Your employer signs you up for a Motivational Interviewing (MI) training or you just attend since you are intrigued by what you have heard about this language and its efficacy with behavior change. You learn one of the key skills of MI – complex reflections – which adds meaning to a client’s words. You may […]
If you could be a fly on the wall, what would you like to hear your client reveal to their friends about your session with them? Do you want to be seen as helpful and empathetic or someone who was trying to fix their situation? In Motivational Interviewing we call this the “righting reflex.” Bern Williams […]
Our world is rapidly changing, and people are feeling vulnerable, scarred and wondering about the future. What is the most good we can do in the little time that we have with clients, especially with the new social distancing? What happens between us and our clients will be something that will carry on for that […]
You are sitting across from a client who looks depressed, doesn’t have much energy and is not sure if their life is worth participating in. Sound familiar? Are they motivated or not? How do you unpack whatever motivation is there? If someone is alive and breathing in front of you there is some level of optimism […]
We are trained as professionals to see and pay attention to what’s wrong and help with change. Unfortunately this way of being can actually make clients less likely to change. In the spirit of Motivational Interviewing we are instead paying close attention to what a client is striving for their strengths, efforts and values – […]