Introduction
This short article focuses on a real-life illustration of how principles and strategies from Motivational Interviewing (Miller & Rollnick, 2002, 2013) can be embedded into daily practice in order to help others to tap into their motivation to change.
Background
Recently, I met online with a SENCo (Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator) and a family to facilitate a collaborative consultation to plan a strategy for supporting a young person. The SENCo (while experienced in her role) was new to her role in the school, and we had not met before. Therefore, while we were waiting for the parent to arrive for the meeting, I chose to try to get to know the SENCo a little. I asked her how she was finding her new role, and how her day had been. Among other things, she said: “I had a good moment today. I managed to get a pupil who was in the corridor and refusing to go to his lesson back into his classroom.” This seemed to be a good opportunity to explore and shine a light on a positive aspect of the SENCo’s practice (Berg & De Jong, 2002; De Shazer, 1985, 1988; see also the APS blog archive from June 2022 for the article The Power of Positives), and so I chose to ask her how she had achieved it.
What happened?
When the SENCo first encountered the pupil, he was in the corridor and refusing to return to a maths lesson. At this point, it’s important to note what the SENCo didn’t do. She didn’t immediately take an authoritative or directive approach, instead showing concern for the pupil, asking him what was happening and how he was feeling. This sounded like it helped to build connection/trust, demonstrated that she was willing to listen, and laid the platform for the SENCo’s later intervention. When the timing was right, the SENCo then reminded the young person about a future goal that he wanted to achieve – getting a place on a mechanics course at college. She then invited the young person to reflect on how his current behaviour was either going to help or hinder him from achieving his goal. She also provided some feedback: “Look, if you want to get that place at college, we’re here to help you – but getting your Maths qualification is going to be needed for that. So what do you think?” The pupil reflected, and then chose to return to the classroom.
While this was a short interaction, there is some quality psychology at work here that, in my opinion, it is useful to recognise, extract and harness. Specifically, the strategy the SENCo used could have come straight from William Miller & Stephen Rollnick’s work on Motivational Interviewing.
While this was a short interaction, there is some quality psychology at work here that, in my opinion, it is useful to recognise, extract and harness. Specifically, the strategy the SENCo used could have come straight from William Miller & Stephen Rollnick’s work on Motivational Interviewing.
Motivational Interviewing
Motivational Interviewing (MI) is described by Miller & Rollnick (2013) as: “…a collaborative conversation style for strengthening a person’s own motivation and commitment to change”
(p. 12). The aim of MI is to help the person discover and tap into their own motivation to change, rather than feeling that they have been coerced or persuaded (which can arouse resistance and can contribute to the person not changing, or not sustaining change over time). There is a whole range of strategies associated with MI, but in this instance the SENCo (without explicitly realizing it) used a strategy known as developing discrepancy (Miller & Rollnick, 2002). This means helping the person to become aware of a discrepancy between their current behaviour and either their goals or values.
(p. 12). The aim of MI is to help the person discover and tap into their own motivation to change, rather than feeling that they have been coerced or persuaded (which can arouse resistance and can contribute to the person not changing, or not sustaining change over time). There is a whole range of strategies associated with MI, but in this instance the SENCo (without explicitly realizing it) used a strategy known as developing discrepancy (Miller & Rollnick, 2002). This means helping the person to become aware of a discrepancy between their current behaviour and either their goals or values.
Developing Discrepancy
According to MI, motivation to change arises from a person being aware of a discrepancy between how things are and how they would like them to be (Miller & Rollnick, 2002):
In this case, the young person’s current behaviour (refusing to return to their maths lesson) was likely to interfere with their goal of achieving a place on a mechanics course. The SENCo, rather than directing or lecturing the student, helped him to become aware of this through a combination of: (i) understanding the pupil’s goal(s)/preferred future; (ii) demonstrating empathy and concern; (iii) asking an open question that drew the pupil’s attention to the discrepancy between his current behaviour and him achieving his future goal; and (iv) providing feedback about the discrepancy between his current behaviour and him achieving his future goal. The pupil was then invited to consider what he thought, thereby respecting his autonomy, and he chose to return to the classroom.
Rapport/Empathy before Intervention
It is also important to note that the SENCo only moved to active intervention after first seeking to demonstrate understanding and acceptance, and to build trust/rapport. Indeed, technical strategies are only really likely to be effective if they are used on the platform of a sound relationship or the client’s experience of a positive, collaborative alliance (see e.g. Murphy & Duncan, 2007).
As you can see, there is a lot of skill and psychology at work here, all in the space of a brief corridor encounter.
As you can see, there is a lot of skill and psychology at work here, all in the space of a brief corridor encounter.
Other MI Strategies
Developing discrepancy is one key strategy in the MI approach, but there are a range of others including, for example:
- Finding out what goals or values are important to the person.
- Exploring what might be the person’s own reasons for wanting to change.
- Asking open questions that deliberately seek to elicit arguments for change from the person, rather than trying to persuade or argue for change (which could lead to resistance). In MI-speak, this type of talk is known as change talk, and the amount of change talk demonstrated by a person is directly correlated with subsequent behaviour change (see William Miller, 2009, Facilitating Change Across Boundaries: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EeCirPyq2w).
- ‘Change talk’ can take many different forms, and it can be useful to be able to recognise any language the person uses that might be indicative of movement towards change, such as: awareness of a need to change; dissatisfaction with current circumstances; demonstrating an intention to change; showing confidence about changing; and indicating a commitment to change.
- It can also be helpful to listen to, reflect back, amplify and summarize any signs of change talk offered by the ‘client’, so that they hear their own arguments for changing.
Applications in Practice
Motivational Interviewing can be offered in formal sessions, either as part of coaching or therapy, for example. However, as you can see from the above example, it is possible for principles of MI to be embedded into daily interactions so we can all become more effective at helping other people to find their motivation to change without inadvertently provoking resistance. In this way, the application of evidence-based psychological strategies can help us all to become more effective agents of change in a range of contexts. What I love about this is that it reflects a principle of "giving psychology away" so that it is not 'held' by 'experts', but becomes a tool that can influence the day-to-day lives of many.
Are you interested in further training on this topic?
If you are interested in further training on this topic, I am able to offer a one-day workshop on Enhancing Motivation to Change, informed by principles and methods of MI and including a demonstration of the approach in practice. This can add to (or refresh) your toolbox of strategies for working with others in a way that can elicit their motivation to change. If you would like to find out more, please contact me either via our enquiries form or using my email address ([email protected]). Or, you can subscribe to the Aspen Psychology Mailing List via the website for further updates about when I will be running an online course on this theme.
Reflection questions:
- How could you incorporate some of the above principles or strategies into your practice?
- In what circumstances might you use them?
- Who in your organization or team would benefit from further training in using MI principles to become more effective at helping people to change without provoking resistance?
References
Berg, I. K. & De Jong, P. (2002). Interviewing for Solutions. Brooks/Cole, CA.
de Shazer, S. (1985). Keys to Solution in Brief Therapy. New York: W. W. Norton.
de Shazer, S. (1988). Clues: Investigating Solutions in Brief Therapy. New York: W. W. Norton.
Miller, W. (2009). Motivational Interviewing: Facilitating Change Across Boundaries. Lecture given at the University of Columbia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EeCirPyq2w).
Miller, W. & Rollnick, S. (2002). Motivational Interviewing: Preparing People for Change. New York: The Guilford Press.
Miller, W. & Rollnick, S. (2013). Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change. New York: The Guilford Press.
Murphy, J. J. & Duncan, B. L. (2007). Brief Intervention for School Problems: Outcome-Informed Strategies. New York: The Guilford Press
de Shazer, S. (1985). Keys to Solution in Brief Therapy. New York: W. W. Norton.
de Shazer, S. (1988). Clues: Investigating Solutions in Brief Therapy. New York: W. W. Norton.
Miller, W. (2009). Motivational Interviewing: Facilitating Change Across Boundaries. Lecture given at the University of Columbia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EeCirPyq2w).
Miller, W. & Rollnick, S. (2002). Motivational Interviewing: Preparing People for Change. New York: The Guilford Press.
Miller, W. & Rollnick, S. (2013). Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change. New York: The Guilford Press.
Murphy, J. J. & Duncan, B. L. (2007). Brief Intervention for School Problems: Outcome-Informed Strategies. New York: The Guilford Press
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