Observations on Counselor's Motivational Interviewing Techniques

This discussion board post analyzes a video of a successful school counselor employing motivational interviewing (MI). The student observes the counselor's application of the Spirit of MI, emphasizing collaboration, evocation, autonomy, and compassion. The analysis focuses on how the counselor builds rapport, uses open-ended questions, affirmations, reflections, and summaries (OARS) to explore the client's ambivalence and elicit change talk. The student highlights the counselor's skill in guiding the conversation to explore the client's values, goals, and the discrepancies between their current behavior and desired outcomes. Furthermore, the analysis covers the counselor's ability to address resistance and support the client in developing a plan for change, demonstrating the directive yet collaborative nature of MI. The post also touches upon the counselor's use of evoking techniques, exploring decisional balance, and responding to change talk to reinforce the client's motivation for behavioral change. The student reflects on the effectiveness of the counselor's approach in fostering a supportive environment and facilitating the client's self-discovery and commitment to change.

Running Head: Counselling
COUNSELLING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors Note

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I think the counsellor plays a significant role in developing an individual mind to help to focus
more on a certain perspective. In this Spirit of MI video the counselor and Andrea has a normal
conversation between them. From the beginning the counsellor clarified her position and
explained to Andrea that she was not there to persuade her to make any changes in her life, or
even compel her to do so, ensuring independence state of Andrea's life. Alternatively, it is seen
that the counsellor has supportive and caring tone of voice, she said Andrea that she was there
simply to have a talk with Andrea about her life, habits, and to take a look at any potential
changes she was talking of making. In this video I can sense the therapy in which the
motivational interviewer proceeds with a resilient sense of determination, clear tactics and skills
for tracking the purpose of the MI with a precise sense of sharp understanding the urge of time in
a specific moment. The counsellor is listening to the problem of Andrea with a positive attitude.
Then the she asked Andrea to tell her some of her interests and stuff that she had enjoyed. She
also asked about her family. From that point onward, I can observe open and safe environment
relationship was formed and I can see that Andrea start feeling confidence in opening up and
talking more clearly about her beliefs, aspirations and how drinking in her social life could not
lead to the ambitions she has for herself, such as going to an Ivy League college. In this video the
creation of difference starts when Andrea understand how she did not fulfill her principles and
ambitions as she proceeded to drink as much as she used to.in this video I can also perceive that
by evoking, the consultant was able to draw Andrea from all advantages of drinking in her social
life, but particularly from all the drawbacks and dangers of drinking. At this point, the
psychologist has now begun to adjust the course of the talk to eventually alter Andrea's drinking
behaviour. While conversing with the counsellor Andrea identified that the drawbacks of
drinking discourage her from productive college activities and could also be a threat to her

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body's health which could eliminate her self-respect worth. In the process, the psychologist never
offered her own opinion or answered Andrea harshly or judgmentally; she accepted the way of
Andrea's life and the principles and goals she had for herself wholeheartedly and
compassionately. It amazing that while talking the counsellor develops a trusting relationship
between them by skilfully listening to the problem of Andrea and expressing empathy to her. At
the end of the discussion, the counsellor began making a roadmap for change for Andrea and
encouraged her to consider that she should start working toward her goal of not drinking as
much. Andrea said she did not drink at any of the parties to which she went and acknowledge
that her friends could drink at times and that she wouldn't. She also said she wants her friends to
support her mission, expecting that they also want to do more things apart from involving
alcohol. Finally, the therapist focused on and outlined all the principles and ambitions Andrea
had for herself and all the negative effects and risk of drinking alcohol and then restored the
strategy and actions she would take to eliminate drinking and follow the same to keep her friends
away from drinking alcohol as much as possible. She ends by asking Andrea if those goals are
realistic and have established a roadmap to achieve her current goals once more in a few weeks. I
felt the counsellor did a decent job of adding a lot of points, opinions and summaries to the
discussion. There have been a few closed questions, but I thought most of them open- questions
were useful for engaging, evoking and preparing the process. She did not judge rather, she listens
carefully to Andrea and guides the solution to overcome the problem. The motivation for change
is reinforced when Andrea perceive differences between their current situation and their future
hopes.

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