Scarica il documento - Dipartimento per la Giustizia Minorile

How does MI look like in practice?
speciale
Mi consists of a series of talks (called interviews, which can be a bit confusing term)
that start in a rather non-directive way. at this stage the counsellor (e.g. a psychologist or
social worker etc.) mainly makes use of the principles and the basic or micro skills of Mi.
so in this phase the counsellor gives attention, asks open-ended questions and listens actively
and reflectively. the contents of the talks are in this stage rather wide. if possible the
counsellor is going to aim more and more but carefully at exploring the ambivalence of the
client. one of the important rules of thumb is: never go faster than the client allows you.
When the counsellor gauges that the client is ‘ready’ for the next stage - called constructive
confrontation - s/he starts to direct the talks towards exploring and resolving the
ambivalence (i.e. no change or change) by using the the directive principles of Mi, namely
selective reflection and the development of discrepancy.
Finally counsellor and client together do a cost benefit analysis (or cost effectiveness
procedure) aimed at action of the client to change his/her behaviour. during this procedure
an inventory is made of the advantages and disadvantages of respectively no change or
change. these advantages and disadvantages are discussed and weighed up against each
other. the results of this procedure are used to try and resolve the ambivalence.
The adaptation of MI for the benefit of Youth Justice in the Netherlands
some years ago when participating in an international project called Joint education
& training (Jet) we became aware of Mi. almost immediately it seemed worthwhile to
explore whether Mi could be successfully included within the resettlement approaches for
juvenile (ex-) offenders in the Netherlands and which adaptations would be necessary.
From 2001 to 2003 a number of experimental courses were held aimed at the application
of Mi for juvenile (ex-) offenders. summarizing briefly, the main experience was
that Mi can provide an excellent contribution to the resettlement programmes we use. to
contribute to the ultimate goal, stop re-offending, Mi is used as a vehicle to help the juvenile
to become motivated for relevant activities such as stop using soft drugs, go to school,
finish school, complete a vocational training, work, apply for a job, find suitable housing,
etcetera.
Furtherly we have experienced 1) that the Cycle of Change is recognized as being
very realistic and applicable in the work we do with young (ex-) offenders and 2) that the
principles and the basic or micro skills of Mi can be used successfully in all kinds of guidance
activities of juveniles.
in these experimental courses we have developed a training module and learning
materials specifically focused on juvenile (ex-) offenders, e.g. exercises, readers, a demo
dvd and a booklet.
i have until now given approximately 25 training courses Mi to executive workers in
juvenile instititions, youth probation services etc. in the Netherlands, two training courses
in united Kingdom and two in italy. i am still very positive about the usefulness of this methodology
for the work we do with our target group.
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