Motivational Interviewing Essay

Psychologists William Miller, PhD. and Stephen Rollnick, PhD. developed the counseling approach known as Motivational Interviewing (MI). Motivational Interviewing evolved out of experience in the treatment of persons who were problem drinkers, and was first described by Miller in 1983. In 1991 Miller and Rollnick provided these techniques as a method that promotes and engages intrinsic motivation within the client in order to change behavior. MI is a client-centered counseling style that is goal -directed and brings about behavior change by helping clients to explore and resolve ambivalence. Traditional Rogerian client-centered therapy does not guide or direct or focus in the way that MI therapists do to influence individuals to consider making changes, instead of non-directively explore themselves.

Motivational interviewing is a way of conducting and occupy the essential motivation within the client in order to change behavior. It is “an efficient and collaborative style of clinical interaction that can boost the effectiveness of the therapeutic alliance” (Jellinek, Henderson, Dilallo, & Weiss, 2009, p.108). Motivational

Changing is something that someone has to want to do, if there is no motivation things will stay the same. The first step to change is knowing and accepting the wrong that has been done and trying to figure out a way to change. There are numerous of practices that are used to help an offender bring their mistake to the light. These types of methods are called Evidence Based Practices and are used to help both the offender and probation officer learn to communicate on a different level. Evidence based practices are cognitive behavioral training, vocational education and training programs and treatment oriented intensive supervision program. They are used to reintegrate offender s back into the community successfully. The type of evidence based practice that I am going to talk about is motivational interviewing, the pro and cons and if it helps the offenders learn from their mistakes and if it is going to help in the future.

Using three different appropriate interview techniques identify each technique as you work towards appropriate interventions with the client. To do this you will need to develop a brief dialogue. Remember to consider any ethical and cultural issues.

Motivational interviewing is an approach, focusing on the patient, to change a behavior. It was started in the realm of addiction, but has been steadily moving in to the mainstream of healthcare for the past few years. Motivational interviewing (MI) uses different techniques to build a rapport between the provider and the client. Techniques used include empathy, collaboration, and encouragement of autonomy. The concept of motivational interviewing allows the provider to be seen more as a person and less as an authority figure.

-motivational interviewing(MI) is patient centered counseling style for addressing the common problem of ambivalence about change.

When it comes to drug useage many aspects of a person life changes, especially their behavior and brain. Sheff (2013) mentions how the brain changes as a result of drug usage. The hardwiring changes so that the impulse control is lowered, almost silenced, while the desire to get a reward is in overdrive. After a while, it isnt about willpower but about doing what your changed brain tells you to do. In some cases, behavior needs to be modified as behavior is what altered the brain in the first place. When attempting recovery, the idea is to work on that behavior modification. During this time, the technique called Motivational interviewing is helpful in exploring with the client what their motivation is for making this change in their life.

"Motivational interviewing is an evidenced-based counseling approach that health care providers can use to help patients adhere to treatment recommendations. It emphasizes using a directive, patient-centered style of interaction to promote behavioral change by helping patients explore and resolve ambivalence" (Levensky et al., 2007). Motivational interviewing is a highly individualized therapeutic approach that is client centered and encourages clients to explore the reasons for any maladaptive behavior and then make changes. However, it is also a directed form of therapy, so that the counselor takes a more active role than in some forms of client-centered therapy. However, it is not a confrontational form of therapy; rather than engaging in hostile interactions with clients, the counselor takes an empathic approach and helps the client identify areas of ambivalence and make plans to change those areas. In this way, motivational interviewing can be considered a goal-directed therapy because it is not sufficient for the clients to gain understanding; they are also meant to make changes based on what they find. Furthermore, while the counselor may take a passive role in some therapeutic approaches, the counselor is more active in motivational interviewing. The counselor's job is to encourage the client to make changes.

Motivation interviewing is a counseling technique designed to lower resistance and to increase change while using a casual conversational style in which a non-directive approach is recommended. It has been proven that individuals are willing to change when they are free of judgment and when the ideas and solutions about changing come from themselves. The role of a motivational interviewing counselor is to elicit change talk through the use of conversational therapy, in which he/she is required to employ high quality of listening, to trust the client’s knowledge of him/herself, and to avoid any judgmental behavior or opinion.

Often called micro counseling skills, OARS is a brief way to remember the basic approach used in Motivational Interviewing. Open Ended Questions, Affirmations, Reflections, and Summaries are core counselor behaviors employed to move the process forward by establishing a therapeutic alliance and eliciting discussion about change. Clients’ level of motivation change anytime during the process of intervention, counselor/therapist have to be sensitive enough to aware the change and apply the appropriate skills at appropriate time to facilitate clients to move towards their desired

358). Its intended use is for “enhancing intrinsic motivation to change by exploring and resolving ambivalence” (Arkowitz, Westra, Miller & Rollnick, 2010, p. 373). Motivational interviewing has been successfully applied by therapists and social workers without a background in addictions treatment to aid in the recovery of substance abusing parents (Hohman, 1998). Short term motivational therapy types have resulted in successful treatment outcomes of substance abuse through incorporating the elements of feedback, responsibility, advice, menu, empathy and self-efficacy (Hohman, 1998). Similarly, the relational elements governing motivational interviewing has been incorporated in interpersonal therapy and are considered suitable for addressing the social isolation component of substance abuse thought to be “a promoter and consequence of the progression of drug dependence” (Brache, 2012, p. 295). Controlled studies have revealed that motivational interviewing is significantly more useful than no treatment for a wide variety of addictive problems including alcohol use, drug use and gambling (Burke,

Experimental Treatment: Participants selected to receive motivational interviewing will participant in 60 minute, twice a week sessions, for four weeks. The goal of motivational interviewing is to reduce ambivalence about change, and that is done through the use of active listening, empathy, and supporting self-efficacy and confidence. The emphasis is placed on the client and his or her decisions and needs.

This essay will discuss the four stages to motivational interviewing and it’s theories to motivating people for change. The content within this essay will also critically analyze how motivational interviewing is utilised in therapy as a tool to approach the issue of alcohol abuse/dependency and how this can contribute to a person’s recovery. As a clinician I will also reflect on why a female client who was affected by a mental disorder would become dependent on a substance such as alcohol, who describes her alcohol use as a coping strategy to minimize her auditory hallucinations even though this was a short intervention. For people who are affected by mental disorders, find coping with the stressors of illness and everyday life motivates the misuse of substances that have negative effects on their illness causing abuse and dependency, (Cleary, Hunt, Morley, Siegfried & Sitharthan 2014).

Motivation is the driving force that some individuals need to move forward with goals of creating change. Motivational Interviewing (MI) in the group therapeutic context has a leader or therapist that aims to ascertain the underlying issues that may be maintaining a member’s behavior and blocking their motivation. The group therapy approach of Motivational Interviewing typically works well with homogenous groups that want to change some of the same types of behaviors. Alcoholics Anonymous is a group that MI is a great model to use. All of the individuals have a desire to change their behavior of not drinking alcohol. The uses of MI in groups are typically for individuals with the same types of issues, such as alcohol, drug addiction,

Binge Drinking is highly prevalent among college students in the United States and has been identified as a major public health problem (Mermelstein & Garske, 2014). It is defined as having five or more drinks for males and four or more drinks for females in a 2-hr period, is associated with impaired academic performance, health problems, victimization and increased risky sexual behavior (Mermelstein & Garske, 2014). Although the 5+/4+ definition reflects gender differences in average weight and metabolism, it has been criticized for several limitations (Bonar et al., 2012). Excessive consumption of alcohol in college years has also shown to have a strong correlation with alcohol use disorders later in adulthood (Hustad et al., 2014). As a result of early usage, many students are arrested, receive medical attention for alcohol-related incidents, or receive campus