Motivational Interviewing Training

This short course was designed for professionals working within the Integrated Offender Management Unit and provided insight and training on Motivational Interviewing.

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a collaborative, person-centred approach that helps people overcome their ambivalence and resistance to change. MI can be applied to various domains such as substance abuse, health promotion, mental health and education. MI is based on five core principles: clarifying contracts, expressing empathy, developing discrepancy, avoiding argument and supporting self-efficacy. It includes specific skills such as open-ended questions, affirmations, reflections and summaries.

This skill-based training package enabled participants to:
● Explain the rationale and principles of MI,
● Explain key terms underlying principles, including the difference between resistance, discord and ‘sustain talk’,
● Identify and elicit ‘change talk’ and self-motivating statements,
● Assess varying levels of motivation and be able to adapt approaches to take account of these,
● Use MI-consistent strategies to respond to ambivalence,
● Develop a plan for action with clients,
● Evaluate their own MI practice and seek feedback.