Describe motivational interviewing and how you plan (or do not plan) to use this technique as a counselor.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

?If you work a lot with resistant, chemically dependent clients, you may find motivational interviewing (MI) strategies to be helpful.
?This set of counseling techniques focuses on resistance and the ambivalence to change self-destructive behaviors as the central reason for counseling. Its founder, William Miller, calls MI “a directive, client-centered counseling style for eliciting behavior change by helping clients to explore and resolve ambivalence”.
?A great deal of time and energy is spent helping clients to examine the nature of their ambivalence to change, and that examination relies heavily on the kinds of relationship-building skills talked about in this book (e.g., reflections of content and feeling, instillation of hope, and examination of emotional payoffs and debits).
?In particular, MI encourages an approach to resistance that is nondefensive and nonargumentative. A basic assumption of this approach is that unless the client’s ambivalence to change destructive behaviors is successfully worked through, any immediate changes made by that client will be temporary.
?Considerable time is spent in helping the client to see how he can move toward goals that are personally rewarding. The client is encouraged to examine past ambivalence to change and to look at how the development of personal goals can aid a process of behavioral change. An important tenet of MI is the belief that the motivation for change can only be mobilized by the client. External pressures are not seen as being effective.
The counselor’s central task is to help the client look at and resolve his ambivalence.
?Miller maintains that much of the resistance encountered in chemically dependent clients is engendered by the counseling process itself. If we counselors can provide a truly empathic environment, where respect and regard prevail, then our clients will not feel the need to mobilize so much defensiveness. When clients feel respected, they will be able to let down their resistant guard. This, then, sets the stage for trying on new behaviors, including reduction in drug use.