Introduction to Motivational Interviewing (MI)
Overview
- Presenter: Dr. Bill Matulak, Clinical Psychologist and MI Trainer
- Purpose: Introduction to motivational interviewing concepts
- Definition: MI is an effective method of discussing change with individuals, evidence-based with over 1,200 publications.
Importance of MI
- People may not naturally change even with information and advice.
- Change is often slow, difficult, and involves various life decisions across different stages.
Challenges in Change
- Difficulty is not merely due to lack of information, laziness, or resistance.
- Ambivalence is a key issue: wanting and not wanting change simultaneously.
- Ambivalence causes anxiety and procrastination.
- Misinterpreted as resistance by counselors.
How MI Helps
- Resolves ambivalence.
- Elicits a person's own motivation and reasons for change.
Spirit of Motivational Interviewing
- Partnership: Collaboration between counselor and client.
- Acceptance: Respecting client's autonomy, potential, strengths, and perspective.
- Compassion: Keeping the client's best interests in mind.
- Evocation: Best change ideas come from the client.
Core Skills of MI (OARS)
- Open Questions
- Encourage extended responses rather than yes/no answers.
- Affirmations
- Highlight client's positives and achievements.
- Reflections
- Reflect client’s thoughts and feelings, crucial for empathy.
- Summarizing
- Long reflections of client’s statements, helps guide towards change.
Processes of MI
- Engaging
- Building a trusting, respectful relationship.
- Avoid assessment trap, quick fixes, power differentials, and labeling.
- Focusing
- Setting and maintaining a direction, aligning goals.
- Evoking
- Eliciting client's motivation and change talk.
- Questions to elicit change talk: reasons, benefits, methods.
- Planning
- Developing a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) change plan.
Conclusion
- MI is about guiding clients towards self-motivated change.
- For more information: website
Note: These notes summarize the key points from Dr. Matulak’s introduction to motivational interviewing, focusing on its importance, core principles, and processes.