Motivational Interviewing Paper

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Justin Skoglund Motivational interviewing requires always listening, what the client is saying and how the client is saying it is what you are looking for. So when we are listening and thinking about the language of change we think about ways clients are speaking. Are they saying “How things are is ok” or “there’s no reason for me to make any change” which is referred to as sustain talk. The client might begin to shift to change talk, start to think maybe things should be different or could be different or maybe would like them to be different. So as interviewers when we see clients begin to shift from sustain talk to change talk we need to shift with them. Motivational interviewing is a person-centered approach and collaboration. We…show more content…
Are they ready to change, are they not ready to change, or are they already making changes. Some things you could do if a person is not interested in change is raise doubt, provide information and keep an open door. A good way to provide information in a motivational way is to simply ask if it would be ok to provide some information. Let the client know it’s ok if they are not interested in change but you may ask the question again at a later date. If a person is committed to change or wants change we simply walk beside them and help them determine the best course of action. If a person is in contemplation about change we as helpers need to remember not to take the good side of the argument. If you argue for the good side it only leaves the client one spot to stand and usually that is to defend the other side. So if you tell someone that they must change something, or they must do something, people will come up with excuse after excuse. So rather than getting someone to defend their current behavior, we want to get them talking about change. As the client begins to start talking about change and some of the things they can be doing differently, they are likely to follow through on those…show more content…
The first principal was developing discrepancy which explains developing cognitive dissonance by saying “I hear you telling me your situation is important and at the same time I hear you telling me reasons why you can’t do anything about it so let us talk about how that’s working for you because it’s really important for you to do something different”. The second principal was avoiding argumentation which is pretty straight forward. Arguments are counter-productive and defending breeds’ defensiveness. Resistance is a signal to change

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