of California Foundation’s Integrated Care Learning Community.  

She has also served on integrated care advisory boards for the California Primary Care Association and the UCSF School of Medicine.   Elizabeth has advanced the empathy-based care discourse,  developing original workshops on empathic communication for the Institute for Healthcare Communication., as well as other original resources and tools to support empathic care environments and practices.

Elizabeth has a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Penn State University, a Master’s Degree in Social Welfare from University of California Los Angeles, and a Doctorate in Social Psychology from Blanquerna University in Barcelona, Spain. As a practicing clinician for over 25 years, she continues to see patients in integrated settings, maintaining an on-the-ground perspective of what works in practice.