Gaining Insights and Gaining Clarity in Motivational Interviewing

About this Episode

Welcome to today’s episode of The Communication Solution podcast with Casey Jackson, John Gilbert and Danielle Cantin. We love talking about Motivational Interviewing, and about improving outcomes for individuals, organizations, and the communities that they serve. The podcast features a guest, Falin Wilson, a counselor at OnTrack Academy, who shares his experiences and revelations in applying motivational interviewing techniques in his work with youth. The conversation navigates the intricacies of effective communication, the impact of empathetic listening, and the journey of guiding individuals towards their own solutions and success.

In this podcast, we discuss:

• Understanding Motivational Interviewing: Exploring its importance in effective communication and its application in real-world scenarios.
• The Journey of Learning MI: Falin Wilson shares his transition from academic knowledge to practical application of motivational interviewing.
• The Art of Conversation in MI: Discussing how motivational interviewing is akin to having a natural conversation, tuning into the individual’s thoughts and emotions.
• Navigating Ambivalence: Strategies for addressing and embracing ambivalence in conversations.
• The Impact of Double-Sided Reflection: Utilizing this technique to prompt individuals to explore their own solutions and desires.
• Integrating Brain Science: Discussing how understanding brain functions enhances the effectiveness of motivational interviewing.
• Recognizing Resistance and Change Talk: Identifying these key elements in conversations and using them to guide individuals towards their goals.
• Professional Responsibility in Communication: Emphasizing the importance of not imposing one’s own narrative but facilitating the client’s self-exploration.
• Empathy and Focus in MI: Highlighting the role of empathy in understanding the individual’s perspective and maintaining focus on their goals.
• Building Pathways to Success: Discussing how motivational interviewing helps in constructing mental and emotional pathways that lead to personal success and change.

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Thank you for listening to the communication solution. This podcast is all about you. If you have questions, thoughts, topic suggestions, or ideas, please send them our way at casey@ifioc.com. For more resources, feel free to check out ifioc.com. 

Transcribe

 Hello, and welcome to the communication solution podcast with Casey Jackson and John Gilbert. I’m your host, Danielle Canton here at the Institute for Individual and Organizational Change, otherwise known as IFIOC. We love to talk about communication. We love to talk about solutions, and we love to talk about providing measurable results for individuals, organizations, and the communities they serve.

Welcome. To the communication solution that will change your world. Hello, this is Casey Jackson back for another communication solution. And I’ve got a guest on here, Falin Wilson.  He is a counselor at OnTrack Academy.  Working with youth in, in the school system and alternative school. And Falin’s been through,  A few trainings with me and he’s one of those guys that,  will come up a break and come up after the class is over and ask really pointed questions and wants to know the answer.

And so I said, Falin, would you come on to the podcast and ask some of those questions that you’d like to ask from training? So,  so good to have you here, Falin. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. They were always never meant to be pointed, but I,  definitely wanted to know some of those,  those,  answers.

Yes. So what’s been your intrigue? Because you do, you know, even in the more recent training that we had, I can see your brain in the room really genuinely doing application and processing. What, what draws you into motivational more viewing or the concepts and. And get your brain to start to chew on it more because I watch you process it in the training,  and, and trying to integrate it more.

I mean, what, what’s going through your head? I mean, why does this integrate for you? Why does this resonate with you? I think when I was in graduate school, we were learning about it. I thought it was kind of interesting, but it never really caught my attention. And then we went to, so Spokane Public Schools offered a MI training through you and I was like, okay, I’ll try it.

And the way that you approached the whole MI aspect, kind of like a brain, like a view of the brain, and kind of breaking it down that way was probably the most helpful I’ve ever seen it.  And that was really intriguing to me, because you said that it’s a conversation. It’s just like, you’re having a conversation with somebody, right, and you’re tuning into what they’re saying, and then you’re trying to navigate from that.

And I found that to be, like, the most fascinating thing ever, just because, like, you’re working with the brain. And you’re trying to figure out where it’s at and all this processing. And I think the more that I continue to learn about it, I was like, there’s this really thing, the awesome thing that Casey’s doing, I just don’t know how to implement it.

So the second time I came back and we kind of, you kind of like walked us through more of like some of that advanced and then kind of going over that, like beginner stuff again, I found that really helpful because it kind of just solidified, like. It really is a conversation and you can do it in a few minutes.

And even though it’s really hard sometimes, like anybody can build these skills, but it’s, I think that we’re so bad at communicating. I feel that we really are. And I was like, well, I would love to just learn better ways of being like a better person, like better communicator. That’s great. It’s, it’s interesting too, because I, if I’ve heard this often that especially kind of the college version or, you know, grad school version of motivational meaning doesn’t catch like, there’s something there.

But then people don’t tend to gravitate it towards it as much what I hear in a lot of my trainings. And so,  I think once you get into the real world and you’re working in the real world, you can start to see some of that crosswalk between some of the core constructs and then look at it as just kind of, how does this work?

I, my favorite thing is always based in reality, like based in reality, how would this really work? I mean, you’ve got, you work with kids that struggle, you know, with in an alternative. Amazing wraparound in high school. I know that I know that program fairly well. I’ve done training for on track. What I think of is when you’re in those conversations, what are some things that you see almost cross reference between like, wow, like, this is a moment like I can see now from what I’ve learned to the way that this new vantage point I’m looking at it from what do you notice with either, you know, the colleagues you work with or with the students you work with?

Things you’re starting to notice more while I’m using, am I, yeah, or opportunities to the missed opportunities. Like after the fact there was this really fun one. I was working with a student who uses substances, right. And I had asked that question at the end of the seminar. I was just like, how do you, like you get them to wrap their arms around it, or you wrap their arms around their tree tire, right?

Yeah. Cause like you want to double down on the,  like sustained talk before they do. Yes. I was like, it seems so counterintuitive, right? But like, the way he had talked about it was so good. So I was like, okay, like, like, what the hell? Like, I’ll give it a shot. So I was like, okay. So I go in with my client and I’m like, you know that you’re never gonna, like, you know that you’re not gonna use, or sorry, you know that you’re gonna continue to use and that you’re not gonna quit.

Like, what would that even look like? You know that you’re not though. And she was like, I know that I’m not. And then she gave me the solution, like, she was like, that could look like this. And then the example she gave was like, cutting down to, to smoking, like,  two to three times a week instead of every day.

So I was like, oh my gosh, like, that’s awesome. Um. And then sometimes I found it kind of difficult to, like, double down often, like,  So, like, using substances, right, I can be like, Oh, you know that you’re not gonna stop using, like, what would that even look like? And, like, wrap their arms tighter. But I don’t know other scenarios where, like, I could try to apply that.

Or I guess I struggle with trying to identify them. Because I see the potential and how helpful it is. Right. Because you’re getting the brain to engage in change. Talk.  I guess I’m just trying to figure out like how else I can apply that. Like, those would be some of the missed opportunities if that makes sense.

It does. I think what the, and the population you work with, the thing I think of too is at least what I hear quite a bit about and with youth that I work with is just around sex as well too. Or, you know, just some of those situations what you’re thinking when I think about it through the M. I. lens and.

And how to make it an organic conversation that doesn’t feel like you’re trying to use a technique, you know, and you can see how organic it sounds when it’s like, you know, you’re never gonna stop smoking weed. You know, you’re never gonna stop using.  So that