Amy Soto, MS Cara Wiley, MS Brigham Young University Enhancing Conversations with Students: An Advising Practitioners Approach to Utilizing Motivational Interviewing to Elicit Change Amy Soto, MS Cara Wiley, MS Brigham Young University Cara – (1 minute)

What is Motivational Interviewing? Definition: “MI is a goal-oriented, client-centered counseling style for eliciting behavior change by helping clients to explore and resolve ambivalence.”(Miller & Rollnick, 2013) Amy – (1Minute)

Application for Advising What situations have you experienced with a student resisting change? What situations have you experienced with a student that wants to change but doesn’t know how? Major Choice Academic Success/Improvement Life Decisions Career Decisions Amy – (3 minutes) In terms of academic advising, partnership is an active collaboration between advisor and student. Acceptance is an unconditional, positive regard for the student (Roger, 1957) and is best expressed with empathy, not acquiescence to student demand. To be compassionate is to “actively promote the other’s welfare, to give priority to the other’s needs” (Miller & Rollnick, 2013). Lastly, evocation is to help others see their inner strength for change and elicit hope and confidence in the student.

A TASTE OF MI - ACTIVITY Pair Up TAKE 1 - Follow the cues on the Take 1 card Tell them how much they NEED to make this change Give them a LIST OF REASONS for doing so Emphasize the IMPORTANCE of changing Tell them HOW to do it Assure them that you CAN DO IT Exhort them to GET ON WITH IT Cara- (2 minutes) Real Play - Share something you would like to change

A TASTE OF MI - ACTIVITY Cont... TAKE 2 - Follow the cues on the Take 2 card “WHY would you want to make this change?” “HOW might you go about it in order to succeed?” “What are the THREE BEST REASONS for you to do it?” “HOW IMPORTANT is it for you to make this change, and why?” SUMMARIZE what they have said back to them “So what do you THINK YOU’LL DO?” Cara – (2 minutes) 2nd time – questions to ask

How did you feel with Take 1 vs. Take 2? REACTIONS How did you feel with Take 1 vs. Take 2? Cara - (3 minutes) Take 1 - Angry, Defensive, Uncomfortable, Powerless Take 2 - Engaged, Empowered, Open, Understood

Philosophy and Spirit of MI Collaborate rather than prescribe Elicit rather than install Honor autonomy of the individual Not to force Righting Response Spirit of MI: Partnership Acceptance Compassion Evocation Amy (3 minutes) The philosophy of Motivational Interviewing has 3 components: 1. Collaborate rather than prescribe, 2. Elicit rather than install, and 3. Honor autonomy of the individual. The principles that help guide those three components in MI are partnership, acceptance, compassion and evocation (Miller & Rollnick, 2013).

Overview of Categories Responding to Change Talk (OARS) Evoking Skills (Sustain v Change Talk) Evoking Hope and Confidence (Confidence Ruler, Reflections) Amy (1 minute)

Category 1: Responding to Change talk Open Ended Questions Affirmations Reflections Summary Statements Amy – (1 minute)

Open Ended Questions (Miller & Rollnick, 2013) Invites a person to think before answering with an explanation Cannot be answered by yes or no or a simple answer What brings you here today? How has this problem affected your day to day life? Where do you think this path you are on is leading you? What do you most value in life right now? How do you hope I might be able to help you? Tell me more about…. Amy (1 minute) Open Ended: Do you understand this? v. What do you understand?

Affirmations To accentuate the positive – including individual’s worth, recognize strengths, successes and efforts to change To support, to encourage Includes respect and empathy without judgement You really tried hard this week Your intention is good even though it didn’t turn out as you would have liked Thank you for coming in today. Thank you for your honesty. Thank you… Your courage when tackling these challenges is admirable. Amy (1 minute)

Reflections Most important skill in MI!!! Goals: build empathy, encourage people to state own reasons for change, affirming that the advisor understand what a student is feeling and doing. If you guess wrong, the student will correct you. Parroting It sounds like… It seems as if… What I hear you saying… I get the sense that… Student: ” I’m so overwhelmed with my class. My teacher is really tough.” Advisor: “Sounds like you are struggling with the subject matter.” Cara (2 minute)

Summary Statements Multiple reflections that pull together what the student has said This should be brief. Purpose: Linking – Tie together different parts of the message Collecting – Identify themes or patterns Transitions – Review progress Interrupt excessive rambling (Cormier & Nurius, 2003) Cara (1 minute)

OARS Example & Practice Cara (5 minute) What can you tell me about this example? Ineffective - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsEZTWTkM7w

OARS Example & Practice Effective - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URiKA7CKtfc Cara (7 minute) Groups of 3

Oreo activity White = Opened Ended Questions Black/Brown = Reflections OARS Activity Oreo activity White = Opened Ended Questions Black/Brown = Reflections Cara – 2 rounds of 5 minutes each (5 minute) Real Play – switching roles

Category 2: Evoking skills- Recognizing Change V. Sustain Talk Change Talk: I know I can do it I should take better care of my health Something has to change Sustain Talk (not changing): I can’t do it I’m not ready. There’s no way I’m going to do that Amy (2 minutes) Examples of Change and Sustain from our Stress Producing and Stress Reducing Statements.

Activity – Recognizing Change and Sustain Talk It probably won’t work I’ll never do this right I should. . . ., but… I’m not good enough I can do it I know I need to change My best is good enough Amy (3 minutes)

Category 3: Evoking Hope and Confidence & Planning Confidence Ruler Elicit-Provide-Elicit (EPE) Evoking Questions How would you like things to be different? How would things be better if you changed? What is the worst thing that could happen? Do you remember a time in the past when it went well? What was going on then? Amy (3 minutes overview) – What has [this behavior] cost you?

Change v. Sustain & Evoking Amy (10 minutes) Divide into 3 teams – Team A looks for OARS, Team B looks for Change v. Sustain talk, and Team C looks for Evoking Hope and Confidence & Planning

Wrap Up Review handout How can you see yourselves using this skill in academic advising? Set a SMART goal Any Questions? Cara (2 minutes)

References Cormier, S. & Nurius, P. S. (2003). Interviewing and change strategies for helpers (5th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. Miller, W. R. & Rollnick, S. (2013). Motivational Interviewing: Helping people change (3rd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.