During general introductions at Motivational Interviewing Training workshops it is not uncommon to hear participants at the start of the day say they want to learn \u201chow to motivate\u201d others. Generally, these \u201cothers\u201d are individuals they are in a supportive or helping relationship with. As facilitators responding, it is important firstly to ask, \u201cIs it possible to motivate another person?\u201d and to recognize that motivation is neither present nor absent in an individual but is a constantly changing state or process within.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All people are motivated, but not always in the direction clinicians and helpers would like them to be. For example, some people are motivated to keep smoking (known as maintaining the status quo) and others are motivated to stop smoking and move towards behaviour change. Motivation is present in both examples, yet it is the direction of the motivation which is the important element as individuals usually feel both a push towards and a pull away from change (Miller & Rollnick, 2013 & Romano 2021).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The process of behaviour change involves resolving the push and pull of the change (Clark 2019, Miller, 2012). Becoming ambivalent is the first step in developing motivation to change. Motivational Interviewing (MI) offers an alternative response to ambivalence, as it recognizes that ambivalence is normal, and it defines readiness to change as a dynamic and not a static factor (Miller, 2012).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Motivational Interviewing helps people explore ambivalence \u2013 what keeps the person doing what they do and what might move them towards wanting to make a change. It is a shift from the pre-contemplative stage of change, e.g. a client wanting to smoke, towards contemplation of change, e.g. a client thinking of quitting smoking (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1984). What clinicians and helpers evoke from clients therefore are arguments for both wanting to keep smoking \u2013 described as \u2018sustain talk\u2019 and arguments or reasons to stop smoking- described as \u2018change talk\u2019 (Miller & Rollnick, 2013).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Motivational Interviewing conversations assist clients to articulate this sense of being \u2018of two minds\u2019 (AIPC, 2015) by verbalizing the pros and cons of the behaviour change (Everett, Salamonson, Zecchin, & Davidson, 2009). This can be achieved by exploring the Good things\/Less good things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What are the good things about\u2026? (name the behaviour under review).
What do you enjoy about\u2026?
What would you miss about\u2026?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What about some of the less good things? What are some of the things you don\u2019t like so much about\u2026? (name the behaviour under review).
How do you feel about\u2026? (explore the specifics the client has named as less good).
What are the things you wouldn\u2019t miss about\u2026? (explore the specifics the client has named).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This video might help you in understanding and responding to ambivalence:<\/p>\n\n\n\n