Contextualizing Motivational Interviewing
MI has a well-defined structure and strategy to support direct service staff to have empowering conversation about change with those they serve.
While role type and focus of services varies from setting to setting where MI has found a home, the approach remains consistent. Research on the “common factors” that lead to successful outcomes clearly shows it matters little “what” is being done and matters greatly “how” the “what” is being done. When training MI one of the first moments of the training is to offer an on-going, as-needed conversation around how MI supports the work being done by service providers. We have found this to be highly successful in the wide variety of service settings we have trained. For example, when sharing MI to a large agency where intake specialists are utilizing MI to engage, non-clinical direct service providers are using MI to engage and evoke change, and clinicians are integrating MI with cognitive behavioral treatment.
All learners are able to adopt and adapt MI to their unique focus, learn from each other how to deepen their own practice, and create + sustain a common culture of service from intake to discharge.
While role type and focus of services varies from setting to setting where MI has found a home, the approach remains consistent. Research on the “common factors” that lead to successful outcomes clearly shows it matters little “what” is being done and matters greatly “how” the “what” is being done. When training MI one of the first moments of the training is to offer an on-going, as-needed conversation around how MI supports the work being done by service providers. We have found this to be highly successful in the wide variety of service settings we have trained. For example, when sharing MI to a large agency where intake specialists are utilizing MI to engage, non-clinical direct service providers are using MI to engage and evoke change, and clinicians are integrating MI with cognitive behavioral treatment.
All learners are able to adopt and adapt MI to their unique focus, learn from each other how to deepen their own practice, and create + sustain a common culture of service from intake to discharge.
Two Session Beginning Skills Workshop
The two sessions are scheduled a week apart which provides an opportunity to return to your work setting after session-1 of the training, and practice MI with the people you serve, and return to session-2 able to discuss your successes and challenges of beginning to practice MI and then continue your explorations and learning.
Cohort 4
Initial Skills: March 18 and 25
and
Refresher: April 22
8:30am-12:30pm CT
Virtual
Initial Skills: March 18 and 25
and
Refresher: April 22
8:30am-12:30pm CT
Virtual
maximum of 24 participants
These trainings are free!
Learning Objectives
Participants will gain the knowledge and skills to:
1. Listen for and effectively respond to “change talk”
2. Increase and deepen their capacity to achieve attunement with persons being served through the use of reflective thinking, listening, and responding
3. Utilize MI behavioral skills of OARS (Open-ended questions, Affirmation, Reflections, and Summaries) to guide persons being served to make a plan for heling and change.
4. Understand the utility of MI’s 4-process conversation structure: Engage, Focus, Evoke, and Plan
5. Avoid deficit-centered, disengagement “traps” e.g. “the righting reflex”
6. Helpfully respond to “sustain talk” and avoid “discord”
7. Explore the relevance of MI to the work that practitioners are or will be doing with those they serve
8. Create an individualized MI learning plan responsive to implementation science
9. Learn and explore the alignment of MI with Trauma Informed Care, Cultural Humility, and other practices relevant to your service environment
10. Begin to explore how MI blends with intakes, curriculums, and program practices unique to your setting
1. Listen for and effectively respond to “change talk”
2. Increase and deepen their capacity to achieve attunement with persons being served through the use of reflective thinking, listening, and responding
3. Utilize MI behavioral skills of OARS (Open-ended questions, Affirmation, Reflections, and Summaries) to guide persons being served to make a plan for heling and change.
4. Understand the utility of MI’s 4-process conversation structure: Engage, Focus, Evoke, and Plan
5. Avoid deficit-centered, disengagement “traps” e.g. “the righting reflex”
6. Helpfully respond to “sustain talk” and avoid “discord”
7. Explore the relevance of MI to the work that practitioners are or will be doing with those they serve
8. Create an individualized MI learning plan responsive to implementation science
9. Learn and explore the alignment of MI with Trauma Informed Care, Cultural Humility, and other practices relevant to your service environment
10. Begin to explore how MI blends with intakes, curriculums, and program practices unique to your setting
Trainer Bio

Learn more about the motivational interviewing trainer, Shawn Smith, by clicking here.
More on MI
Trauma-Informed Care Training: 6 Ways the Approach Makes a Difference
an article by Shawn Smith
USING MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING IN SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER TREATMENT
SAMHSA Advisory
Motivational interviewing for substance abuse (Review)
from Cochrane Library (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews)
an article by Shawn Smith
USING MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING IN SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER TREATMENT
SAMHSA Advisory
Motivational interviewing for substance abuse (Review)
from Cochrane Library (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews)