Level Up Your Therapy Skills with Motivational Interviewing

Description

In this interactive workshop, participants will learn about the theory and spirit of Motivational Interviewing (MI), will learn to identify change talk and sustain talk, and will gain exposure to each of the core MI skills. Participants will learn how to use MI in diverse treatment applications and will explore how to incorporate MI into their existing clinical practice.

In addition to over 8 hours of didactic instructional content, the following resources are included with the course fee and will be available upon purchase:
All Powerpoint Slides
MI Cheat Sheet (tips for each MI core skill to reference during session)
Agenda Mapping Focusing Questions (how to focus session on one behavioral target for MI)

MI  Role-Play Instructions (This workshop was filmed with a live audience, thus role-play instructions are spoken in the video and additional written instructions are included, if attendees wish to practice role-plays on their own, given on-demand nature of this course).

MI is an evidence-based intervention that has been shown to strengthen engagement and behavior change for individuals with ambivalence about changing substance use behaviors (Miller, 2000) and health behaviors (Rollnick et al., 2022). MI has been found to enhance treatment benefit in conjunction with other evidence-based psychotherapies for obsessive-compulsive behavior, depression, eating disorders, PTSD, anxiety disorders, suicidal ideation, gambling, addictions, smoking cessation, and intimate partner violence (Arkowitz et al., 2017).

There is often a misconception that MI is only used for substance use or health behavior change, however MI can be applied for a wide range of psychological concerns and in combination with other evidence-based psychotherapies. The core processes of MI are compatible with most psychotherapies and MI skills can be incorporated into other approaches through “micro” MI moments in order to enhance motivation and commitment for treatment and homework. Thus, competency in MI is a key skill that clinicians can hone to strengthen their ability to engage clients, build motivation, and enhance ongoing commitment to change.

This course does not currently offer Continuing Education credits.

Your Instructor:

Dr. Emily Wharton is a licensed clinical psychologist who provides individual, couples, and group therapy in the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs and her private practice. Dr. Wharton was intensively trained in Motivational Interviewing through the VA’s Evidence Based Psychotherapy Training Program. She provides supervision and training for postdoctoral fellows, psychology interns, Stanford medical students, Stanford psychiatry residents, and practicum students. Dr. Wharton provides workshops independently and through her courses at the Cognitive Behavior Institute Center for Education.

Course Agenda:

Lecture and Role-play: Origins and Underlying theory of MI

· Historical context of the emergence of MI

· Contrast to previous confrontational models

· Reflection and discussion on MI principles and style

· Eliciting vs. convincing

Lecture: MI Spirit and Processes

· Core components of MI spirit

· Practicing the 4 MI processes

Lecture: Listening for and Evoking Change Talk

· Listening for DARNCAT: Desire, Ability, Reasons, Need, Confidence, Ability, Taking Steps

· Eliciting change talk questions

Lecture and Roleplay Practice: MI Core Skills: OARS

· Open-ended questions, Affirmations, Reflections, and Summaries directed at change talk

· Simple vs. complex reflections

· Using Confidence and Importance Rulers

Review, Questions, Homework

Homework Review
Questions and reflections from previous section

· Homework review

Lecture and Practice: Working with Sustain Talk and Discord

· Noticing sustain talk, validating, strengthening alliance/rapport

· Dancing with discord as it arises

· Working with barriers

Lecture and Practice: Elicit Provide Elicit

· Importance of gaining permission for sharing information

· Chunking information and moving between eliciting/providing

· Role-play: practice providing psycho-education using EPE model

Cultural humility within Motivational Interviewing

· Research on using MI with different populations, cultural groups

· Video: Using MI for survivors of intimate partner violence

· Importance of client-guided values/reasons defining

Integrating MI into other Evidence-Based Psychotherapies

· Common traps in engaging clients in treatment and homework

· Addressing treatment/homework barriers

· Role-play practice [if time]: integrating MI micro moments into existing psychotherapy

Reflection and Wrap-up

· Next Steps, further learning

· Resources, ongoing support

· Answering questions/case-specific needs

· Group reflection

What You Will Learn!

• Participants will describe the core tenets, principles, and underlying theory of Motivational Interviewing (MI).
• Participants will explain the four core processes of MI.
• Participants will demonstrate how to elicit change talk.
• Participants will demonstrate how to use Confidence and Importance rulers.
• Participants will explain how to engage clients in Elicit Provide Elicit information exchange.
• Participants will learn how to provide MI-consistent summaries.
• Participants will demonstrate how to respond to Sustain Talk and Discord throughout treatment.
• Participants will illustrate how to incorporate cultural humility and responsiveness into MI.
• Participants will practice how to incorporate MI micro moments into other evidence-based psychotherapies.

Who Should Attend!

• Therapists (LMFT, LCSW, LPCC, PsyD, PhD, students) seeking to enhance motivation to engage in therapy tasks and homework. e.g. using “micro MI moments” in commitment work in ACT/DBT, exposure for anxiety/OCD/PTSD
• Medical providers (MD, NP, RN, students) seeking to enhance medication adherence and behavior change e.g. eliciting motivation to stop/reduce smoking/substance use or increase health behaviors such as nutrition and exercise

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