Developed by William R. Miller (Motivational Interviewing with Problem Drinkers, 1983) and, with Stephen Rollnick, set out in Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change (third edition, 2013).
A conversation method that draws out a person's own reasons to change through open questions, affirmations, reflections, and summaries, then builds on them until a plan emerges.
When to reach for it
When the person who must change is ambivalent, and more facts, more persuasion, or more training have stopped moving them.
How it runs
- Build rapport with open questions and reflections, withholding judgment.
- Agree together on which change the conversation is about.
- Ask questions that draw out the person's own reasons for changing.
- Reflect each reason back, a little stronger than it was said.
- When readiness shows, work out concrete next steps together.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- Motivational Interviewing with Problem Drinkers, 1983
- Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change, Guilford Press, third edition; first edition 1991, 2013