Jeffrey Morris

Jeffrey Morris is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), a Certified Forensic Mental Health Evaluator (CFMHE) and a current doctoral student at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin.

Jeffrey earned his Master of Social Work (MSW) from The University of Michigan in 2018, with a concentration in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment. While at Michigan, he worked as a HRSA Integrated Health Scholar, providing individual and group therapy in low-income communities throughout Detroit, MI. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience from Washington University in St. Louis. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer for two years as a Community Health Promotor in Guyana, South America, where he developed country-wide harm reduction initiatives aimed at reducing overdose death among Guyanese youth.

Jeffrey recently worked as the Lead Specialist in Addiction-Co-Occurring Disorders at Tulane University, where he practiced translational research to develop trauma-informed, strengths-based interventions that reduce health disparities for college students. He implemented psychoeducational programs and group therapy interventions for undergraduate and graduate students, including an alcohol literacy course for at-risk drinkers who identified as a sexual or gender minority.

Jeffrey has extensive experience working in residential, partial hospital, and outpatient settings for both mental health and addiction, providing individual, group, and family therapy. He specializes in treating substance use disorders and behavioral addiction through culturally sensitive, integrative, and evidence-based approaches.

Jeffrey’s research interests focus on improving care and promoting healthy outcomes for individuals facing co-occurring mental health and substance use challenges, particularly those affected by trauma and adversity. His work explores the relationship between social factors and substance misuse, especially among emerging adults. Jeffrey’s research emphasizes community-based participatory methods and implementation science to study the protective effects of sociocultural factors and peer-led therapeutic communities on individuals struggling with substance abuse. He is committed to addressing health inequalities experienced by people who use drugs (PWUD) and enhancing long-term recovery for those battling all forms of addiction. He is working under the mentorship of Dr. Kirk Von Sternberg, studying the effectiveness of behavior change interventions, particularly those based on the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) and Motivational Interviewing (MI).