Stephen Rollnick – Motivational Interviewing in Healthcare

Helping patients to change behavior and other outcomes

Health Care involves not just giving people treatment. They come in with challenges connected to the way they lead their lives. The impact of poor environments on health and wellbeing is considerable.

Then the conversations begin, and all too often, it’s about helping people to find a better balance, adjust their medicines or address their use of substances, smoking, diet and exercise.

This is where Motivational Interviewing (MI) comes in: it might make good sense simply to tell them what to do, but this all too often falls on deaf ears, even worse, it can lead to kickback or resistance. “I would like to advise you to…” is met with a blank look or a “Yes but I can’t because…”.

What You’ll Learn In Motivational Interviewing in Healthcare

We have worked on MI in healthcare for over 25 years, conducting research studies and developing practical strategies for use in hospitals, primary care and in the community.

Common to all is a shift in approach that is at the same time both fundamental and simple: instead of badgering patients to change their ways, you briefly connect or come alongside, and help them to do this for themselves.

Guidelines and books have been written for practitioners in many fields of healthcare. Among the benefits of MI are:

• It can be used in brief consultations
• The skills involved help you to connect rapidly with people, not just as patients, but people. They appreciate that.
• It saves you spending time otherwise wasted in persuading people to change.
• It can be combined with skilful information and advice-giving in a helpful way.
• It lifts the responsibility off your shoulders to solve every problem you come across, because patients do the work for themselves.
• It is effective in many circumstances.

About Stephen Rollnick

Stephen Rollnick provides consultancy, mentorship and training on the subjects of motivation, change, teamwork and Motivational Interviewing. He an Honorary Distinguished Professor in the School of Medicine in Cardiff University, Wales, UK with a research record focused on good practice in efforts to promote change and behaviour change among patients, clients and the practitioners who serve them.

Stephen is also a clinical psychologist with many years of experience in service provision and in the training of practitioners. This work, much of it on motivational interviewing (MI), has taken him into diverse cultures and settings. He has now retired to focus on training, writing and consultancy, in the fields of healthcare and sport.

Stephen is a co-founder of Motivational Interviewing. His work has included support to programmes for pregnant teens, children with HIV-AIDS in Africa and medication adherence in different areas. He is a co-founder of PATA (Paediatric Aids Treatment for Africa) and the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT), an international network for trainers. He is the co-author of Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change(Miller and Rollnick, 1991; 2001 & 2012), Health Behaviour Change: A Guide for Practitioners (Rollnick, Mason & Butler, 1999) and Motivational Interviewing in Health Care (Rollnick, Miller & Butler, 2008), Motivational Interviewing in Schools (2016) and is completing a book on motivational interviewing for sports coaches.

Individual consultation on a case by case base is available on request in a wide range of settings including education, sport and healthcare.

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