What you Say MATTERS
Do you frequently come home tired? Do you wish your conversations felt more serene?
Ever wonder how you can truly make a difference in your clients’ lives without having to try so hard?
I’m here to argue that Motivational Interviewing can save you energy, time and shift the conversation towards change.
What you say REALLY does matter!
A small change in what you say will lead to either discord, sustain or change talk as we refer to it in Motivational Interviewing.
Giving advice, interrupting or contradicting a client will likely to lead to discord, where the client is arguing back or giving reasons why they cannot do what you are suggesting.
Making simple reflections of what you hear or just mirroring your client’s speech is likely to lead to sustain talk or status quo conversations.
Reflecting the meaning or back story of what your client is saying or using complex reflections is a way to generate or evoke change talk in your clients. Change talk is when the client is arguing for change versus the clinician. Reflecting change talk creates momentum in the conversation towards change.
Learning MI is a language that takes time but even small shifts in what you say can give you energy and joy in knowing you made a difference in the world with changing lives.
