Motivational
Interviewing
(MI)
What Is Motivational
Interviewing (MI)?
Motivational Interviewing (MI) is not a manualized therapeutic intervention like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). Rather, MI is a collaborative, client centered style of conversation that encourages clients to explore and become familiar with their goals and values, as well as identify their own reasons and motivation for wanting to make a change.
What is
Different
About MI?
MI is powerful because it goes against prescriptive Western models of medical treatment and care – rather than having a mental health/medical provider serve as the “expert” to tell clients what they need, MI really honors the idea that clients are experts on themselves and have the wisdom to cultivate their own solutions with a therapist’s support.
MI can be used as a time limited intervention to help someone explore their reasons for change and to commit to change that may feel difficult to make, as well as outline the steps they need to take to make it. MI can also be woven into other change-focused therapies, like when clients need to maintain certain therapy goals or follow through with behavior change even in the face of short term discomfort. MI trained therapists do this by evoking a client’s point of view through open ended questions, affirmations, and/or reflections.
