Please do not book a place on this HSCP funded course if you cannot commit to attending the course in full.

The IASW have four places at this event which has been funded by the HSCP Office, HSE. As such, places are available to social workers in the publicly funded healthcare service only.

This is an interdisciplinary event between Social Care Ireland (SCI) the Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW), the Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists (IASLT), the Association of Occupational Therapists of Ireland (AOTI), and the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists (ISCP).

Motivational interviewing (MI) adopts a person-centred approach that works by identifying and mobilising the service users/patient’s intrinsic values and goals to stimulate behaviour change. Motivation to change is elicited from the service user/patient, rather than imposed from without, thereby reducing defensive responses to interventions/treatment plans.

A multitude of clinical trials demonstrate that MI is more effective for improving health and eliciting long term behaviour change, than traditional treatment approaches (Rubak, Sandbaek, Lauritzen & Christensen, 2005). Moreover, studies demonstrate it is an effective approach for health and social care professions engaged with service user/patient groups presenting with varied needs (Miller et al., 2011). Improvements have been demonstrated in numerous health and social care settings. Using MI as a behavioural change method as part of a whole systems approach can impact on health inequalities, premature deaths, and health improvement.

Course Aims: This course introduces participants to the theory and practice of Motivational Interviewing level 2, with a strong focus on practical application. Participants will be sent pre-course material beforehand.

Course Content includes:
• Theoretical perspectives on motivation and change
• Defining Motivational Interviewing
• Understanding the Spirit of MI and person-centred care
• MI practice exercises
• Agenda mapping
• Live demonstration and video observation of MI
• Implications for key principles for practice
• Using the 5 core skills of MI
• Practical interventions to help resolve ambivalence to change
• Identifying Sustaintalk and Changetalk
• Interventions to help clients consider making changes
• Applying the four processes of MI

As the purpose of the course is to equip the participants with skills that they can use in their practice upon returning to work, the facilitator will encourage participants to use real client scenarios in the practice sessions to approach. In order to tailor the training to the meet the training needs of the participants the facilitator will circulate an anonymous Pre-Training Questionnaire among the participants and ask them to return it to him in advance of the training. Course Learning Outcomes On completion of the course participants should be able to.

• Discuss the theory and principles of Motivational Interviewing
• Describe the processes of Motivational Interviewing
• Utilise Core Motivational Interviewing skills.
• Guide clients towards change
• Offer advice and information in a way that promotes change.
• Understand the language of change.

Level 2: Motivational Interviewing (Progress to level 2 once level 1 is completed)
• Employ additional motivational interviewing techniques to evoking, supporting, and sustaining health behaviour change.
• Utilize professional judgement and decision-making skills in relation to the application of motivational interviewing in practice.
• Apply and integrate specific motivational interviewing tools in practice (including change rulers and decisional balance exercises)

Course Provider
The course provider is MindAware Consultancy Limited, a company specialising in training in Cognitive Behavioural Intervention, Motivational Interviewing, Clinical Supervision, and Mindfulness Based Approaches. All trainers hold Postgraduate Degrees in Health or Social Care as well as counselling/psychotherapy qualifications. They are all trained in the use of CBT in a range of Health and Social Care settings. Additionally, they all have more than 15 years clinical experience and very significant expertise in education and training