One of my favorite Motivational Interviewing Workshop trainings I do all year is for the dietetic interns of eastern MA. I was trained in Boston in 1971, and would have benefited greatly from a workshop such as the one I now provide. I was taught to teach the diet, and always felt like I was wagging my finger at the patient, telling them they were wrong and I’m right. I never said this, of course, but it felt like I was saying “just do it my way and you’ll be all set”. Of course that teaching approach almost never worked. I wondered for years why it wasn’t working, and then I ran across the ideas of Motivational Interviewing.
It’s exciting to get to train students who will soon be new dietitians. They won’t have to “unlearn” all the bad habits as I’ve had to do, as they will learn a better way of interacting with patients from the start.
I thoroughly enjoy sharing with these students my understanding of our profession, and to offer real life examples from my own experience and my work.
I conducted this year’s Motivational Interviewing training in March, and, as always, really enjoyed myself. Here are some of the comments made on the evaluations for this workshop.
“LOVE! Great speaker and info, loved the interaction and hands-on practice” —Kelsey B., Beth Israel Deaconess Dietetic Internship.
“Ellen’s presentation was one of my most favorite class day presentations this year, her work and perspective is admirable and we can all learn so much from a few hours with her-wish it was longer”. Lauren K, Mass General Dietetic Internship
“Really captivating speaker and material, did not seem nearly as long as it was scheduled for” –Tory R., Southcoast Dietetic Internship
“This presentation was excellent, Ellen did a great job engaging the audience and broke up the morning by providing interactive discussion-I would have like to learn more.” –Patricia L., Mass General Dietetic Internship
If you are interested in having me guest speak at your next Motivational Interviewing please contact me Ellen@TrainingWithDrEllen.com .
