| This week we dig into the concept of motivational interviewing. This concept was created by clinical psychologists, William R. Miller and Stephen Rollnick. Again, is it a client centric approach which puts the client at the centre of the process. The are 4 key stages to the process and there are 5 key principles to live by when doing it. Let’s start with the 5 principles then work through the different steps which must be done in order to get the best outcome. Those principles are: |  |
- Empathy – this must be expressed without judgment of the clients
- Develop a discrepancy (if there is one) between the client’s goals and their values or current behaviour as this unfolds it will help them see why they may not be hitting their goals currently.
- Avoid judgement and direct confrontation – this is a gentle process one which apportions no blame and sees everything through the client's eyes
- Adjust to client resistance rather than opposing it head on, when clients try to squirm or resist identifying the truth then we must use a different technique
- Support self-efficacy and optimism – once the client believes in their own abilities half the battle is won.
Now onto those 4 key stages of the actual interviewing process.
4 Stages - MI Inspired Questions
1. Engaging – we must build rapport before we start talking motivation and goals .e.g. what brings you in today, what were you hoping to get out of the session, what changes if any are you interested in making
2. Focusing – What topics are you interested in discussing today? If it’s ok with you I have soime suggestions that may work?
3. Evoking – Why did you select that particular change? What are your reasons for making that change? What barriers to change might there be? How interested are you in making that change on a scale of 0-10?
4. Planning – How might you go about making that change? How ready are you? How important is this to you? How confident are you….? Would you be interested in hearing other strategies?
You can see how this is s journey towards the action points that should arrive in the planning stage but there can’t be a short cut otherwise you miss some key thinking points for the client to work tough in getting to the answer they need to be successful It’s a process but an important one which requires patience on your part.
If you’d like some practice in this technique feel free to reach out and we can plan a time.
Bring all your tricky clients issues with you!!
2. Focusing – What topics are you interested in discussing today? If it’s ok with you I have soime suggestions that may work?
3. Evoking – Why did you select that particular change? What are your reasons for making that change? What barriers to change might there be? How interested are you in making that change on a scale of 0-10?
4. Planning – How might you go about making that change? How ready are you? How important is this to you? How confident are you….? Would you be interested in hearing other strategies?
You can see how this is s journey towards the action points that should arrive in the planning stage but there can’t be a short cut otherwise you miss some key thinking points for the client to work tough in getting to the answer they need to be successful It’s a process but an important one which requires patience on your part.
If you’d like some practice in this technique feel free to reach out and we can plan a time.
Bring all your tricky clients issues with you!!
