Highest Degree:
Ph.D. in Family Therapy from Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Other Credentials:
Clinical Member, AAMFT; Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist; Approved Supervisor, AAMFT

Teaching interests:
Client-directed, outcome informed approaches to change; historical and political contexts of family therapy; working with families in natural environments; transforming systems of care to privilege client goals and preferences.

Scholarly and creative interests:
Outcome Rating Scale (ORS), Session Rating Scale (SRS), and Child Outcome Rating Scale (CORS) validation projects. Monitoring client feedback to inform therapy.

Outcome Rating Scale (ORS), Session Rating Scale (SRS), and Child Outcome Rating Scale (CORS) validation projects. Monitoring client feedback to inform therapy.

Co-founder of heroicagenices.org, an international network promoting client direction in mental health practice.

Family Violence Research (VOICES)—Grant from Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Family therapy and mediation in the resolution of family violence.

The Ethics and Science of Medicating Children. Critical examination of medical approaches to the resolution of child and adolescent distress.

Dissertation: Media Madness: The Social Construction of Mental Illness in Popular Culture.

Selected Publications (2000 to present):
Sparks, J., & Duncan, B. (2004). The ethics and science of medicating children. Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 6(1), 25-40.

Duncan, B., Miller, S., & Sparks, J. (2004). The heroic client: A revolutionary way to improve effectiveness through client-directed, outcome-informed therapy. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Duncan, B. & Sparks, J. (2003). Heroic clients, heroic agencies: Partners for change, Revised. Chicago: ISTC Press.

Duncan, B. L., Miller, S. D., & Sparks, J. A. (2003). Interactional and solution-focused brief therapies: Evolving concepts of relationship and change. In T. Sexton, G. Weeks, & M. Robbins (Eds.), Handbook of Family Therapy, 3^rd ed., Brunner/Mazel: New York.

Sparks, J. A. (2002). Taking a stand: An adolescent girl’s resistance to medication. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 28 (1), 27-38.

Sparks, J. A. (2002). Taking a stand: Challenging medical discourse. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 28 (1), 51-59.

Sparks, J. A. (2000). The deconstruction of magic: Rereading, rethinking Erickson. Family Process, 39 (3), 307-318.

Links:
http://www.aamft.org/, http://www.talkingcure.com/, http://heroicagencies.org/