Motivational Interviewing Beyond Foundations

Motivational Interviewing Beyond Foundations:

  Combination of webinar, self-paced online content, and practice and feedback sessions, totaling 18 hours.

  Appropriate for a wide range of professionals and peer helpers.

Prerequisite: MI Foundations or equivalent

For people who already have a foundational understanding, the Motivational Interviewing Beyond Foundations program delves deeper into the spirit of motivational interviewing, the four processes of MI, and working with people who may not seem ready or interested in making changes. This interactive virtual offering focuses on the key attitudes, skills and strategies that are linked to effectiveness in supporting change.

Learning includes

  • 1 Skills demonstration with a standardized patient (30 min)
  • Interactive webinars and self-paced mini online courses (16.5 hours total)
  • 2 individual practice and feedback sessions via zoom (1 hour total)
  • 12 week series of weekly emails with resources and examples, prompting learners to practice a specific skill in their interactions that week and then check in with a study partner or team.

This course can accommodate 12 learners per group.

Contact us for more information about registration.

Learning Objectives

  • Describe how to apply the spirit of MI to people living at risk.
  • Demonstrate empathetic listening.
  • Demonstrate increased depth, complexity and number of reflections.
  • Address emotional content in an MI-consistent way.
  • Identify and Incorporate a person’s values into a conversation about change.
  • Consider strategies for effective communication and engagement
  • Describe communication roadblocks
  • Demonstrate how to use MI-consistent ways to address communication roadblocks.
  • Identify disengagement traps.
  • Describe ways to avoid or decrease disengagement traps.
  • Guide a conversation to a focus.
  • Recognize and respond to subtle change talk.
  • Demonstrate how to develop discrepancy between a person’s current and desired situation.
  • Transition between processes in a conversation
  • Evaluate a peer in an MI conversation and provide specific feedback.
  • Consider how to fully integrate MI into daily practice.

Training Approach

This is an interactive skills-based training that is designed for participants who want to consider practical applications for their interactions. CCMI uses learner-centred, performance-based approaches to adult education. The MI Beyond the Foundations Workshop includes:

  • Learning activities that evoke understanding and build skills.
  • Practice activities that increases practical understanding and allow trainers to provide constructive feedback.
  • Facilitated discussions about how new skills and knowledge can be applied in learners’ interactions.

Practice & Feedback

Practice and feedback sessions increase the learner’s confidence and increase their ability to apply the concepts, skills, and strategies to practice.

An important part of the online course is the motivational interviewing practice and feedback practice sessions. These sessions give learners an opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills that they are learning. MI foundations practice and feedback sessions are one-on-one conference sessions with an instructor. They are 30 minutes in length and focus on application of concepts, skills, and strategies to practice. Learners schedule their own sessions, based on a selection of available times.

We use the Zoom platform for practice and feedback for several reasons. Zoom with video allows us to see each other’s body language, which can be important in interpreting what people are saying. Many professionals interact with the people they serve on the phone or via video, so this also provides an opportunity to be comfortable with virtual interactions.

During practice and feedback sessions, learners can decide how they want to spend their time. Here are some common options:

  1. Clarification of a topic: Learn additional information covered in your workshop or online course. You will receive a short description or demonstration, have an opportunity to briefly discuss the topic, practice and get feedback as needed;
  2. Case study: Bring a situation with a patient or client that you would like to discuss. This would be a situation where you might be “stuck” or would benefit from a new perspective and how to apply what you learned from your workshop or online course. Be prepared to describe and discuss the situation and the principles or skills that might apply and practice and get feedback of skills as needed;
  3. Role play: The CCMI trainer will play a patient or client and you will have an opportunity to practice your skills and then receive feedback. You may want to focus on a particular skill, such as “I’d like to work on complex reflections” or a strategy “I’d like to practice evoking change talk” or how to guide a conversation through the four processes.
  4. Real play: The CCMI trainer will discuss an area of their own lives that they are ambivalent about. Ask an open-ended question to start the discussion like “What would you like to talk about today?” Consider how to use everything you know about MI to support them through the conversation.
  5. Your idea. You may have an additional way you would like to spend your time working with a knowledgeable CCMI trainer.

See our CCMI Services page for an overview of all of our offerings and details like workshop prerequisites, duration, and capacity.