Advice

Advice, we heard recently, is criticism given in a cashmere sweater. And we give advice so casually in everyday conversation. The intent is admirable; seemingly, we want to help people who are struggling with a decision, an action, a goal or desire etc. Novelist Erica...

What’s important? What’s important!

Motivational interviewing is, by definition, arranging conversations so that people talk themselves into change based on their own values and beliefs. The key words in this MI description are "arranging conversations." As interviewers, we arrange conversations by...

satisfied striving

Everything in life is constantly evolving, changing, transforming, moving toward something new. And we are tempted so often, lured to status quo or to the notion that success or even being content is a destination. In working with clients and patients regarding...

What and how people practice

There is an adage that says, practice makes perfect. And that saying is both overstated and over-simplified. Renowned American football coach, Vince Lombardi refined this platitude to, "perfect practice makes perfect." In terms of human behaviour and human beings in...

The Evidence Basket

Very likely, most health care professionals support the concept, observation, and use of evidence-based practice (EBP). Technically, EBP means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research....

Listening, really listening

In a previous blog (click here), we have addressed the importance of empathy when adopting a Motivational Interviewing (MI) spirit or attitude. More and more we have become convinced that using MI is less about doing, and more about being. That is, MI has conventions,...

Self-Care: Awareness and Practice

There is an adage that suggests, "your life does not get better by chance...it gets better by change." In the health-caring professions, practitioners are very likely drawn to their professions by their care for humanity and health. Often, that caring component might...

Mindfulness, Motivational Interviewing & The Now

In the last few years, a great deal of research and media attention is being given to the concept/practice/idea of mindfulness. While it might seem like the flavour-of-the-moment buzz-word, to us it might also be perceived as an encapsulation or distillation of the...