How can peer support programs use MI to help people achieve their goals?

Motivational interviewing is a behavioral focus approach guided by four major principles to help clients understand their change in behavior and patterns that surrounds those set behaviors.

Understanding Motivational Interviewing (MI) becomes clearer when seen as a collaborative dialogue rather than a directive method. It's about guiding rather than instructing, focusing on empathy and listening to spark the individual's own motivation for change. Recognizing that people are at different stages of readiness to change is key. MI involves drawing out the person's own reasons to change, emphasizing their autonomy. This approach nurtures a sense of ownership over the change process, making it more likely for individuals to commit to and achieve their goals. Viewing MI as a partnership where the individual's strengths and motivations are highlighted has been a helpful perspective.

It's a great tool to utilize when engaging with challenging clients or other's in order to aid in identifying barriers and help them open up in a strength based manor.

Je suis complètement favorable à ce type d’entretien. Il permet aux talents : - de s’ouvrir à des champs de questionnements et de lecture qu’il ne pourrait pas générer seul - de trouver ses propres solutions et donc de construire en fonction de sa grille de lecture : ses valeurs, ses émotions, des croyances - de respecter et d’écouter l’autre, de lui offrir de la considération et de la valorisation. C’est pour certains un talent de mener ce type d’interview et nous avons aussi la possibilité d’apprendre les postures, comportements et questionnements qui nous permettent de mener ces échanges/coaching avec succès! Une technique passionnante !

Peer support programs can effectively use Motivational Interviewing (MI) to help individuals achieve their goals. MI strategies include building rapport through reflective listening and open-ended questions, exploring ambivalence without judgment, eliciting change talk to reinforce motivation, and developing discrepancy to highlight inconsistencies. Supporting autonomy empowers individuals to identify their own goals and resources, while rolling with resistance gracefully navigates challenges. Setting SMART goals clarifies objectives, and ongoing support ensures continuous progress. Integrating MI offers personalized support that respects autonomy and nurtures intrinsic motivation for meaningful change.

MI and Peer Support are complimentary in how they emphasise the importance of the relationship relationship.Peer Support Specialists are using their lives experience as a common factor to cultivate relationships. They also have a role to sow seeds for change, similar to MI's underlying change processes of increasing change talk. Skillful usages of MI in programmes and groups support change as it emphasizes the autonomy of the other person in recovery. Having personally used MI in my facilitation of peer support groups, I found it highly empathetic and therapeutic for both peer and facilitator. The peer is empowered and inspired by their own reasons for change while the facilitator is grounded and acknowledges the peers autonomy

In my experience, MI in peer support boosts its impact by fostering a respectful and empowering environment. This approach builds trust, ensuring individuals feel valued and understood, which helps lower resistance to change. MI encourages people to actively participate, enhancing engagement and commitment. It's particularly effective in goal setting and planning, making it easier for individuals to see and reach their targets. Additionally, MI nurtures hope and self-confidence, crucial for enduring change, while emphasizing self-care, thereby promoting overall well-being. By integrating MI, peer support can aid individuals in achieving their personal goals while also strengthening the community's fabric of support.

Le soutien par les pairs a pour bases: - le développement de ressources personnelles, - le renforcement de la confiance en soi, En définitive, il constitue un levier plus efficace pour l'entretien motivationnel. Plus d'efficacité suppose des économies pour l'organisation.

Although most addicts attempting recovery say they prefer a counselor who was also a former addict that isn’t usually in their best interest. Using MI helps anyone keep the focus on being objective. Addicts aren’t all exactly the same. They need to each be seen as an individual with their own feelings and history. You want a person to know you hear them and want to know them to help. MI is very effective in breaking barriers to accomplish that.

I've noticed how naturally we want to help by giving advice. Yet I've found that weaving MI skills into peer support creates uniquely empowering conversations. Peer support is about creating a safe space where people feel genuinely heard. From my own journey with mental health challenges, I understand how crucial it is to be met with understanding rather than direction. When someone grapples with ambivalence about change, MI assists them in exploring their own solutions. Instead of leading, we walk alongside them. This balanced approach honors both the emotional support of peer listening and the change-focused tools of MI, allowing peers to discover their own paths forward while feeling genuinely supported.

Peer supporters can learn the basics MI skills of OARS and cultivating change talk and responding to sustain talk. The OARS facilitates rapport building between peers and demonstrates understanding and empathy. Most peers have their own story, and listening to their lives experience allows the helper to contextualise potential change in the peer's own words Responding to sustain talk and cultivating change talk is important. As small as it might sound, implicit cultivation of change talk may actually make a big difference. Imagine a peer's sharing on depression, while the helper acknowledges the difficulties of doing activities, focusing the conversation on the values of the peer and reasons for change moves the conversation towards change

In my experience, integrating MI into peer support means setting clear goals together and using open-ended questions to understand each other's needs and desires. Reflective listening helps show you're listening and care, while affirmations boost confidence by highlighting strengths. Summarizing what's been said encourages motivation and offering advice only when asked respects autonomy. Decisional balance exercises help peers weigh the pros and cons of their choices, and scaling questions gauge their readiness for change. Setting SMART goals creates a clear path forward. Action plans outline the steps to achieve these goals. Regular follow-ups support progress and tackle any challenges, keeping the peer motivated and on track.

Lors des entretiens motivationnels les situations vécues peuvent accompagnées par le soutien par les pairs en: - proposant un soutien social émotionnel - un soutien instrumental. Nous observons ici la notion de responsabilité partagée.

Peer support specialists provide hope to patients that they also can achieve sobriety. Providing encouragement to not go it alone.

In my own experience using MI, it makes the professional and the person and their a family or sig other into a team that are all working toward the same goal. It helps to develop an honest environment between everyone on the team and it builds trust between all members as well. It’s a win- win for all members of team. In a peer to peer situation, it does the same things, but it is crucial for professionals to have feedback on their unique characteristics and how others see them; perspective is everything, right? This fosters a community of teamwork and trust in co- workers.

One challenge will be the urge of the righting reflex, or simply trying to fix someone by offering too much solutions. MI is cultivating change talk, not imposing change. We simply can't be working harder and for the people we are serving as it simply does not appear that way if we do. Recognising our limited control over another's behaviour and emphasising their autonomy can be a hard thing. We often want to jump in and save others, which is something the founders repeatedly warn about. Being aware and having supervision about our personal biases and feelings should help with a more effective practice of MI

Using MI in person support elevates the programme and therapeutic efficacy of the peer support from only sympathy and empathy to cultivating change. It increases outcomes for the programmes while giving peer supporters concrete skills to use then they are conversing with others. That increases confidence and the quality of the peer support. I personally use MI in my facilitation of peer groups. I am not overly pushy about it, and I do often stay in sustain talk. This is deliberate due to my aim of offering empathy first, with the emphasis not being on an immediate change. However, I can see the results of using MI as it increases the rapport built and also opens up the conversation for more change talk, planting small seeds for change

There is a need to contextualise MI into peer support. Having formal sessions about someone's behaviour may not necessarily be the best implementation of MI. Look into group applications and perhaps some form of training and cultural humility when using MI with your fellow peers. It is imperative to take on a position of not knowing, even though stressed in the recent 4th edition. As peer supporters, we are para-professionals supporting the change and continues service to a person in recovery, and I think it's kore appropriate if we relate to them as peers and friends instead of professionals. It removes the power difference and I creases rapport too

Listen, hear the other. Get in their thought process because if you hang in there long enough you may come to the conclusion that if I walked in their shoes I may believe as they do. You need this foundationally to then move forward.