In the early 1980s, psychotherapist Dr. William Miller discovered certain techniques that were highly effective at fostering lasting change with alcoholic clients. During numerous scientific studies, Dr. Miller's strategies were shown to be effective in facilitating a wide range of health and lifestyle behavior change. This method of counseling has evolved over time to become an evidence-based practice called Motivational Interviewing (MI).
In a 2009 lecture, Dr. Miller provided his working definition of MI as a "collaborative, person-centered form of guiding, to elicit and strengthen a person's motivation to change." Skillful use of MI is strongly correlated with improved client results.
What does this mean? It means that the more effective you are at using MI, the better you'll be able to support your clients in successfully changing their behaviors. With respect to employment, MI will enable you to more effectively motivate your client to search for, obtain, and keep a job.
In practicing MI, there are several counseling elements which, while not unique to MI, must be present if you are to be effective in supporting behavior change. This is also sometimes called "the spirit of MI." Specifically, you should strive for working relationships with your clients that are:
- Collaborative
- A partnership between you and the client.
- An opportunity for you to share and model behaviors with your client.
- Respectful of the client's autonomy as the decision-maker and owner of his or her behavior.
- Evocative
- Elicit or evoke motivation and "change-talk" from the client, rather than arguing or directing him or her to change.
- Use exploratory questions like "What makes you want to...?" or "What would you like about?" or "If you don't make any change, what do you think will happen?"
- Empowering
- Enable the client to explore and develop his or her own desire and reasons for change.
- Demonstrate respect and non-judgmental support of the job seeker's stage of change or rate of progress.
- Build "self-efficacy" or the confidence in one's own ability.
There is a useful acronym, "OARS," that captures many of the above concepts:
- Open-ended questions.
- Affirmations (of person, strengths, effort, intention).
- Reflections (active listening, repeat, rephrase).
- Summaries (drawing together of client's own perspective).
The key to applying these principles effectively is keeping all focus squarely on the client. Your role is to help him or her explore his or her own emotions, concerns, values, and goals. This means that you should AVOID:
- Asking close-ended questions that provide no opportunity for self-discovery.
- Making "I" statements, teaching, and giving opinions and advice.
- Using language that implies judgment. You should NOT describe circumstances or outcomes as "good" or "bad," for example, nor use "good" as an affirmation without relating your comments directly to what the client has said.
- Basing statements and questions on your own experiences without considering whether they're relevant to the client.
To most successfully build your clients' self-awareness and change readiness, it's imperative that you go into each meeting fully refreshed on his or her activities and state of mind. Be sure to set aside time to review your notes prior to each session.
Check the Motivational Interviewing section of our site regularly for additional MI information and tools!
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