Could You Use a Hug? Affirmations and Motivational Interviewing

In Motivational Interviewing, affirmations are like ‘hugs with words.’

I’m kinda thinking we could all use a good hug right now. I sure could. Helping professionals are TAXED right now!

Affirmations are just one of the ‘micro-skills’ of MI, OARS (OARS stands for: Open-ended questions, Affirmations, Reflections, and Summaries).

My 3rd grader comes home regularly from school with little scraps of paper that have affirmations on them (see pic!). She swells with pride when she shows them to me.

They have an Affirmation Station in her classroom.

Their teacher has created a space in the classroom where kids write appreciations and affirmations of one another.

It is clear her teacher values the unique strengths and gifts of each child.

She puts this value into action through affirmations. 

Providing an affirmation is more than giving lip service to saying we value people, their strengths and their efforts.

It’s saying it out loud. 

One final thought on word hugs (affirmations).

Of all the OARS skills, affirmations tend to get the most change talk as a response. 

Think about it- we need to feel connected to our inner strength and abilities to change in order to tackle change! Hearing our strengths and abilities reflected to us gives us a boost!

Change is hard! (Heck, LIFE is hard!). Affirmations not only feel good, they help facilitate change.

Motivational Interviewing Tip of the Week: Taking a moment to recognize the strengths and efforts of others and verbalizing that in the form of a statement not only feels good, it can help someone connect to their inner abilities and support the change process! What are activities that you do that cultivate an affirming environment with clients (or staff!)? How do you pay attention to the strengths, efforts, and intentions of others? What helps you put it into words and give an affirmation?

P.S. If you work for an organization, I have a couple of affirmation activities for you in my full video here!