OPEN PDF TO VIEW & READ: ‘M.I.Responding Correctly‘ [Paul Burke’s M.I. TIP of the Week #1720]

INTRO COVER LETTER: Welcome to the start of a new training year!

Well, folks, fall is quickly falling upon us – and another new training year has begun for me. When fall comes each year, I always get nostalgic about the “back to school” days of my youth. I always had mixed feelings about school (way back) then! Happy, of course, to re-unite with friends and to start off with all the fresh new supplies and such – but also a bit anxious because of all the emphasis in those days that teachers put on our need to avoid “doing it wrong”.
One of the things I really like about MI conversations is that it is pretty hard to do it wrong! While it’s true that some ways of using MI conversation steer in the right direction better than others, it’s actually pretty hard to “get it wrong” (at least not totally!). In fact, learning MI is really just a process of knowing the principle(s) and practices that should guide your next statement, and then practicing and modifying, over time, always watching to see if your way of working and speaking with clients is getting better results as you practice.
Every time you prepare to say something to a client in MI, it’s helpful to be asking “what way should I go here?” “Should I be reflecting what my client has just said, or only certain parts of what s/he has said?” “Should I do a reflection here, or should I ask a question?” “Which MI process am I trying to facilitate right now?” “Would offering some advice or some information be helpful now, or should I wait a bit?” “Which way should I go with this?”

I’ve put together some examples in this week’s TIP to get you thinking about various MI (and non-MI) responses to various client statements – with an invitation to practice with “strategic responses in the next week”. Try it out!

READ HERE: M.I.Responding Correctly‘ [Paul Burke’s M.I. TIP of the Week #1720]