Using Motivational Interviewing to Manage Resistance and Ambivalence Workshops
FREE 2-DAY WORKSHOP
Using Motivational Interviewing to Manage Resistance and Ambivalence
Presented by Dr. Henny Westra, York University
Although mental health problems can be highly disabling, many clients are ambivalent about change and this can often lead to resistance, frustration, tension, and a feeling of ‘stuckness’ in therapy. Motivational Interviewing (MI: Miller & Rollnick, 2002) is a brief, client-centered therapy aimed at understanding and resolving ambivalence to change. MI has been shown to be effective in the treatment of addictions and has also achieved increasing empirical support in the treatment of a wide range of mental health and health behaviors. Moreover, a specific focus on resistance (based on process research) is increasingly gaining momentum as a key stand-out moment in therapy, since how the therapist deals with these impasses has been shown to be critical to client outcomes.
In this workshop, you will learn how to identify and deal with ambivalence and resistance (stuckness) in therapy using Motivational Interviewing skills (MI: Miller & Rollnick, 2002). MI is an empirically supported treatment that is gaining increasing support for many disorders beyond additions, including health behaviors, corrections, anxiety, and related problems. MI is particularly useful in helping therapists to effectively navigate client ambivalence about change and also to manage resistance in order to diffuse its toxic impact on client outcomes.
Illustrations will be drawn from numerous domains including addictions, anxiety, eating disorders, depression, and health behaviors. Since resistance and ambivalence can be encountered when considering any change, the skills you will learn are generalizable to many different contexts. Moreover, you will also have the opportunity to consider examples from your own practice and the populations that you serve. Much of the work will involve video demonstration as a simulated context for learning. In addition, group practice exercises, and some didactic instruction will be used to facilitate skill acquisition and application to your particular setting and practice.
In this workshop, you will:
• Learn to hear client change-talk and counter-change talk
• Learn to spot resistance in the process of therapy
• Learn to cultivate empathic understanding and supportive listening skills for exploring ambivalence and rolling with resistance
• Acquire skills in responding to MI markers to move the client productively to resolving ambivalence and enhancing intrinsic motivation & commitment to change
• Learn to watch the client’s response to your interventions in order to get feedback to help you shape your skills
• Learn how to move flexibly with clients to blend more supportive and more directive clinical styles
All the workshops will involve these learning objectives. The purpose of the larger study is to determine how individual differences in learning preferences/styles impact response to different methods of learning MI.
Measures. Before and after the workshop you will complete several questionnaires assessing your learning style, preference for clinical style, interpersonal reactivity, and your clinical and training experiences. You will also fill out a measure indicating your satisfaction with the training and specific helpful or unhelpful aspects. You will also complete a video vignette task asking you to respond to common clinical scenarios depicted in the videos. Finally, you will complete a series of 3 brief (20 min each) interviews with simulators depicting ambivalence and resistance (2 simulators and one volunteer who is ambivalent about some specific issue e.g., smoking, procrastinating, eating better, improving lifestyle, being more assertive, etc.). Ambivalent volunteers will be screened to rule out any major mental disorders or more severe issues and will be aware that this is a one-time brief interview/conversation. You will also complete several brief questionnaires after each interview (5-10 min) asking about your experiences during the interview. In order to assess reactivity, your heart rate will be monitored during the interviews via electrodes (that you can easily attach yourself) and a portable device. All interviews will be recorded and subsequently coded by trained coders for MI proficiency. These assessments are validated and widely used measures that also afford the opportunity to consolidate and reflect on one’s skill development; a normal part of the training process.
All post-workshop interviews will take place in a 3 hour testing block that you will be able to sign up for in advance. When your application is confirmed, you will sign up (online) for: (1) a post-workshop testing session to occur on one of the three days immediately following the workshop and (2) a follow-up testing session to occur 4 months after the workshop (i.e., Sept, 2018).
Suggested Readings:
Westra, H.A. (2012). Motivational Interviewing in the Treatment of Anxiety. New York: Guilford Press.
Miller, W., and Rollnick, S. (2002). Motivational interviewing: Preparing people for change (2nd Ed.). New York: Guilford Press.
Dr. Henny Westra, Workshop Leader
Dr. Westra is a highly experienced scientist and practitioner, as well as a dynamic trainer. She is internationally recognized as a leader in interpersonal process and the application of Motivational Interviewing to anxiety and related disorders. She is a Professor of Psychology at York University in Toronto and has published and presented very widely on resistance, ambivalence, Motivational Interviewing, and psychotherapy integration. She is the author of the book “Motivational Interviewing in the Treatment of Anxiety”. Her research, including several major clinical trials comparing MI to MI integrated with CBT, has been funded by CIHR and NIMH.
Workshop Dates: A total of four workshops (2-days each) will be held with a maximum capacity of 24 participants each.
You would select one of the following 2-day workshops.
• Workshop 1: Mon, Apr 30 & Tues, May 1, 2018 (York Lanes, Rm 280N)
• Workshop 2: Mon, May 7 & Tues, May 8, 2018 (York Lanes, Rm 305)
• Workshop 3: Tues, May 22 & Wed, May 23, 2018 (Behavioral Sciences Bldg, Rm 164)
• Workshop 4: Tues, May 29 & Wed, May 30, 2018 (Behavioral Sciences Bldg, Rm 164)
Note that:
o All workshops will held at York University, Keele Campus, from 9am to 4:30pm (now accessible by subway)
o Only those who plan to attend both full days of training are eligible
o A range of participants will be selected based on their learning preferences.
o Students and mental health professionals from all disciplines & at all levels of training are welcome to apply
o Space is limited so apply early.
o You will be notified as to whether you have been selected to attend after registration closes (sometime in March). Once notified, you will complete the informed consent process and sign up (online) for your post-workshop and follow-up testing sessions.
Fee: No charge for the workshop in exchange for your participation & the pre and post workshop testing, including the 4 month post-workshop followup (to be held in Sept, 2018). For
To Apply: submit the application here