Motivational Interviewing (MI) Training
Improve your therapeutic effectiveness
and support your client's growth
through evidence-based practices.
Do you wonder how you can improve your ability to help clients make successful steps toward healing?
Do you find yourself struggling in helping others merge the gap between good intentions and lasting behavioral changes?
Are you looking to develop confidence and flow in your supportive communication skills?
Do you want to gain a professional edge by gaining expertise in this widely researched and respected evidence-based strategy?
You have decided to devote your life to helping others. Your clients come to you because they need or deeply wish to make positive changes. They might want to adopt a healthier lifestyle, implement effective stress-management techniques, find a more fulfilling career path, move past their drug abuse, or let go of unhealthy relationships. Despite your capabilities and experience, you wish you could be more effective at supporting their growth. Clients may easily become resistant, dismissive, or relapse into old self-destructive patterns. You may even begin to doubt whether the work you do is even making a difference.
Do you wish you could find effective tools and strategies to support your client's path toward change?
Helping people make positive changes is a well known struggle.
Making changes is scary. Feeling ambivalent toward change is a common and understandable experience if we consider the unsure rewards and immediate costs of venturing outside what is familiar. Potential failure, anxiety, and self-blaming could be waiting just around the corner, and there are usually strong internal conflicts resulting from unconscious sets of competing needs. Being with a client who feels “stuck” is one of the most common experiences shared among helping professionals.
The bad news is that we live in a just-do-it culture where the concept of “willpower” seems to regularly overshadow the fundamental subtleties of the human psyche. As we grow up, we are rarely taught the techniques and strategies which truly support helpful, collaborative, and compassionate verbal interactions. Hinging everything upon a distorted conception of productivity (more and faster results), can come at the expense of effectiveness and true healing.
We want to help and yet, without the appropriate tools and strategies for offering effective support, we may be doing more harm than good, inadvertently pushing the other into a defensive or actively self-destructive stance.
The good news, however, is that with a professional and individually-tailored training in Motivational Interviewing, you can develop the skills and confidence you need to effectively support your clients through important life changes.
What is Motivational Interviewing (MI)
and why is it so effective?
Motivational Interviewing (MI) is an evidence-based, client-centered counseling style designed to address ambivalence toward change and strengthen one's intrinsic motivation.
Originally developed by clinical psychologists Miller and Rollnick to address alcohol addition, MI is now effectively implemented in a wide variety of settings including primary healthcare, psycho-social rehabilitation, parenting, education, and career counseling.
A significant amount of scientific peer- reviewed research has demonstrated the effectiveness of this method in promoting sustained behavioral change and in reducing the experience of burnout for the practitioners [to learn more, see our References page for resources]
MI is especially effective in:
Uncovering and strengthening one's intrinsic motivation toward making positive changes
Exploring and resolving states of ambivalence, allowing individuals to break free from the patterns that have been keeping them stuck
Reducing defensiveness and resistance within the therapeutic relationship
Decreasing rates of stress and burnout in the practitioners
Why Choose This Training?
Our commitment to improving therapeutic standards and increasing the effectiveness of helping professionals is reflected in our striving to offer the most comprehensive training at an affordable price.
With interactive training, practical tools and strategies, a supportive practice environment, and on-going evaluation, you will be able to feel confident in your practice and take your effectiveness as a healer to the next level.
1. It's professionally designed to bring you the most effective learning environment.
In line with the recommendations of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT), we have carefully designed our training programs to provide the most effective approach to achieving proficiency. Our method is centered around interactive lectures, experiential activities, and direct practice with feedback. You will receive manuals, resources, and handouts to help you develop your understanding of the material. As you develop your skills, we use standardized evidence-based assessment tools (MICA) to help you keep track of your progress and monitor your development. Additionally, we connect you to free Communities of Practice (CoP) where you can continue to develop the skills you acquired in the training.
2. It's a training developed by helping professionals for other helping professionals.
What sets our MI training apart is our particular focus on real-world applications of Motivational Interviewing to the specific challenges faced by helping professionals. The IrisBridge approach is informed by our own extensive experience as life-coaches and holistic practitioners. We have designed this training to provide you with practical strategies and solutions for effectively supporting your clients' path towards healing and growth.
3. It's flexible and tailored to your needs and preferences.
We believe than when it comes to learning a new skill, a cookie-cutter approach is not effective. Our training is always tailor-made to the specific needs and preference of our clients and through individual coaching we make sure that your questions and challenges are addressed.
4. It provides you with a Certificate of Completion in Motivational Interviewing Training.
More and more employers are looking for MI trained practitioners. Having a Certificate of Completion shows your employers and your clients that you are committed to providing the highest standard of care. To receive our certificate, participants need to complete the LEVEL 1 and LEVEL 2 workshops (or an equivalent of 20hrs of individual coaching) and pass a test-interview (audio recording or role-play) which will be evaluated according to standard MI measures of competence (MICA assessment).
What You Can Expect to Learn:
LEVEL 1: Introduction to Motivational Interviewing (10hrs)
-> Bio-psycho-social theories of change
-> Internal and external obstacles to change processes: common traps to avoid
-> Understand ambivalence and the nature of internal conflicts
-> OARS and other fundamental MI tools
-> How to craft powerful complex reflections to express empathy and support new insights
-> How to approach a technical vs adaptive challenge
-> How to "develop discrepancy" and tap into the client's larger vision
-> The role of autonomy and self-determination within the therapeutic relationship
-> How to elicit and support "change talk" and why it matters
-> Uncoupling the levels of perceived importance and confidence: supporting the client's sense of self-efficacy
-> The basic building blocks of a session: the 4 foundational processes of MI
LEVEL 2: Advanced Tools and Strategies in Motivational Interviewing (10hrs)
-> Creative tools and techniques for exploring the client's values and uncovering internal conflicts
-> The wisdom of ambivalent states: working with the client's self-judgment and increasing their self-compassion
-> Advanced application of the 4 foundational processes of MI: developing the flow of the session and implementing change-supportive strategies
-> Different kinds of client resistance (e.g. "sustain talk," discord, false compliance, etc.) and how to effectively work with them
-> Fundamental elements of strategic and effective planning
-> How to blend MI with other therapeutic modalities
Organizational Trainings and the Certification Process:
We offer two levels of group training, Level 1: Introduction to Motivational Interviewing, and Level 2: Advanced Tools and Strategies in Motivational Interviewing.
Each training is delivered through a 2-day intensive workshop (9-3 PM) but we strive to offer flexible solutions that can suit the needs of your organization. Our Boulder office can accommodate up to 30 participants and we are also open to traveling to your location.
In line with the guidelines of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT), we have designed our workshops to include interactive lectures, hands on skill-building activities, and opportunities for evaluative feedback on individual performance.
Upon completing our Level 1 training, participants will receive the Certificate of Completion in Introduction to Motivational Interviewing and will be eligible to join our free Community of Practice (CoP) held every week in Boulder. This supportive and committed group of practitioners provides the ideal environment for retaining and developing proficiency in this therapeutic modality. We also offer individual coaching with one of our MI professionals, delivered by phone or Skype.
To receive the Certificate of Completion in Advanced Tools and Strategies in Motivational Interviewing, participants will have to complete Level 2 AND are asked to submit a recorded session (or schedule a role-play session with one of our coaches), which will be evaluated using evidence-based tools to measure MI competency. After achieving a passing score in your final test-interview, you will be issued your advanced Certificate.
About your Trainer:
Francesca Bini, MA, LPCC, R-DMT, ACC, NCC, SPD
Francesca is a psychotherapist and Motivational Interviewing trainer member of the MINT (Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers).
With a significant professional and teaching experience in MI, she has worked as an MI trainer, coach, and professional MI coder (MITI4 and MICA) for a variety of organizations including Focus Re-Entry, Rose Medical Center, J-Sat, and the Noeticus Training Center, helping professionals on a one-on-one basis as well as groups and organizations wanting to support their clients in making healthy changes in their lives.
Frequently Asked Questions:
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Fees and Booking:
Our fees are determined around the specific needs of the practitioner or organization. Factors such as number of participants, the location of the training, depth of practice and feedback, and the preferred training format are all considered. Discounts and scholarships are available for NGOs, students, and institutions in need of financial assistance. Contact us to receive more information.
Our most popular Introduction to Motivational Interviewing package is broken down as follows:
2 day in-person (or zoom) training covering theoretical and experiential elements of MI ($750 per day, $1500 total). 10.30am - 3.00pm (4.5 hours each day, 9hrs of training in total).
1 hour of recorded MI practice + individualized feedback session with your trainer per each individual participant ($185), or 30m recorded practice + feedback ($92) per individual
Motivational Interviewing manual and handouts included in the price
OPTIONAL: Professional MITI 4 or MICA coding for the recorded session (+ $75)
OPTIONAL: MI level 2 training or Refresher Q&A meetings in person or on zoom for an additional fee.
To make our services affordable, we offer payment plans options.
Become a trained Motivational Interviewing practitioner
If you are interested in training in Motivational Interviewing or if you have any questions about our training, contact us to schedule a 30-minute, free-of-charge phone consultation.