In order to be an effective guide you need to know where you are going. With at least the basic groundwork for engagement in place, the next process in MI is to clarify the goal toward which you will move together
One of the more wonderful gifts that the Universe has provided me of late was the opportunity to see Bette Midler, aka “The Divine Miss M” in concert in Vancouver. Seeing and hearing her perform 50 years’
An advanced practice skill in MI involves learning to listen for how you can “hook” what the client is saying to the “north star” (intended direction) of your conversation.
The “spirit” (or “context”) within which an MI conversation can emerge yields a number of “vital signs” which, when all operating and synchronized, facilitate the purpose or intention of this form of “motivational midwifery”.
Sometimes things just don’t match up.
And sometimes, it’s nobody’s fault.
Sometimes, things just get off track.
Sometimes, there just ain’t no harmony.
And – when there ain’t no harmony…
That’s discord!
In MI-3, (2013) Drs. Miller and Rollnick provide three potential definitions of MI. Determining which of these makes most sense to you might depend on whether you are a practitioner, a layperson, or a student of change.
Learning M.I. can overwhelm people who try to learn it “all at once”. Like learning to play the piano, it’s best to practice your new M.I. approach “one piece at a time”. Our trainers are fond of telling people about “MI chunklets”
Dr. Miller explains how Stephen Rollnick (codeveloper of MI) was watching him conduct an MI interview. Rollnick was very impressed with the strategy that he could see in Miller’s approach, and at the end of the interview, he exclaimed “Wow, Miller – you’re a duck!”
Dr. Miller and his colleague, Dr. Gary Rose, co-authored a paper entitled “Motivational Interviewing and Decisional Balance: Contrasting Responses to Client Ambivalence”. The e-version is now available from the journal “Behavioral and Cognitive Psychotherapy” (Call # RC489.B4 B45).
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. knew how to activate motivation. He believed in change talk, and most of all in “Taking Steps”. He didn’t just talk the talk. He walked the walk. Literally. These are the shoes (boots) worn by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the “Freedom March” (on display at the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia).
Evoking work involves “pulling out” the desire and need for the targeted change from your clients, rather than trying to install such motivations. Evoking also involves calling forth client discussion about the reasons they have for pursuing change and about their skills, abilities, competencies,
The best advice with all power tools is to use them carefully. The experience for too many of our clients is that information has not so often been used as a resource as it has been delivered as a weapon. (or at least as an attempt to “push” toward a specific change agenda. Thus, some clients are skeptical when they hear information coming their way. They ask themselves:
In order to be an effective guide you need to know where you are going. With at least the basic groundwork for engagement in place, the next process in MI is to clarify the goal toward which you will move together” My experience in facilitating MI workshops has been that too many people work very hard at engaging with the client
This amazing building is located in Sopot, Poland. It’s bent. (To say the least). It was designed that way. Why?
Well – it seems that sometimes we pay more attention to things that have a bit of a bend to them!
