Motivational Interviewing is a guided method of communication undertaken between an individual and a trained coach.  It is used to strengthen a person’s motivation and commitment to change through addressing the ambivalence they feel towards that change.  Motivational Interviewing differs from many other techniques that are sometimes used to support behaviour change in that it does not assume that the individual wants to change a particular aspect of their behaviour.  However, the coach has a strong sense of purpose and direction by understanding what it is that needs to change.  While the coach is an expert on change, it is the individual that is the expert on how they themselves can change.  The overall goal of Motivational Interviewing is to increase the individual’s internal motivation, so that change arises from within rather than being imposed externally by someone else.

Motivational Interviewing can be undertaken as a one-off session or form part of an on-going piece of work.  Educational Psychologists may undertake Motivational Interviewing on a 1:1 basis when working with another professional such as a teacher.  When they deem it appropriate to do so, Educational Psychologists may also undertake Motivational Interviewing with a young person.

While Motivational Interviewing was developed as a 1:1 intervention, it can also be used with a group and Aberdeenshire Educational Psychologists will most often apply it in a group situation within their Consultation meetings.  Using Motivational Interviewing within a Consultation, the Educational Psychologist guides a collaborative exploration of concerns and current attitudes towards those concerns as well as finding and evoking intrinsic motivation towards change in order to jointly come up with an action plan to address concerns.