When Magaly was hired to be a Newcomer Employment and Settlement Counsellor in Sault Ste. Marie, she felt like an imposter in her new job.
While she was helping newcomers find housing and employment, she believed they had more skills than she did. She said completing Agilec’s Motivational Interviewing (MI) Training and Coaching in August changed her skills and increased her confidence. “For me working with this different approach helps me to focus the person on their goals and helps them to be clear about their ideas,” shared Magaly.
Program Coordinator Nathan with Sault Community Career Centre agreed and said that training staff in Motivational Interviewing has transformed the mindset they bring to their work. “It’s helping develop a culture of best practice … and I think that’s really beneficial because it helps us with outcomes and it helps us with building that intrinsic motivation of people.”
MI is a strength-based approach that teaches how to support individuals to uncover their own motivation for a goal or change and strengthen confidence and readiness to achieve it without pushing someone, which creates resistance.
Nathan emphasizes that Motivational Interviewing has provided a common language for staff, which means they are problem-solving client situations more effectively. “Whenever I’m in team meetings, or I overhear conversations, or I ask for some input, I’m not hearing the like, throw your hands in the air and I don’t know what to do with this person. I am hearing, how else can I help this person if they’re in this mindset?” explained Nathan.
Nathan added that learning MI has helped to create a culture where staff are supporting client readiness without shaming clients for being hesitant or having no reasons for change. In fact, he shared that he believes this approach is helping to reduce burnout because staff aren’t focused on practices that don’t work such as trying to persuade or convince individuals.
Magaly agreed with Nathan. She said MI has changed the way she works with clients, “I am this kind of person that sometimes I have an idea and I want to share and I interrupt. But now I try to listen more and put more attention on the needs of the client.” She says this is helping clients increase their motivation and reach their goals.
Agilec’s Motivational Interviewing teaches staff how to assist clients who are ambivalent about change through demonstration, practice, and feedback. This interactive and informative training includes group coaching to increase skill proficiency and confidence.
To learn more about MI and upcoming training dates, contact our training team.
