Motivational Interviewing: Foundation Skills

Respectful and productive conversations about change

This two day professional development event is for workers in helping professions, including health, community and corrections settings.

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is collaborative method for guiding conversations about change. More than a set of techniques, MI is a discipline in its own right that brings together a set of values, principles and disciplined use of skills to assist people to resolve ambivalence and deepen motivation to pursue the changes that are meaningful for them.

While the skills do take time and practice, the style of conversation is gentle, curious and comes from a place of faith in the other person. The hope is that, together, we may discover what is meaningful for this person and what choices would work best for them, knowing who they are and what they deep down really want for their future. MI asks us to be mindful of the way our own hopes and assumptions can interfere in the process as much as they can help, and create a space of genuine enquiry and deepening understanding.

Rather than replace other approaches, MI has a capacity to enhance and deepen the full range of interventions we use by bringing a more acute awareness to the how and when of conversation, rather than just what we talk about.

The training is highly interactive, with a focus on practical skill development. The two-day workshop will offer an opportunity to:

• Gain a clear and up-to-date understanding of MI – what it is, how it works and recent changes to the framework
• Increase understanding of the change process
• Review and practice the core skills
• Apply the skills to the change process
• Increase ability to work effectively with resistance and ambivalence
• Practice skills in softening sustain talk and eliciting change talk
• Develop strategies to continue learning and practicing MI.

The workshop is relevant for workers dealing with a wide range of presenting issues and settings, including addictions, mental health, allied health, chronic disease management, treatment adherence, criminal justice, education, change management, workplace culture and healthy behaviour change.

MI relies on the use of foundation skills used with increasing discipline and depth. The workshop is suitable for both workers with no knowledge of MI and for those who want to refresh and deepen their understanding and practice of the core skills of MI.