The majority of clients seen in the social support services are not ready to create change. So called “treatment readiness” seems to be a myth. Yet, most of the modalities we’ve been trained in, except for the Motivational Interviewing Model, assume that clients are in the action mode and that they are ready to create changes in their lives. Practitioners are often under pressure to create outcomes and to establish goals that clients are not ready for. Hence, unproductive patterns of client–worker interactions are created; client outcomes are not reached, clients comply rather than co-operate, the real change is not achieved…..
The truth is that it is the system, the workers, who must be ready for the most challenging clients. It is the trait of the best practitioners in the field that they adapt to the clients’ stage of readiness, and that they know how to go about it, equipped with a range of techniques that allow them to respond effectively, sensitively and with therapeutic wisdom.
This is a fast paced, highly practical training designed to teach innovative approaches and ideas to achieve successful outcomes with clients who
- are challenging
- court-referred
- unmotivated
- give you “yes, but…” responses
- are involuntary
- who blame others
- who resist taking responsibility for creating change
- who change their focus too often
- who give you the “I don’t know” responses all the time
Such clients provide a unique challenge to professionals attempting to provide quality services to both the client and referral source. In this workshop, you will learn what to do in order to prevent, avoid, and resolve what has traditionally been deemed “resistance.” Numerous techniques that are applicable across a wide array of clients and problems will be presented, discussed, and illustrated through video demonstrations. Emphasis will be on “how to” aspects of maximizing the potential for client movement towards goals and positive life changes. The techniques presented can be integrated with all theoretical approaches
Techniques will be offered to create impactful client-practitioner dialogue through the meticulous use of language and other skills in the moment-to-moment interactions. Those trained in traditional Motivational Interviewing will find the techniques offered will take their skills to the next level and circumvent inherent weaknesses in the approach. Upon completion of this training, participants will have a broad array of techniques to add to their repertoire to improve client outcomes and to aid in reducing the stress and burnout that accompanies their most frustrating client-worker interactions.
The training is applicable to a wide variety of settings across the system. Practitioners such as psychologists, social workers, counsellors, nurses, case managers, parole officers, support workers, employment officers, and other such professionals who have attended his training in the past, have found it extremely helpful in their work towards resolving resistance and creating client co-operation. By focusing on improved responses in the dialogue between the worker and the client, they reported higher confidence in achieving better client outcomes fast.
