🧭Motivational Interviewing (MI) | Free Course
Updated: Oct 19
Free Course by Everything IFS Academy | Therapeutic Modalities Series
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🧭 Welcome to the Free Motivational Interviewing (MI) Course for Everyday People
Motivational Interviewing was created by psychologist William R. Miller, whose 1983 article first named it, and developed into a full method with his co-author Stephen Rollnick, whose partnership carried it from addiction treatment into health care and far beyond. Born in the early 1980s from a finding that surprised an entire field, that empathy outperformed confrontation in helping people change, MI has since become one of the most researched conversation methods in existence, used today by doctors, counselors, coaches, teachers, and parents around the world. Its central insight is simple and quietly radical: people are not talked into change by others; they talk themselves into it, when someone knows how to listen.
This course teaches pure Motivational Interviewing, with no other modalities blended in, written in plain, everyday language for your own conversations with the people you actually know. You'll learn why lecturing, warning, and fixing backfire, MI calls that urge the righting reflex, and what to do instead: the core listening skills, the art of hearing change talk when it whispers, and how to help someone find their own reasons rather than borrowing yours. Each module offers clear teaching and real-life examples, and ends with a simple MI practice so you can begin using the skill right away. It isn't clinical training for therapists and doesn't offer continuing education credits; it's MI you can put to use in your own life.
Course outline
Click any lesson below to begin.
The Basics
1. What Is Motivational Interviewing 2. Who Are William Miller and Stephen Rollnick 3. The Spirit of MI
The OARS Skills
6. Open Questions 7. Affirmations 8. Reflective Listening 9. Complex Reflections 10. Summaries
Working with Change Talk 11. Agenda Mapping and Finding a Focus 12. Change Talk and Sustain Talk 13. Evoking Change Talk 14. Responding to Change Talk (EARS)
Deepening the Conversation 15. Responding to Sustain Talk and Discord 16. Exploring Values and Developing Discrepancy 17. Elicit-Provide
Moving Toward Change 18. Planning and the Change Plan
Living It 19. Motivational Interviewing in Everyday Life
Bonus 20. The Stages of Change and How MI Fits
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Disclaimer:
Everything IFS Academy is an independent educational platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the IFS Institute. While we strive for accuracy, errors can occur, and users are encouraged to cross-reference critical information. These courses, lessons, skills, and practices are offered for educational and self-reflection purposes only. They do not constitute therapy, mental health treatment, clinical training, or crisis support, and they should not be used as a substitute for professional mental health care.
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If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, feel unsafe, feel at risk of harming yourself or someone else, or feel too overwhelmed to safely use self-directed practices, please pause this material and reach out for immediate support. Contact a licensed mental health professional, call or text 988 in the U.S. or Canada, or use your local emergency or crisis resources.
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