Some participants in my Motivational Interviewing trainings ask for a “script” or “recipe” they can use with their clients. The truth is that there is no recipe! I do understand the question, though. Learning MI can see daunting at first because it is so very different that our usual style of interacting with clients or patients. It can feel at first as though you need something in writing in front of you while you are talking with your clients.
The idea in MI is that it becomes intuitive, so that you know what to say next in the conversation without thinking too much about it. When it comes to reflections, I do offer some sample “sentence stems”, or phrases to get you started in learning to form reflections. Remember that reflective listening is a way to let the person you are talking with know that you heard what they said, and to confirm that you heard it correctly.
Here are some examples:
Patient: “I just don’t think I can eat any more fruits and veggies. My kids won’t’ eat them, and they are expensive!”
Clinician: “You’re frustrated that your dietitian is telling you to eat more fruits and veggies, but it’s hard for you to manage doing that.”
Patient: I really want to lose weight because I don’t want another heart attack. I want to see my kids grow up.”
Clinician: “It’s very important to you to be there for your kids.”
Here are some additional sentence stems to get you started:
“It seems to you…”
“From your point of view…”
“So, for you…”
“You feel two ways about this…”
