Motivational Interviewing (MI)

“MI is a collaborative, goal-oriented 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.” (Miller & Rollnick, 2013, p. 29)

The most current version of MI is described in detail in Miller and Rollnick (2013) Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change (3rd edition). Key qualities include:

  • MI is a guiding style of communication, that sits between following (good listening) and directing (giving information and advice).
  • MI is designed to empower people to change by drawing out their own meaning, importance and capacity for change.
  • MI is based on a respectful and curious way of being with people that facilitates the natural process of change and honors client autonomy.

I have been a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) since 2025.

I provide Motivational Interviewing trainings to medical and behavioral health providers, clergy, teachers, administrators, social workers, law enforcement, community organizations, colleges and universities, managed care organizations, students, peer support specialists, and more. Learn about MI training.

I also use Motivational Interviewing every day in my own work — as a therapist and as an international coach.

What people often get wrong about Motivational Interviewing (MI)

A smiling Colt Gordon with curly hair and a beard is wearing a white shirt, standing in front of a colorful landscape background and a bookshelf.

The Misconception

A good counselor tells you what you should do.

The Reality

The moment someone says "you should," the other person's job becomes defending why they can't — psychologists call it the righting reflex, and it reliably backfires. MI honors your autonomy on purpose: you're the expert in your own life. Advice is offered when asked; your reasons do the heavy lifting.

The Misconception

Anyone warm and empathetic is basically doing MI.

The Reality

“MI is not just being nice to people, and it is not identical to the client-centered counseling approach that Carl Rodgers initially described as ‘nondirective.’ MI’s focusing, evoking, and planning tasks have clear directionality to them. After the initial engaging, there is intentional, strategic movement toward one or more specific goals.” Miller and Rollnick

The Misconception

Feeling two ways about change means I don’t really want it.

The Reality

Ambivalence is the normal state of anyone facing real change — part of you wants it, part of you defends the familiar. Familiar hells are preferable to strange heavens, until they're examined. MI treats ambivalence as the workspace, not the obstacle: exploring both sides honestly is precisely how the wanting side wins.

The Misconception

MI sounds like a technique for manipulating people.

The Reality

Manipulation moves you toward the practitioner's goal; MI moves you toward yours. The method only evokes reasons that are already in you, and it explicitly honors your right to not change. If you have no reasons for change, MI finds nothing to work with — that's the integrity check built into the model.

The Misconception

MI takes years, like classic therapy.

The Reality

MI is one of the best-validated brief interventions in behavioral science — meaningful shifts regularly happen within a handful of conversations, because the method targets the decision point, not the whole personality. In my practice it’s often the ignition system: MI starts the engine, ACT/the Six Pillars drive the miles.

The Misconception

Motivational interviewing is just being agreeable and supportive.

The Reality

MI is warm, but it’s not passive — it’s a guiding style that sits deliberately between following (good listening) and directing (advice-giving). The practitioner is actively evoking your own reasons for change and steering the conversation toward them. It feels gentle. It’s working the whole time.

The Misconception

Motivational interviewing is just for addiction counseling.

The Reality

MI began in addiction treatment, but its evidence base now spans health behavior, chronic disease management, mental health, education, criminal justice, and leadership. Anywhere humans feel two ways about change — which is everywhere — MI applies. That's why organizations from hospitals to police departments train in it.

The Misconception

People only change when confronted hard with the truth.

The Reality

Decades of research say the opposite — confrontation produces resistance, and resistance predicts non-change. The harder someone argues at you, the harder you defend the status quo. MI's atmosphere of acceptance and compassion isn't softness; it's the condition under which people stop defending and start moving.

The Misconception

Talking about my reasons can’t actually change anything.

The Reality

The research says otherwise: the more a person voices their own arguments for change — what MI calls change talk — the more likely change becomes. Hearing yourself say it matters in a way hearing someone else say it never does. The conversation isn't preparation for the work. It is the work.

The Misconception

You either have motivation or you don’t.

The Reality

Motivation isn't a fixed trait — it's already in you, usually buried under ambivalence, and it can be drawn out. MI's whole premise is that people talk themselves into change far more durably than anyone else can. The method is eliciting your reasons, not installing mine.

    FAQ about Motivational Interviewing

    Let's Talk

    Set up a 15-minute free consultation.
    The hardest part is reaching out — so we keep it small. Fifteen minutes, no paperwork, no pressure. If I'm not the right fit, I'll say so and point you to someone who is. Either way, you leave with a next step.
    Request Appointment