198. An Engineer's Guide to Thoughts and Emotions (ft. Alison West and Audrey Gilfillan)

11/7/2025

In this episode, Claire is joined by Audrey Gilfillan and Alison West, licensed professional counselors and embedded therapists in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at CU Boulder. Together, they bring extensive experience in college mental health, academic and career support, and community-based counseling. Audrey and Alison are co-authors of Decompile Your Mind: An Engineer’s Guide to Thoughts and Emotions and co-founders of Applied Wellness Initiatives, where they help educators, managers, and professionals integrate mental health awareness into their work and academic communities. Their shared passion is supporting young adults as they balance personal well-being with academic and professional goals in a fast-changing world.

Audrey Gilfallan

Alison West

About Audrey: Audrey Gilfillan is a licensed professional counselor and works as an Embedded Therapist in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder. With a background in academic coaching, career counseling, and college mental health, Audrey specializes supporting college students as they navigate the intersection of their academic goals and mental health.

About Alison: Alison West is a licensed professional counselor and addiction specialist who also works as an Embedded Therapist in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at CU Boulder. Prior to working in higher education, Alison worked in community mental health, providing direct support through ongoing therapy, crisis response, and case management. Alison is passionate about supporting young adults as they navigate the challenges of an ever-changing world.

About Applied Wellness Initiatives: At Applied Wellness Initiatives, Gilfillan and West translate emotional wellness into a language that resonates with engineers—using logic-based explanations, engineering examples, and applicable tools and processes. They offer emotional intelligence workshops, support for managers as they support their employees, engineering performance coaching, and their book - Decompile Your Mind - to help engineers and engineering teams improve performance, stay longer, and feel better.

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Links from the Show:

Resources Mentioned

• Decompile Your Mind: An Engineer’s Guide to Thoughts and Emotions (book)

• Scaffolded Mental Health Support Model (article)

• Applied Health Initiatives

• Email us your questions!

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