Motivational Interviewing Checkup…How Am I Doing?

We go to the doctor and dentist for checkups to stay healthy.

I can launch a pretty good case that practicing Motivational Interviewing keeps us healthy as helping professionals…so what about a MI checkup?

How are you doing with your Motivational Interviewing skills?

What does it mean to be ‘doing’ Motivational Interviewing anyhow?

It means a lot of things, from understanding and embodying the spirit of MI with clients, to utilizing the OARS skills, to eliciting and exploring change talk.

(If that all made you scratch your head, that’s OK because MI is simple but not easy! We have a lot of courses that break it down and help you learn it through experiential practice).

But for now, here are three checkpoints for ya… and if you want more, check out this free Motivational Interviewing download I have for you here.

1. Do I listen more than I talk? Or am I talking more than I listen? Most of us aren’t taught to listen well. When we are utilizing Motivational Interviewing, we are talking less than half of the time. Listening means not just thinking about what we are going to say next, it means hearing what our client is saying and striving to understand what they mean through ‘the lens through which they see the world’! I was recently introduced to a book Bill Miller wrote on listening called Listening Well: The Art of Empathetic Understanding. Good resource if you are looking for one on listening!
2. Do I invite this person to talk about and explore their own ideas for change? Or am I jumping to conclusions and solutions? So often, our helping brains shortcut to the solutions, and we jump in to share them. In Motivational Interviewing, this is called the Fixing Reflex, and we strive to avoid it! Instead of fixing, we cultivate a conversation where we elicit and explore our client’s motivations for change rather than imparting our reasons for them, or solutions for them!
3. Do I normalize that ambivalence to change is normal? Or am I telling them to act and push ahead for a solution? I will never forget the day I reflected to a client who was struggling with quitting drinking, “Of course it’s hard, there are reasons you love alcohol too!” He looked shocked that I acknowledged that, and there was a huge pause as I saw him collect his thoughts. “In my 30 years in and out of treatment for my drinking, no one has EVER told me it is normal to want to drink.” It was in that moment I realized how shaming it is when we don’t normalize the struggle of ambivalence about change. Of COURSE there are reasons someone isn’t changing yet! A simple statement to a client like, “Change is super hard, of course there are reasons both for and against making this change.”

There are many more checkup points in this free Motivational Interviewing download!

I have an 11-point checklist for your MI Checkup for ya! Click here for your free Motivational Interviewing download.

MI Tip of the Week: Perhaps you want to pick one of these MI Checkup points to put some focus on in the coming week: Listen more than you talk; Ask your clients about their motivations for change; Normalize ambivalence; Ask Permission to share or give feedback; or, Support their Autonomy.

Watch my full video here!