Feeling stuck or in struggle with clients? Come hone and elevate your skills to meet your clients where they are and help them move toward valued changes.   (printable MI flyer)

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is an evidence-based counselling approach to explore ambivalence in order to promote positive change by working with your client’s intrinsic motivations and values. MI is a collaborative, goal-oriented, supportive, yet directive style of communication with particular attention to the language of change. It is designed to strengthen personal motivation for and commitment to a specific goal by eliciting and exploring the person’s own reasons for change within an atmosphere of acceptance and compassion.

Advanced workshop for those who have been practicing with MI skills

When: Friday & Saturday, March 13-14, 2015, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm (each day) – Each day includes two 15-minute breaks, and 1 hour catered lunch at noon.

Where: UNC School of Social Work, 325 Pittsboro Street, Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building, Room 532, Chapel Hill, NC 27516

Description: In this advanced workshop, participants will have the opportunity to deepen their understanding and practice with Motivational Interviewing principles and strategies. They will increase their proficiency in differentiating between change talk and commitment language, and learn how to elicit and shape both. The trainer will provide coaching, feedback and more nuanced techniques to elicit “change talk” and move out of “discord.” The workshop will begin with a review of the spirit and techniques of Motivational Interviewing. Participants will then receive further training in using MI to deepen their work with clients through a combination of didactic material, observation, active role plays, and consultation. Participants are encouraged to bring examples from their own practice in which they felt discord rather than collaborative movement with clients. Participants will also have the opportunity to create change plans, consolidate commitment from clients, and otherwise integrate MI into their current practice.

Training Level: This is an intermediate to advanced level training, intended for practitioners who have learned the fundamentals of MI and have had an opportunity to practice the tools of MI over time. Workshop limited to 32 participants.

Resources: For more information and resources on MI, visit the  MINT website  (of the Motivational Interveiwing Network of Trainers).

Trainer: L. Worth Bolton, ACSW, LCAS, CCS

L. Worth Bolton, ACSW, LCAS, CCS, is a Clinical Assistant Professor with the Behavioral Healthcare Resource Program in the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Worth is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT), an international organization of trainers whose mission is to promote good practice in the application, research and training of MI. He is also a member of NASW’s Academy of Clinical Social Workers and is certified in Clinical Supervision and Addiction Services. He has served as chair of the N.C. Substance Abuse Professional Practice Board, the N.C. Foundation for Alcohol & Drug Studies, and the Steering Committee of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Section of the National Association of Social Workers. Prior to coming to UNC, Worth had 27 years of work experience in substance abuse services to adults and adolescents in inpatient, outpatient, residential, and institutional settings, providing counseling services for individuals and their families. His current areas of interest and study include assessment and treatment planning for the dually diagnosed, clinician credentialing in addictions, clinical supervision and clinical services to combat veterans. He provides frequent consultation, training, and technical assistance throughout the Southeastern US for human service agencies, business & industry, and the military.

Learning Objectives. By the conclusion of this program, participants will gain knowledge and skills to be able to:

1. Describe at least 2 characteristics of the “spirit” of MI.
2. Practice the 4 behavioral skills (“OARS”) to guide people in making a plan for change.
3. Identify the utility of the 4-processes of MI: Engaging, Focusing, Evoking, and Planning
4. Review and practice 7 specific techniques to increase client motivation.
5. Employ at least 3 techniques to develop discrepancy between goals and current behavior.
6. Increase their capacity to achieve attunement through the use of reflective thinking, listening, and responding.
7. Demonstrate at least 4 techniques to elicit, recognize and reinforce “change talk.”
8. Apply at least 2 strategies to avoid deficit-centered, disengagement “traps” e.g. “the righting reflex.”
9. Be able to identify and respond to “sustain talk” in a way that avoids “discord.”
10. Apply at least 1 strategy to form and strengthen therapeutic alliance under circumstances in which clients are under duress or distress.
11. Use at least 1 strategy to explore, amplify, and resolve ambivalence to change.
12. Employ at least 3 techniques to reduce client resistance to changing behavior.
13. Practice at least 4 techniques to develop discrepancy between goals and current behavior.
14. Identify at least 1 technique to use when responding to client statements where there is little motivation to change.
15. Generate affirmations in response to client statements.
16. Generate complex reflections in response to client statements.
17. Apply at least 2 strategies to identify the client’s degree of readiness to change
18. Use at least 2 techniques during a role play to help a client experience the discrepancy between current behavior and the health promoting behavior.
19. Use at least 1 scale to self-assess competency in Motivation Interviewing techniques with greater objectivity.
20. Discuss motivation as it pertains to their own clients in the MI process.
21. Practice 1 strategy to create change plans with clients.
22. Practice at least 1 technique to consolidate commitment from clients.
23. Utilize MI behavioral skills of OARS (Open-ended questions, Affirmation, Reflections, and Summaries) to guide persons being served to make a plan for change.
24. Explore the relevance of MI to the work that practitioners are or will be doing with those they serve
25. Strategies to form and strengthen therapeutic alliance under circumstances in which clients are under duress or distress.

CREDITS: Each program will provide 13 Contact Hours from University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Social Work.

13.0 Contact Hours from UNC Chapel Hill School of Social Work.

13.0 Contact Hours NBCC (provider #6642) The UNC School of Social Work is an NBCC-Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEPTM) and may offer NBCC-approved clock hours for events that meet NBCC requirements. The ACEP solely is responsible for all aspects of the program.  

The North Carolina Substance-Abuse Professional Practice Board has approved this workshop for 13 hours Substance Abuse Specific hours, Approval #14–080-S.

The program is co-sponsored by the North Carolina Psychological Association and the UNC School of Social Work. The North Carolina Psychological Association is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The North Carolina Psychological Association maintains responsibility for this program and its content. This program is offered for 13 hours of continuing education credit.

Registration Fee: $300 for instruction and administrative costs, certificate of completion, program materials, and lunch. Current UNC-CH Social Work students, faculty, field instructors, and task supervisors: $255. Category A credit, pending approval, available for additional $6 fee (collected day of event).

Scholarships available.

Register here

Transportation/Directions: The most reliable place to park is in the UNC Hospital lot on Manning Drive. Parking fee is $1.25/ hour. There are also numerous “park & ride” locations in Chapel Hill, with free bus service to (or near) the School of Social Work. Directions.

Payment and refund policies A refund of 70% of the paid registration fee will be available for written cancellation request is received 48 hours prior to the program date. You may send a substitute in your place.

Attendance Policy: To receive credit, you must be present for the entire session, and you must sign the sign-in and sign-out sheets. No credit will be given to participants who are more than 15 minutes late at the beginning of any session. No credit will be given to participants who leave before the close of a session. 

Address any questions to Deborah Barrett.