What is Motivational Interviewing (MI)?

Motivational Interviewing, often abbreviated as MI, is an evidence-based communication style focused on guiding and empowering individuals as they contemplate making a change in their life. With origins in addiction treatment and expanding into other areas of therapy and healthcare, MI is now backed by decades of research, and its uses continue to grow into areas such as workplace leadership. If you're tired of "communication training" that reviews the same pointers about body language, etc., MI offers a toolbox of specific, learnable communication principles and practices that empower you, your clients, and your team.

Browse MI Trainings

stylized simple diagram showing the four processes in motivational interviewing: engaging, focusing, evoking, and planning

ocotillo branches reflecting in impressionist style on river water in muted earth tones

How Can I Use Motivational Interviewing?

Chronic Health Behavior Change

Whether it's diabetes self-management, vaccine hesitancy, adherence to a diet or exercise regimen, or other areas where individuals and communities may have understandable ambivalence about their health behaviors, MI gives providers a new way to engage with patients. Its principles and practices empower patient autonomy while you guide them towards positive behavior change.

Substance Use and Addiction Treatment

For nearly 50 years, MI has helped shift the dynamic between providers and people navigating ambivalence about substance use, fostering collaboration instead of confrontation. MI offers you a new set of person-centered skills that supports those exploring the possibility of early recovery and those working to sustain the recovery they’ve already achieved alike.

Professional Coaching and Workforce Development

In the workplace, MI provides a powerful framework for guiding individuals through ambivalence about performance, growth, or other change. Navigating burnout, resistance to feedback, or uncertainty about next steps are common professional hurdles; MI equips leaders with strategies that support employee autonomy while fostering meaningful, sustainable development.

Education and More

MI is gaining traction in education because it meets students where they are, especially when motivation, engagement, or behavior are concerned. It equips teachers, counselors, and support staff with tools to build trust, evoke student voice, and guide change without coercion. Whether struggling with attendance, effort, or social-emotional challenges, MI helps students uncover their own reasons for growth.

Targeting Ambivalence

Motivational Interviewing is effective across these broad domains because it was designed to target ambivalence, the natural tension people feel when they’re pulled between staying the same and making a change. This is a universal human experience that happens at all stages of life, making MI especially useful whenever uncertainty, resistance, or mixed feelings might otherwise stall progress.

Feeling ambivalent about learning MI? Our Motivational Interviewing trainer is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) and is happy to answer any questions you may have!

Schedule a Free Consultation

Our Other Specialties