Our Behavioral Health Department is embarking on a year-long initiative to become effective agents of change for the individuals we serve through Motivational Interviewing.
We kicked off the initiative with a two-day workshop on the Fundamentals in MI with Dr. Ed Pecukonis, Associate Professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work.
Motivational Interviewing is an advanced counseling technique, involving an internationally recognized philosophy service, and a person-centered, collaborative, and autonomous approach to helping people change. Motivational Interviewing (MI) is the Evidence-Based Practice that connects timing and tactic to maximize the success of sustainable change. In the spirit of compassion, acceptance, and evocation, practitioners build partnerships with individuals through guided conversation that explore common apprehensions and ambivalence around change.
Following the kickoff workshops, the team will engage in supervised sessions with Dr. Pecukonis and his colleagues to perfect their skills. Additionally, the team is working to reach a nationally recognized benchmark competency in the use of Motivational Interviewing.
Along with learning and implementing the technique of Motivational Interviewing, the Behavioral Health Department will become effective MI instructors to help others at Humanim utilize these important skills. Another aspect will be creating effective organizational change to support the MI initiative in the following years.
Thanks to the Leonard & Helen R. Stulman Charitable Foundation for supporting Humanim’s services to make an impact through sustainable life change through their generous funding.