Motivational Interviewing to Save Time
New learners often say, “But I don’t have time to use Motivational Interviewing!”
They say this because there is often a fear that slowing down to engage and deeply listen to our clients will equate to wasted time accomplishing goals!
Yet Motivational Interviewing was designed for brief encounters!
There is a paradox at play here, which is that when we slow down, accept, and listen, we can actually facilitate change more quickly.
I love this quote:
“If you act like you’ve only got fifteen minutes, it will take all day. Act like you’ve got all day, it will take fifteen minutes.” -Monty Roberts
And that is not an easy thing to do as a helping professional that often feels rushed and pressure to accomplish goals!
Yet there are many paradoxes in working with people in their change journeys!
When people feel rushed, they tend to slow down. More ambivalence comes up, more parts that resist or push against the change, more skeptical, more scared.
When people don’t feel listened to, they spend more time trying to tell you all of the reasons why it’s hard to change.
Motivational Interviewing invites us to attune, accept, & listen. In doing this, we build engagement more rapidly and can facilitate growth more efficiently!
Here’s another quote for you from Carl Rogers himself:
“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.” Carl Rogers
Can you accept your client, get present, and deeply listen? 😉
Paradoxically, in doing this, we can more efficiently help facilitate change!
Motivational Interviewing Tip of the Week: What might it be like to practice accepting your client & where they are, right now? To slow down and ‘act like you have all day,’ even for just 15 minutes? Paradoxically, slowing down to deeply listen & attune to our clients often gets us there faster.
Related Posts
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
Related Posts
What’s the relationship between holding clients accountable and Motivational Interviewing?
Last week, I wrote about how MI can be useful in talking with clients about ‘accountability’ to program rules (here’s the link!).Today, my focus is on client accountability to the goals clients set!I gotta break down the work accountable first. What does it mean to...
Let’s Learn Together!
Hi, I’m Hillary Bolter. At MI Center for Change, Motivational Interviewing is our passion. Motivational Interviewing will help you become more effective and efficient as you support clients’ change!
