I’m Not Going to Change! Utilizing Motivational Interviewing When Working with Resistant and Oppositional Youth

Format

Poster Presentation

Presenters

Allen Lipscomb, California State University - NorthridgeFollow

Location

Harborside Center

Strand #1

Social & Emotional Skills

Strand #2

Mental & Physical Health

Relevance

This workshop will address the hands and health strands. It will provide concrete skills and techniques to assist helping professionals with working with resistant youth. Also, to learn ways to enhance at-risk youth’s social/emotional well-being.

Brief Program Description

This workshop is designed for professional and paraprofessionals working with resistant and oppositional youth. The goal of this workshop is to teach helping professionals Motivational Interviewing (MI) techniques in order to assist youth in resolving ambivalence in making changes in their lives. It is a directive, non-confrontational approach which explores the youth’s own motivation to change.

Summary

The principal aim of this workshop is to provide professionals with an introduction to the basic principles of Motivational Interviewing (MI) when working with resistant and oppositional youth. It will provide opportunity to practice some of the key skills and interventions involved in working with youth.

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Understand the concept of motivation
• Relate motivation to a model of behaviour change for resistant youth
• Improve skills in assessing motivation of youth
• Recognise resistance and develop skills to work with ambivalence
• Understand the principles and explore some of the strategies of Motivational Interviewing

Evidence

Motivational interviewing (MI) is a client-centered, collaborative, and directive treatment that can be particularly effective with adolescents who may be ambivalent to change. Centered on support of the client’s autonomy and the notion that validation and support of a client is critical to change. MI supports a client’s inherent and natural potential to move themselves toward change (Erickson et al., 2005; Miller & Rollnick, 2002). MI focuses on evoking client’s own ideas regarding change, as opposed to traditional medical approaches that rely on confrontation, education and authority. MI offers an efficient means of targeting behavioral, developmental, and social problems, and it is efficacious when working with adolescents because this approach addresses the ambivalence and discrepancies between a person’s current values, behaviors, and their future goals (Erickson et. al., 2005).

There are four underlying principles of MI (Miller & Rollnick, 2002):

1) Express empathy

2) Develop discrepancy

3) Roll with resistance

4) Support self-efficacy

Biographical Sketch

Allen Lipscomb has his doctorate in psychology with a clinical emphasis in marriage, family and child psychotherapy from Ryokan College. Dr. Lipscomb is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the state of California who specializes in providing mental health services to individuals, children, youth and families. His areas of interest are depression, anxiety, trauma, aggression and substance related disorders. Dr. Lipscomb has taught graduate level courses at both California State University Northridge and the University of Southern California in the School of Social Work.

Keyword Descriptors

Youth, resistant, oppositional, motivational interviewing

Presentation Year

2016

Start Date

3-8-2016 4:00 PM

End Date

3-8-2016 5:30 PM

Recommended Citation

Lipscomb, Allen, "I’m Not Going to Change! Utilizing Motivational Interviewing When Working with Resistant and Oppositional Youth" (2016). National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference. 177.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_savannah/2016/2016/177