Motivational Counseling
Robert Pincus
Walden University
Northwood High School
Shreveport, Louisiana
rpincus@caddoschools.org
Objectives
• Review of person-centered counseling
• Introduction to Motivational Interviewing
– Philosophy
– Examples
• Review of REBT
• Combining theories to motivate students
Motivation
• Definition
– Stimulus or Influence – Webster Dictionary
– To incite – Dictionary.com
Motivational Interviewing (MI)
‘a directive, client-centred counselling
style for eliciting behaviour change by
helping clients to explore and resolve
ambivalence.’
• (Miller and Rollnick, 2002)
Person-centered
• Technique
– Directive questions(Carr & Smith, 2014)
– Client-centered
• Empathy, understanding, and unconditional positive
regard
• Attentiveness
• Reflections
• Summarizing
• Paraphrasing
Carl Rogers
• MI is based on the metalinguistic principles
that people can talk themselves into change
and that the practitioner’s job is to create the
conditions for this ‘‘change talk’’ to occur (Carr
& Smith, 2014).
• Carl Rogers self-actualization is evident in MI
MI in Schools
• Collaboration: ‘That the method of
motivational interviewing involves exploration
more than exhortation, and support rather than
persuasion or argument.’ (Miller and Rollnick,
2002).
• Evocation: That MI is not about imparting
information, but finding things within the
person and drawing them out. It requires
finding motivation for change from within the
person and evoking it.
MI in Schools (cont.)
• Autonomy: Any responsibility for change is
left with the client, no matter what the views of
professionals. It is the client rather than the
counselor that should ultimately present
arguments for change (Miller and Rollnick,
2002).
Principals of MI
• Empathy (Enea & Dafinoiu, 2009).
– Carl Rogers
• Developing discrepancy
– “opening up people, helping them get over ambivalence
and fostering a positive attitude toward change” (p. 188).
• Rolling with resistance
– “active involvement of the person in resolving his/her
problems and it highlights the peculiarity of motivational
interviewing, namely that the counselor does not fight the
person’s resistance but rolls with it” (p. 188).
• Self-efficacy
Coaching technique
• MI allows for the counselor to supply
information needed to assist the client in
making a decision (Hettema et al., 2014).
– Ask permission to share information
– Find out what student knows about topic
– Share the information
– Find out how the knowledge affects the students’
decision-making process
OARS
• Open questions
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–
–
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How would you like things to be different?
What is good and less good about the change?
What do you think you will lose if you make the change?
What do you want to do next?
• Affirmations
• Reflective Listening
• Summarizing
– Give special attention to CHANGE STATEMENTS
– Be aware of conflicting statements
– Be prepared to set up an action plan
Strategies
• Focus on student committing to action change
(Magill, Stout, & Apodaca, 2013).
• Behavior contract (Enea & Dafinoiu, 2009).
• Goal setting
– Reduce obstacles and hurdles
• Resources
– Versus focusing on weakness
Helping with decision making
(Rollnick et al, 1992)
Do not rush young people into making decisions about changing their
behaviour
Present options for the future, rather than one single course of action
Emphasize that the young person is the expert in their own behaviour
and may be the best judge of what is best for them
Resolutions to change often break down (as we know from our own
attempts!).
Make sure the young person understands this and does not avoid
contact if things go wrong
Commitment to change may be variable to the young person’s
circumstances. Be sensitive to the their predicament.
Providing the MI wheel as a model for young people
to evaluate their own behaviour
Stage 6
Relapsing
At times, things
go wrong when
we are
changing our
behaviour
Stage 5
Maintaining
Keeping the
change going
Stage 4
Doing
Actually making
a change
Stage 1
Prethinking
Not ready to
change or not
thinking about
change
Stage 2
Thinking
Working out
whether to
change
behaviour
Stage 3
Deciding
Deciding
whether or not
to change
behaviour
Role of educators
(Hardre et al., 2003)
• Foster situational engagement
• Nurture interest
• Promote the development of internal
motivational resources
– Support students interests
• Students value school more when it relates to their
interests
Video
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcu8oqH
Isbc
Self Determination Theory
(Hardre & Reeve, 2003)
• Fostering an interest in learning
• “Students become actively engaged in
educational activities to the extent that
classroom endeavors affirm their
competencies, and prove themselves to be
interesting and relevant to students’ lives (p.
347)
Goals
• Definition
– The result or achievement toward which effort is
directed; aim; end
• Dictionary.com
• Long term goals
• Short term goals
Long Term Goals
•
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Sports athlete
Fireman
Policeman
Teacher
CEO
Short Term Goals
•
•
•
•
•
Police/Fire Academy
A.A. Degree
Training
Pass FCAT
High School Diploma
REBT
• REBT
– Discuss obstacles for success
– Teach ABCs
– Consequences can be negative or positive
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
• ABCs
–Activating Event – the event that sets the student
off from working towards a degree
–Beliefs – the irrational ideas that the student
receives from the event
–Consequences – the end result of the
combination of A and B
Example 1
• Activating event – Teacher in classroom
constantly reminds student to continue working
on project. If student talks to his friends for a
second teacher is there.
• Belief – the student thinks the teacher hates him.
He gets angry every time the teacher speaks to
him
• Consequence – He refuses to work and mouths
off to the teacher; resulting in a referral. He is
suspended and loses several days of face-to-face
instruction.
Resolution
• We can change A or B
• In this case change B. The student realized it
was an irrational thought that the teacher
hated him and picked on him. The
rationalization is that he behaved poorly
based on thoughts that were irrational
• This student picked up his academics after this
breakthrough.
Example 2
• Student is acting out in class including walking
out several times
• Student believes other students are talking
about him due to a fight 4 weeks earlier. He
believes when they are whispering it is about
him
• Student gets behavior referrals from teacher
and then ISS and possibly OSS
Resolution
• Counselor spoke to student and group about
irrational thought. One student noted that she
saw the fight and had forgotten about it
completely. The student with the behavior
issue had felt a particular student was treating
him poorly – even in the group. Once he
understood his belief was irrational he started
working toward catching up in class and his
behavior improved.
References
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Carr, E. S., & Smith, Y. (2014). The poetics of therapeutic practice- Motivational interviewing and the
powers of pause. Culture, Medicine And Psychiatry, 38(1), 83-114.
Doran, N., Hohman, M., & Koutsenok, I. (2013). Motivational interviewing training in juvenile
corrections- A comparison of outside experts and internal trainers. Legal And Criminological
Psychology, 18(2), 262-273.
Enea, V., & Dafinoiu, I. (2009). Motivational/solution-focused intervention for reducing school
truancy among adolescents. Journal Of Cognitive And Behavioral Psychotherapies, 9(2), 185-198.
Hardre, P., & Reeve, J. (2003). A motivational model of rural students’ intentions to persist in, versus
drop out of, high school. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95(2), 347-356.
Hettema, J. E., Ernst, D., Williams, J. R., & Miller, K. J. (2014). Parallel processes- Using motivational
interviewing as an implementation coaching strategy. The Journal Of Behavioral Health Services &
Research, 41(3), 324-336.
Homelessness Resource Center (2007). Motivational interviewing: OARS. Retrieved from;
http://homeless.samhsa.gov/resource/motivational-interviewing-open-questions-affirmationreflective-listening-and-summary-reflections-oars-32840.aspx
Magill, M., Stout, R. L., & Apodaca, T. R. (2013). Therapist focus on ambivalence and commitment- A
longitudinal analysis of Motivational Interviewing treatment ingredients. Psychology Of Addictive
Behaviors, 27(3), 754-762.
Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (2002). Motivational interviewing: Preparing people for change (2nd
ed.). New York: Guilford Press.