Motivational Interviewing

We are well underway with new professional training here at Tulane.  There are a lot of exciting things happening and as an intern I am privy to most trainings, meetings, etc. as a learning experience.  Last week we had a two-day training on Motivational Interviewing.

I have to say I wasn't the most excited about this one.  Not because I wasn't interested, but because I was ignorant to what the concept actually was.  Motivational Interviewing didn't sound like anything I would use.  But I was wrong.  I was way wrong.

If I had to define Motivational Interviewing to someone in my own words it would be: A counseling technique that allows the professional to empower the student to reach decisions through their own merit.  It is this way of strategically thinking questioning, affirming, reflecting, and summarizing so that students are not only comfortable delving deeper with you, but they open up their own understanding to see their situation more clearly.

I came out of this session absolutely energized.  I have a pretty relaxed conversational style when it comes to student conduct.  But I normally end up telling the student exactly what they did wrong, what they need to do to fix it, and how they can rejoin their community afterwards.  That's a lot of extra work on my part.  Work that I shouldn't be doing.  Our students are young adults on the cusp of entering the "real world".  When will be a better time to truly understand oneself?

However, Motivational Interviewing takes practice.  You have to constantly be using these techniques to become more proficient.  While I'm down here I am able to discuss these things with those ProStaffers that I went through training with, but when I get back to school the only avenue will be in student conduct meeting, RA one-on-ones, and one-on-one conversations with students.

The Psychologist in me wants to everyone I work with to have  better understanding of this skill.  So I took extensive notes, and have reached out to my peers for their notes with hopes to present this material to the ProStaff at VT or at least the Assistant Resident Learning Coordinators/Assistant Student Life Coordinators because this is so beneficial to our job function.  Can you tell I'm hyped?  I've even found a creative link to StrengthsQuest to tie it in to all the things we do back in Bburg.

I have to say I am excited to continue training down here with the great professionals at Tulane, I really don't want to leave.  But I'm just as excited to get back to VT and implement some of these things with my staff, colleagues, and friends!!


Peace,

PTJ