MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING REFLECTION

As Miller & Rollnick (2013) explains, the term Motivational Interviewing (MI) refers to a set of pragmatic strategies/techniques directed to an individual’s willingness level of adjusting to his/her behavior. MI seeks to identify and resolve ambivalence, and is centered on various motivational processes that make it easier for an individual to change his or her behavior. It should be understood that motivational interviewing is totally different from externally-driven approaches used to motivate change. This is because MI does not focus on imposing change, but rather concentrates in supporting behavior change in a manner that is in accordance with the concerns and values of an individual. Based on the above facts, this paper presents a summary of the key components of motivational interviewing, and establishes different ways in which an individual can use the concepts of motivational interviewing when counseling clients with addictions or substance use disorders.

There are four key components that provide guidance to the practice of motivational interviewing namely Express Empathy, Support Self-Efficacy, Roll with Resistance, and Develop Discrepancy. The concept of Express Empathy requires an individual to relate his thoughts, experiences, and feelings to those of the client. This approach provides a client with an opportunity to express his or her experiences while seeking assistance (Satomi, 2007). The concept can be applied well when counseling clients with addictions because the counselor is able to gain a good understanding of the impact of the addiction. Based on the fact that the approach provides the client with a chance to be heard and understood, then it means that a client can easily reveal important information about his or her addiction hence making it easier for the counselor to undertake the counseling process.

The success of the Support Self-Efficacy Concept depends on the client’s willingness or desire to change (Satomi, 2007). This concept can work well when counseling clients with addictions or substance use disorders because counselors are able to support self-efficacy. When undertaking this process, the counselors always try as much as possible to focus more on the previous achievements or success of the client while ignoring the failures. In addition, the counselors can assist an individual who suffers from a given addiction by highlighting his/her current strengths and skills.

The Roll with Resistance concept requires counselors to avoid engaging clients to arguments to prevent an increase in resistance (Satomi, 2007). This concept can also work well when counseling clients with addictions because counselors are able to avoid increasing resistance from an individual by avoiding any form of confrontation when resistance arises. Rolling with resistance eliminates any struggle during the counseling process, and leaves the client to express his or her problem, and contribute in identifying appropriate solutions.

Lastly, the Develop Discrepancy concept argues that motivation for change arises when individuals find discrepancies between their current state, and where they would want to be in future (Satomi, 2007). A counselor can use this concept to explain to an individual who suffers from an addiction on the need to change his/her behavior because it can easily affect his/her ability to meet future goals.

From the above discussion, I have learned a number of things about the effectiveness of motivational interviewing. For example, I have learnt that the success of a counseling process depends on the ability of a counselor to employ all the key components of motivational interviewing. The choice of a given concept should be based on the way in which a client expresses himself/herself. For instance, the Roll with Resistance concept should be applied to individuals who show some form of resistance to prevent any struggle from occurring during the counseling process.

References

Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (2013). Motivational interviewing: Helping people change. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Satomi, A. (2007). The Efficacy of Motivational Interviewing for the Criminal Population. Carbondale: ProQuest.