Motivational interviewing in schools: strategies for engaging parents, teachers, and students

One of the greatest challenges for mental health and other professionals in school settings is to get students, families, and staff willing to partake of and engaged in their services. This is the first book on applying motivational interviewing (MI)-a powerful, evidence-based technique for facilitating behaviour change-throughout the school environment to help psychologists, counsellors and other school-based professionals to improve the effectiveness of their practice.

Based on encouraging research on the value of MI in K-12 settings, this practical book explains the basic elements of MI theory and demonstrates, step-by-step, how the four-stage process of engaging, focusing, evoking, and planning can be used with the families of students who need psychological or counselling services, teachers who need consultation and support to improve classroom management, and the students themselves. The book discusses barriers to readiness to change and describes how to foster engagement and compliance with school services to increase the likelihood that positive change will occur. It also describes how MI can be used to increase the effectiveness of inter-professional teams in school settings, along with ways in which MI can be integrated into and build support for already established programs. Richly illustrated with examples of using MI as a strategy for promoting everyday conversations about change--the nucleus of MI practice--the book also includes case studies and sample handouts for mental health professionals, students, family members, and teachers.