Professional Training Series

Motivational Interviewing: Professional Training Series, 1998
William R. Miller & Stephen Rollnick
Directed by Theresa B. Moyers

This series of six videotapes or two DVDs, produced at the University of New Mexico, is intended to be used as a resource in professional training, offering six hours of clear explanation and practical modeling of component skills. Because it is helpful to see how a method is practiced in various contexts, the tapes include clinical demonstrations of the skills of motivational interviewing, showing ten different therapists working with twelve clients who bring a variety of problems. Drs. Miller and Rollnick are deeply grateful to Terri Moyers, who volunteered many weeks of her time for the planning, directing, editing, and completion of these tapes.

A. Introduction to Motivational Interviewing. The introductory tape is a conversational interview with Bill Miller and Steve Rollnick, conducted in the summer of 1997 by Theresa Moyers. They review the background and current directions of motivational interviewing, explore its essential theoretical and conceptual underpinnings, and discuss its five basic principles. This is by no means a comprehensive introduction to motivational interviewing. Rather, it sets the context for the demonstration tapes that follow.

B. Phase 1: Opening Strategies. This is the most complex of the tapes, and spans two videocassettes. It is designed to illustrate the skills involved in the opening phase of motivational interviewing. Phase I focuses on identifying and strengthening the person's intrinsic motivation for change. It begins with the first contact and continues until the transition into Phase II, illustrated on Tape 6.

C. Handling Resistance. Motivational interviewing includes a set of strategies for handling and decreasing resistance. The information presented in this videotape is particularly useful during Phase I, although the methods are applicable throughout counseling. The phenomenon of "resistance" is discussed, and various strategies are explained and demonstrated.

D. Feedback and Information Exchange. One context in which motivational interviewing has been widely practiced is the "check-up" or feedback of assessment information. This specialized application involves much more talking on the part of the therapist, in that more information is being imparted to the client. How does one take this more active, information-giving role and still be consistent with the spirit of motivational interviewing? That is the focus of this tape.

E. Motivational Interviewing in Medical Settings. A rapidly growing application of motivational interviewing is in general health care settings. Here it is often necessary to compress the process of counseling into a shorter period of time. This tape explores how the spirit of motivational interviewing can be applied in busy health care settings.

F. Phase 2: Moving Toward Action. How do you know when to move from Phase 1 (building motivation for change) into Phase 2 (consolidating commitment to a change plan)? What counseling methods are used in Phase 2, and how do they differ from the opening strategies of motivational interviewing? That is the focus of the final tape in this series.

Available in VHS Tapes, DVDs, and now VHS PAL (European Format)