About
Four nights a week I take crisis calls and chats for Protocall Services, a 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline network partner serving New Mexico. The rest of the time I study behavioral treatments for depression. I finished an M.S. in clinical/counseling psychology at New Mexico Highlands University in July 2026; my thesis tested a brief, outdoor mindfulness-based behavioral activation intervention for college students.
The Path Here
I came to clinical work from journalism, and the two are closer than they look. Both start with listening to someone you don’t know, figuring out the next honest move, and getting it right. Journalism taught me the deadline part. Clinical work taught me what to do when there’s no deadline and someone is falling apart anyway.
What I Do
Crisis work. Phone and chat triage, intervention, and referral on 988-network lines, Friday through Monday nights. Mostly ACT and behavioral activation.
Research. Behavioral treatments for depression, and the measurement that makes them testable. Two threads run through it: how people become the agents of their own moral lives, and what helps when that process stalls. My thesis tested a brief, outdoor mindfulness-based behavioral activation intervention. A course paper called “Is It Right to Rebel?” argued that adolescent rebellion is adolescence becoming a moral agent, not a phase to survive. Details on the Research page.
Writing. Essays on the blog. Before clinical work, journalism: city reporter at the Rio Grande Sun, calendar and copy editor at the Santa Fe Reporter.
Background
Clinical training. Crisis intervention, ACT, behavioral activation. Graduate work in psychometrics, psychological assessment, and longitudinal methods at New Mexico Highlands University.
Journalism. City reporting, copyediting, culture writing. Local politics, food, arts at the Rio Grande Sun and the Santa Fe Reporter.
St. John’s College. B.A. in philosophy from the Great Books program. Close reading, Socratic dialogue, and a senior paper that turned Spinoza’s Ethics into an argument about what makes a self.
Teaching
Graduate assistant and TA across five New Mexico Highlands courses and labs: Memory and Cognition, Undergraduate Research Methods, a First-Year Learning Community, the Human Connections Lab, and a neuroanatomy tutorial. Also tutored at Breakthrough Santa Fe.
Also True
- I sit zazen, Sōtō Zen; a student rather than a teacher.
- I read Spinoza, Beck, Dōgen, and Skinner, roughly in that order.
- Eagle Scout, once. Co-founder of Walk the Talk Santa Fe.
Papers & Talks
A book chapter accepted, a systematic review in preparation, and conference presentations at the Southwest and Rocky Mountain Psychological Associations. Full list on the CV page.
Current Status
- Location. Albuquerque, New Mexico.
- Open to. Behavioral-health research, mental-health technology, clinical data, and science communication roles.
Contact
cole@cole.press. Email is best. I check it when I’m not on crisis lines.
Career Timeline
2015–2019
St. John’s College, Santa Fe B.A. Philosophy
Great Books program: close reading, Socratic dialogue, ancient Greek. Senior paper on Spinoza’s Ethics.
2015–2021
Journalism City Reporter · Copy Editor
Editorial intern and calendar editor at the Santa Fe Reporter; city reporter at the Rio Grande Sun. Local politics, food, arts. Accuracy under a deadline.
2022–2026
New Mexico Highlands University M.S. Clinical/Counseling Psychology
Psychometrics, psychological assessment, EEG research; clinical internships at Counseling ABQ and NMBHI. Degree conferred July 2026.
2025–present
Protocall Services, 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Crisis & Access Specialist
High-acuity phone and chat triage and intervention, Friday–Monday nights.