Motivational Interviewing

The more I work with clinical social workers...and the more I work with my own therapist...the more I realize that if there was ONE thing you can do to make yourself a better clinician...it's to practice what is detailed in Miller & Rollnick's "Motivational Interviewing." I really wish they had used this book as THE textbook for our first year practice course.

I'll go further and say that one of the most important things outlined in the book is the notion of the "righting reflex." This reflex is essentially the clinician's natural desire to fix things...and as social workers we naturally want to fix everything.

MI states that we have to be aware of and stop ourselves from giving in to the righting reflex. Wanting to fix things right away doesn't help people. In fact, I think wanting to fix things right can leads clinicians into lecturing...which is definitely the last thing you want to do...(and I know because I catch myself doing this...it's a problem and it doesn't help my clients.)

By stopping myself from wanting to fix my client's problems, I've opened myself and the client to solving their own problems...it allows the client to enter into a self dialogue that creates insight that is more pertinent to their needs...and it gives them the freedom to know that they are allowed to freak out without me needing to fix it because I'm uncomfortable with what they are saying or doing.

Unfortunately, I think the difficulty in doing MI is that it requires people to LISTEN....why is it so hard for people to listen...why is it so hard for me to listen....just be quiet....and listen...not give advice....listen.