Hints on Motivational Interviewing from the Man Who Wrote The Book!

I had the extraordinary pleasure of attending a PESI webinar with Dr. Stephen Rollnick himself, co-author of the Motivational Interviewing book.  It was a great experience.  He is an excellent speaker with a delightful accent. 
I have his book and, as I was mentioning to a colleague yesterday, hearing him speak was like getting to see the movie!

There were a few points he made during the hour that I would love to share with you.  It gives a good basis for people who would like to practice motivational interviewing.  Some of you are just being introduced to it, and others are using in now.  Dr. Rollnick explained that many practitioners struggle to get it right as a practice, but just don't seem to "get" the heart of it.  So here are some basics he stressed:

1.  Motivational Interviewing is not a process that you strive to learn, but a way of being with your client.
You practice being non-judgemental and focus on eliciting reasons to change from your client.  You resist the "righting reflex" as he calls it, and shift your way of thinking from "I know what is best for you" to "you tell me what's best for you and let me be your guide"

2. MI is about believing that your client has the solution.  You are there to work through their ambivalence with them and draw them out of their uncertainty.

3. Confrontation does not result in a positive outcome.  People cannot be forced into becoming ready to change.  The more you push, the more they will naturally push back.  Let them express where they are now and where they want to be.  You are present to listen, and question (elicit), but not to tell them what they should be doing.

4. Dr. Rollnick defined what he calls the "MI heart": collaborative, person-centered, guiding, and eliciting and strengthening the motivation for change.

As healthcare professionals we want our clients to be successful.  But they can only change when they are ready.  We can help them to become ready and to realize when they are ready to take a step.  We should not expect there to be good results when we try to force them to do what we assume is best for them.

Dr. Rollnick points out that using MI in our practice can result in a lower stress level for us in our job.  We no longer feel responsible for coming up with all the answers.  We can sit back, safe in the knowledge that our clients have the answers they need.  We need only to help them find it.

(If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Motivational Interviewing by Miller and Rollnick, you can do so by clicking on the image below)