This Full-day on-demand workshop focuses on key skills and concepts in motivational interviewing with adults and adolescents in the criminal justice system. Importantly, it also covers recent changes made to MI as a model of change in recent years. MI is a client-centered counseling method for exploring how and why a person might change, and is based upon a guiding style. Its principles and techniques match those known to produce positive outcomes with clients in the criminal justice system (e.g., Marshall, 2005). MI can be very useful for motivating adults and adolescents who are ambivalent about change and ambivalent about engaging in treatment.

Motivational interviewing involves four processes, a fundamental mindset or “spirit” consisting of four components, and four micro-skills, among other components. It has gained increasing currency in criminal justice treatment methods.

Areas covered in this workshop include:

• Demonstration of skills
• Specific application in the criminal justice system
• Educational videos
• Practice of skills in an enjoyable setting (i.e. real-play instead of role-play)