Category: Conversations About Change

As clinicians, we are usually thinking about how to have the most effective conversations with our clients. And even with putting our best effort and best intentions forward, sometimes these conversations can be messy. One thing we know about MI is that there is not one formula that works for...

As a helping professional or clinician, there are times when we witness our clients making choices that we believe are not in their best interests and will not support them in reaching their desired goals. And in many cases, it can be extremely challenging to allow these behaviors to continue...

When Motivational Interviewing was first introduced, there was a great deal of focus on specific techniques that would support the client in exploring behavior change. However, Rollnick and Miller (1995) felt like something was missing as they went around and trained people. They felt like they had taught people the...

In this MI blog, we have focused on many important aspects of MI including techniques, processes, spirit, and ambivalence. What we haven’t talked about much is “What MI is NOT” and clarifying some things related to MI that may be confusing. For example, when working with a client, the clinician...

When we think about the way we want to be with a client, I think we would all agree that we would like to acknowledge and recognize their inherent worth and strengths. And each client we work with will have specific strengths that we will be able to genuinely acknowledge....

When we think about values and goals, particularly related to a therapeutic setting, we are often attempting to gain some insight or understanding into the client’s internal perspectives. These perspectives can often be the motivation for making decisions in their lives. And these decisions could be short term or long...

Summaries are similar to reflections, however, instead of focusing on one thing at a time the client has shared, the clinician pulls together several things, and reflects back to the client. This offering back to the client can be affirming because it demonstrates that the clinician has been listening to...

Equipoise has been around for a long time. It has most commonly been practiced in the field of medicine where the clinician allows the client to make their own decision. The decision could be related to a particular treatment for cancer or a medication to take for high blood pressure....

We have been discussing the situation where the clinician is counseling with neutrality and not guiding the client in any one direction. The clinician is allowing the client to make their own decision even though this approach may bring up a great deal of tension for both clinician and client....

In early counseling therapies and treatment, there were many approaches where the clinician attempted to convince the client to make healthier choices in their lives. If the clinician were able to ask appropriate questions, provide important information, encourage certain emotions, and persuade the client to see things in a certain...