You cannot make someone change. You probably already know this — not as an abstract principle, but from experience. You can provide information, offer support, create opportunities. But the person in front of you is the one who decides whether and how to use them.
Motivational Interviewing — MI — is an approach to conversations about change that works with this reality rather than against it. Developed by William Miller and Stephen Rollnick in the 1980s, it has since become one of the most researched and widely used approaches in addiction treatment, healthcare, social care, and homelessness services.
MI is not a set of tricks for persuading people to do things they don't want to do. It is a way of having conversations that help people explore their own ambivalence — the part of them that wants to change and the part that does not — and move, at their own pace and on their own terms, towards the changes they choose.
This module introduces the principles, spirit, and core skills of motivational interviewing. It is designed to be practical — giving you tools you can use tomorrow — rather than comprehensive. Becoming skilled in MI takes time and practice; this is an introduction to get you started.
This is a Developing-level module within Subject 3: Professional Practice and Reflective Skills.