Motivational Interviewing in Social Work Practice (Applications of Motivational Interviewing) - Softcover

Hohman, Melinda

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1462523692 ISBN 13: 9781462523696

Publisher: Guilford Press, 2015

Synopsis

Motivational interviewing (MI) offers powerful tools for helping social work clients draw on their strengths to make desired changes in their lives. This reader-friendly book introduces practitioners and students to MI and demonstrates how to integrate this evidence-based method into direct practice. Melinda Hohman and her associates describe innovative applications for diverse clients and practice areas, including substance abuse treatment, mental health, child welfare, community organizing, and others. Extensive sample dialogues illustrate MI skills in action with individuals and groups. The book also presents best practices for MI training, teaching, and agency-wide integration.

This book is in the Applications of Motivational Interviewing series, edited by Stephen Rollnick, William R. Miller, and Theresa B. Moyers.

About this title

About the Author

Melinda Hohman, PhD, MSW, is Professor in the School of Social Work at San Diego State University, where she has taught since 1995. She teaches courses in social work practice, substance abuse treatment, and motivational interviewing, both at the graduate and undergraduate level. Dr. Hohman’s research interests include substance abuse assessment and treatment services and the overlap of substance abuse treatment and child welfare services. She has been a trainer in motivational interviewing since 1999, training community social workers, child welfare workers, probation officers, and addiction counselors across the United States.

From the Inside Flap

Social workers routinely encounter clients who are wrestling with ambivalence about changing behavior-even behavior that is clearly harmful to themselves or others. This reader-friendly book introduces practitioners and students to motivational interviewing (MI), an evidence-based communication method that helps clients draw on their strengths to commit to and implement positive changes. Melinda Hohman and her associates demonstrate what MI looks like in action, how it transforms interactions with clients, and how to integrate the approach into social work practice in a wide range of settings.

 

The book reviews the fundamentals of MI and describes core skills, including the use of open-ended questions, affirmations, reflections, and summaries. MI emphasizes supporting clients' autonomy and eliciting their ideas and values pertaining to important life choices, making it eminently compatible with social work principles. Chapters illustrate ways that MI can enhance assessment, promote engagement and self-efficacy, and supplement other interventions and group work. Innovative applications are discussed in substance abuse treatment, mental health, child welfare, school social work, community organizing, and other areas. Extensive case examples and annotated sample dialogues in nearly every chapter bring the concepts to life, helping readers build their own repertoires of MI skills. The volume also summarizes the research base for MI and presents best practices in training, teaching, and agency-wide integration.

 

The first guide to MI written by and for social workers, this book belongs on the desks of practitioners in any setting or specialty area. Graduate students and instructors will find it an accessible, uniquely useful text.

Edition details

• Publisher: Guilford Press
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1462523692
• ISBN 13: 9781462523696
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 178