Motivational Interviwing (Week 13)

Last Thursday I got to attend a training in something called Motivational Interviewing.  This is a method for conversation or counseling with clients that focuses on drawing clients out as opposed to putting our ideas into clients. MI is client centered and directive, and it focuses on "exploring and resolving ambivalence" and "centers on motivational processes within the individual that facilitate change". 

Basically, instead of attempting to externally motivate change or imposing change on clients that they might not be ready for, motivational interviewers meet the client where they're at and respect that 1) motivation to change comes from within and 2) readiness to change is a process that is always fluctuating.

The acronym used to summarize techniques used in this method is OARS.  Here's a short breakdown of what these mean:

• Open-ended questions: These are questions that gather more information than just a simple yes or no.  These often start with words like "how" and "what". These types of questions give clients a chance to explore their own ambivalence to change.
• Affirmations: Compliments.  Praise positive behaviors and support clients in whatever stage of change they may be.  This builds rapport with clients and gives them a safe place to be more open with you.
• Reflective listening: This is a way of checking that what they're meaning is what you're understanding, rather than assuming you know what they meant. It strengthens the empathic relationship, and demonstrates that staff are actually listening and trying to understand the problem. Usually, these are the most commonly used technique, with about 1-2 reflective statements made for every question.
• Summarizing: Pulling together what happened in a session or an interaction. This is like a special form of reflective listening used to concisely wrap up what was said and focus on the important parts. 

This is a pretty cool technique that I hadn't really heard much about before. Since taking the class, I've tried to incorporate MI into my interactions with clients, especially a few in particular. This method seems like it would be beneficial for a wide variety of music therapy settings - even MTs who aren't working in psych could benefit from these methods for building rapport and maintaining a client-focused relationship.

For more detailed information, see www.motivationalinterviewing.org :)