Category: Motivational Interviewing Blog

The concept of developing discrepancy has been used since the very beginning of motivational interviewing. It can be a very strong motivational factor for many clients as they consider changing a behavior. The idea is to explore the client’s current behavior and where they would prefer to be. For example,...

The planning process can be a dynamic process as the client moves from motivation to action. There is a great deal of information and research about the evoking process but not as much related to planning. We do know that we, as clinicians, must be careful and not give advice...

In counseling situations where there is a change goal for the client, there is likely ambivalence too. Therefore, the clinician has a decision to make. Should the clinician remain neutral or support movement in a particular direction? A different approach would be needed for the clinician in each situation. In...

As we have learned, MI has been developed to strengthen a person’s motivation for and commitment to making a particular change in their lives. And our role as counselors, is to guide them in making a choice. However, we are also aware that making a choice is always left up...

The definition below highlights the guidance and facilitation needed by the clinician to strengthen an individual’s motivation for and movement towards change as well as explore the person’s own reasons for change. Motivational Interviewing is a person-centered counseling style for addressing the common problem of ambivalence about change. It is...

As we continue to explore the numerous ways a client may move from evoking to planning, an approach that can be beneficial is for the clinician to provide a summary of all the change talk the client has expressed. The clinician is sharing back to the client all the motivations...

We started the conversation about the importance of confidence in behavior change. And an example was provided where the client wants to make a change but doesn’t have the confidence. The first way suggested to support someone with a lack of confidence was by asking open ended questions. This approach...

This conversation about change has offered many examples of how to build confidence with clients. Today, we will explore both identifying and affirming strengths and reviewing past successes. When we spend time with our clients, we get to know them and learn about their experiences. We often learn about their...

In a conversation about change with our clients, we are aware that ambivalence is a normal part of the process and we expect to hear some sustain talk. When we hear our clients using sustain talk or wanting to maintain the status quo, or stating that they don’t think they...

Overshooting and undershooting are useful reflection techniques where statements can be offered back to the client for more personal exploration on a particular topic. As I mentioned above, these techniques can be particularly helpful when there is emotional content involved. There are so many ways we can describe emotion, and...

When a client is contemplating making a change, there is almost always going to be some ambivalence between changing and doing things the same way. There will be the benefits of changing (pros) and the negatives of changing (cons). Sustain talk is when the client wants to keep things the...

We continue this week with the third “process” of Motivational Interviewing, Evoking. In our last post, we talked about the client strengthening their motivation for change. This change for the individual could be related to desire, ability, reasons, or need. The practice for the counselor is to not only recognize...