In your time at BYEP, you may have heard the term “Motivational Interviewing,” this is a counseling approach that is directive and client-centered. It is a tool that the Program Managers often use, and as you gain confidence and trust with the participants, can be a great tool for mentors to utilize as well.

When to use Motivational Interviewing (MI)?

• When a participant brings up a “problem” in their life and is ambivalent about it.

  • Ambivalence: The state of having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone (in MI it is the participant’s task to articulate and resolve ambivalence).

• Examples of “problems” include addictive behavior, unhealthy habits, or any specific negative behavior.

  • Can you think of times when your participants have presented these problems?

When a participant presents this situation, there are a series of steps you can take to use MI (they do not have to be done in any order):

• Listen without judgment; show empathy and do not try to fix the problem. This allows the participant to open up about their hopes (desire for change) and fears (barriers to change). The more the participant trusts you the less resistance there will be to exploring new ideas and attitudes.

• Help the participant focus in on what is important to them - ask some questions to clarify what they are feeling/thinking, as well as to reflect back to them what you heard. There will be reasons to change and reasons to stay the same. Tune in to “change talk” or suggestions by the participant as to what change could look like or feel like. Collaborate with the participant to identify their goal.

• Talk with the participant about why they want to change. There may be multiple reasons, and they also may tell you reasons why they can’t or don’t want to change. That is okay because by developing discrepancy they are identifying the problem better. Remember to let them direct much of this conversation, and if there is resistance make sure to validate, but also help them focus on their previously stated reason to change. See if they can come up with one reason to change that is most important to them. Be very careful giving advice, and only do so with permission from the participant.

• Help the participant plan for how they can begin to go about making change in their life. Collaborate with them on what actions they can take to work toward their goals in a realistic way. Ask questions to assess how ready the participant is to change.

A big shoutout to you all for facilitating positive experiences for our participants in workshop, on adventure, and in the tutoring center. We are so grateful.

We are excited to announce that we are hiring two new Program Managers and one new Data & Grants Manager. Check out our hiring page for more details!