Motivational Skills Half Day Workshop (FREE to attend)

A half-day Workshop for Partnership Organisations in Devon County Council

This half day workshop will give you a highly interactive and practical introduction to Motivational Interviewing, and its potential power to engage with people meaningfully, rather than do something to them. There will be opportunities for demonstration, discussion, and questions and we will explore together how we can all nurture even the smallest steps of progress, with the emphasis on encouragement and trying to bring out the best in others as well as ourselves. This approach applies in day-to-day interactions with colleagues, managers as well as children, young people and families.

Alasdair Cant is Director of Alasdair Cant & Associates, a Cambridge-based company founded in 1997. He is an Advanced MI Practitioner and accredited team Coach, specialising in behaviour change. Our company works across a variety of settings and specialisms, including social care, health, criminal justice, and education.

The key principles are: 

• Engagement with the client, rather than doing something to them – i.e. change cannot be forced or pushed on to someone. It has to be internal for the client to be meaningful and long term.

• Rolling with resistance (NB this is not rolling over or being passive)

• Express empathy

• Avoid conflict

• Developing discrepancy in client’s thinking

• Support self-responsibility

Aim of the workshop

* To give a practical overview of Motivational Skills and consider how we can support this strengths-based approach together in Devon through working with curiosity and courage Objectives

• To gain a practical understanding of Motivational Interviewing as a strengths-based approach • To understand the cycle of behaviour change, and how it can help make conversations more productive

• To explore a few key MI techniques where there is resistance and ambivalence to change

Please click here to book if you have a DEL account 

Or link to 365 form to complete 

Further enquiries to – safeguardingelearning-mailbox@devon.gov.uk