The point of MI is to get someone towards the stage where they are preparing to make changes. What's happening here in the first half of the video is that the interviewer leads the conversation entirely towards why he doesn't want to change and what reasons he has to sustain his behavior. The fact that a person's own reflections and voicing of their thoughts can boost their confidence works as a two-headed coin. If you let someone reflect on all the benefits of their own unhealthy behavior, you are letting them reinforce their own thoughts and reassure themselves. The obvious follow-up of the benefits should immediately be the negative impact on one's life, and particularly the personal risk involved (such as the wife leaving, the most glaringly obvious example of personal risk there is). In this situation, showing empathy and understanding definitely helped get the client to reflect and eventually say they don't want to lose their relationships, but the interviewer doesn't push for more concrete change talk, let alone talk of a commitment. Let's say the client indicates he wants to do as he pleases and doesn't like being told what to do. You can affirm that and rightfully so. He does have autonomy. So, given that he can do what he wants, what does he want to do? Will he leave his wife because he likes to drink? Well, no, he'd probably seek some kind of middle ground there. Bam, you're evoking change talk by engaging the client with an extreme question, and you can use his response to that in order to navigate further change talk. If someone's relations with all their family are on the line, it's extremely obvious this man really wants to un-dig the hole he dug for himself. The only thing keeping him is his sense of autonomy and his habitual behavior (presumably, judging by the title and context, reaching the level of an addiction). This is almost picture-perfect of a set-up because giving a sense of autonomy is exactly what MI is designed for. This guy has excessive personal risk and a need for autonomy, both of which are the hallmarks of what MI plays into. But here, it didn't really happen. There was no active effort to eke out change talk and to then start turning it into commitments. Still, an impactful interview because the interviewer did marvelously succeed at making a genuine connection which is far more effective than coming in with guns blazing, as I've seen a lot of interviewers do in more widespread approaches.

I think the counselor might have talked more than he needed to, silence is okay.

Thank you for posting! Much appreciated by this MSW student in early-internship, looking for technique on MI. From a content standpoint, you may consider snipping the first minute. Great work - thanks :)

amazing video! thanks for posting it!

this man doesn't want to quit and the decision has Got to come from him.

I only realised towards the end of the video that this was MI for a resistant client! I thought the therapist was talking way too much at first but now it makes the MI techniques used by the therapist look a lot more effective considering he was playing the role of a resistant client :)

Great video! Very helpful

Can we see an MI video with a gibbon as the client please? Thanks

This client had no sustain talk

Good training video on MI. I would possibly take a little more of a client centered approach and as the therapist let the client lead the session more and do more talking. The paraphrasing and encouragement were good early in the session. Thank You

The interviewer is putting his own words into the interviewie. That's not MI. The interviewie is the one who should be doing 70% of the talking and interviewer should talk 30%

How can I get get in contact with the owner of this video about using it for a training?

Around 7 minutes and 47 seconds into the video - "are you gonna tell my wife?" No, because of confidentiality. - And then the world gets to see the entire session online. If this man is not an actor this is a huge HIPAA violation.

i know this is a training video and they were joking prior to filming it, but i really don't see the empathy coming across in this video. I think the therapist comes off as immature in his tone of voice, e.g., at 03:02 the tone he uses when he says "alright alright" suggests subtle condescension towards the client, and then the follow up tone at ~03:05 "you know, you work, ur responsible. . "etc., comes off as overly placating. In other words. . .im picking up from the therapist the subtle mentality he knows best for the client. Im sure it wasn't his intention, but = P

I understand this is role playing, but I did not hear, clear paraphrasing, or summarizing....reflective listening. I heard the the interviewer/ counselor jump to assumptions and opinions a few time ....where client was not saying that,..and even the client corrected him.

I just sent you an e-mail. Thank you!

Talk only about the person in room. You talk about his wife, kids, dad, and doctor. They don't matter. You didn't watch for key the key words. I did like that you built a roper with the client and you were on his side.

What the wife doesn't realize (and what most wives don't realize) is that when he stops drinking, will he still be interested in her as a wife? Plus, ... I'll bet drinking is not the only thing in this guys life she wants to change. Men marry women hoping they don't change; women marry men hoping they do.

As an Addictions Specialist myself, I have some issue with the negligence being exhibited by the therapist... This is a deadly disease and "pussy footing" around the issues will just perpetuate and keep this patient sick. MI is not for addiction treatment... Gestalt therapy & REBT is a much better avenue to treat addiction.

Thanks for the feedback.

This was a training in North Carolina with about 70 people.