Developing Partnerships with Peer Workers Using the Spirit of Motivational Interviewing

In this two-day training, we will dive deep into the spirit of motivational interviewing: partnership acceptance, compassion and evocation (PACE). Peers will have opportunities to begin learning how to operationalize the spirit of motivational interviewing by learning the four tasks of motivational interviewing:

-Engaging – Can we walk together?
-Focusing – Where are we going?
-Evoking – Why would you go there?
-Planning – How will you get there?

Peers will also learn how motivational interviewing can be used along with the transtheoretical model of behavior change, to make certain they are using the correct skills for the stage of change exhibited by the client and not falling into traps like expert, persuasion. time, and wandering.

As a result of this training, participants will be able to:

-Define motivational interviewing as it relates to developing partnerships with clients
-Connect motivational interviewing with the stages of change
-Explain the “spirit of motivational interviewing” (PACE)
-Develop partnerships with their clients using MI

Intended audience

Peer workers who are working in the community with others seeking ways to change difficult or challenging behaviors.