Motivational Interviewing: A Brief Introduction

Motivational interviewing (MI), first described by William R. Miller, PhD, in 1983, is a form of collaborative counseling that elicits, explores, and engages a client's own motivation for change. Foundational to the method is the common human problem of ambivalence about change; that ambivalence can be used to support a behavioral shift that is congruent with a client's own values and concerns. The MI literature is vast. Following is a very small taste of MI theory, followed by additional resources.