{"id":17768,"date":"2025-11-11T15:06:32","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T20:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2015\/05\/mi-skills-focus\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T13:21:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T18:21:19","slug":"focusing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/","title":{"rendered":"Focusing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last month, we discussed the first process of motivational interviewing (MI), <strong>Engaging. <\/strong>This month, we will be <i>focusing<\/i> on <strong>Focusing, <\/strong>the second process of MI<strong>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After a basic foundation of engagement has been established, <strong>Focusing<\/strong>\u00a0is guided by the clinician in order to develop and maintain a specific direction in the conversation about change, eventually working towards very specific, achievable goals. Sometimes, the direction or goal is very clear, such as quitting smoking, or getting in better physical condition; but often, the clinician helps the client explore whether, why, how, and when they might change.<\/p>\n<p>Why is focusing so important? Without a focus, it is difficult to create the momentum needed for change. Once a direction is established, then the client can begin to come up with ideas to best approach and reach this goal.<\/p>\n<p>Check back on the blog next week for tools and approaches to finding a direction, or focus.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1380\/2025\/09\/tumblr_inline_npa946O80l1t6dtej_540.jpg\" width=\"403\" height=\"403\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i>For more information about Motivational Interviewing resources, contact Eunice Akinyi Okumu, by phone (919) 843-2532, or by email, <a href=\"mailto:eunice_okumu@med.unc.edu\">eunice_okumu@med.unc.edu<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last month, we discussed the first process of motivational interviewing (MI), Engaging. This month, we will be focusing on Focusing, the second process of MI.\u00a0 After a basic foundation of engagement has been established, Focusing\u00a0is guided by the clinician in order to develop and maintain a specific direction in the conversation about change, eventually working &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Focusing\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103351,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[356,328,310],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focusing","category-mi-process-focusing","category-motivational-interviewing-blog","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Focusing - UNC Center for AIDS Research<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Focusing - UNC Center for AIDS Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last month, we discussed the first process of motivational interviewing (MI), Engaging. This month, we will be focusing on Focusing, the second process of MI.\u00a0 After a basic foundation of engagement has been established, Focusing\u00a0is guided by the clinician in order to develop and maintain a specific direction in the conversation about change, eventually working &hellip; Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UNC Center for AIDS Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-11T20:06:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-09T18:21:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1380\/2025\/09\/tumblr_inline_npa946O80l1t6dtej_540.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Eunice Okumu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eunice Okumu\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Eunice Okumu\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/#\/schema\/person\/271543cf7c8a4ce87597d4b4c7978930\"},\"headline\":\"Focusing\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-11T20:06:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-09T18:21:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/\"},\"wordCount\":176,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1380\/2025\/09\/tumblr_inline_npa946O80l1t6dtej_540.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Focusing\",\"MI Process: Focusing\",\"Motivational Interviewing Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/\",\"name\":\"Focusing - UNC Center for AIDS Research\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1380\/2025\/09\/tumblr_inline_npa946O80l1t6dtej_540.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-11T20:06:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-09T18:21:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/#\/schema\/person\/271543cf7c8a4ce87597d4b4c7978930\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1380\/2025\/09\/tumblr_inline_npa946O80l1t6dtej_540.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1380\/2025\/09\/tumblr_inline_npa946O80l1t6dtej_540.jpg\",\"width\":540,\"height\":540},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Focusing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/\",\"name\":\"UNC Center for AIDS Research\",\"description\":\"Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/#\/schema\/person\/271543cf7c8a4ce87597d4b4c7978930\",\"name\":\"Eunice Okumu\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/454bf29101c4ffc5a1a26af7d4c5bff3b3b4edfd1d40ffb792d290eae81eb5dc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/454bf29101c4ffc5a1a26af7d4c5bff3b3b4edfd1d40ffb792d290eae81eb5dc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Eunice Okumu\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/author\/eunice-okumu\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Focusing - UNC Center for AIDS Research","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Focusing - UNC Center for AIDS Research","og_description":"Last month, we discussed the first process of motivational interviewing (MI), Engaging. This month, we will be focusing on Focusing, the second process of MI.\u00a0 After a basic foundation of engagement has been established, Focusing\u00a0is guided by the clinician in order to develop and maintain a specific direction in the conversation about change, eventually working &hellip; Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/","og_site_name":"UNC Center for AIDS Research","article_published_time":"2025-11-11T20:06:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-09T18:21:19+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1380\/2025\/09\/tumblr_inline_npa946O80l1t6dtej_540.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Eunice Okumu","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Eunice Okumu","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/"},"author":{"name":"Eunice Okumu","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/#\/schema\/person\/271543cf7c8a4ce87597d4b4c7978930"},"headline":"Focusing","datePublished":"2025-11-11T20:06:32+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-09T18:21:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/"},"wordCount":176,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1380\/2025\/09\/tumblr_inline_npa946O80l1t6dtej_540.jpg","articleSection":["Focusing","MI Process: Focusing","Motivational Interviewing Blog"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/","name":"Focusing - UNC Center for AIDS Research","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1380\/2025\/09\/tumblr_inline_npa946O80l1t6dtej_540.jpg","datePublished":"2025-11-11T20:06:32+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-09T18:21:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/#\/schema\/person\/271543cf7c8a4ce87597d4b4c7978930"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1380\/2025\/09\/tumblr_inline_npa946O80l1t6dtej_540.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1380\/2025\/09\/tumblr_inline_npa946O80l1t6dtej_540.jpg","width":540,"height":540},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/2025\/11\/focusing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Focusing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/","name":"UNC Center for AIDS Research","description":"Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/#\/schema\/person\/271543cf7c8a4ce87597d4b4c7978930","name":"Eunice Okumu","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/454bf29101c4ffc5a1a26af7d4c5bff3b3b4edfd1d40ffb792d290eae81eb5dc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/454bf29101c4ffc5a1a26af7d4c5bff3b3b4edfd1d40ffb792d290eae81eb5dc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Eunice Okumu"},"url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/author\/eunice-okumu\/"}]}},"featured_image":false,"featured_image_medium":false,"featured_image_medium_large":false,"featured_image_large":false,"featured_image_thumbnail":false,"featured_image_alt":false,"category_details":[{"name":"Focusing","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/category\/motivational-interviewing-blog\/mi-process-focusing\/focusing\/"},{"name":"MI Process: Focusing","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/category\/motivational-interviewing-blog\/mi-process-focusing\/"},{"name":"Motivational Interviewing Blog","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/category\/motivational-interviewing-blog\/"}],"tag_details":[],"_links_to":[],"_links_to_target":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103351"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17768"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20094,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17768\/revisions\/20094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cfar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}