MI for Change: Motivational Interviewing in ABA & Mental Health

MI for Change: Motivational Interviewing in ABA & Mental Health

By Monica Gilbert

MI for Change is the podcast dedicated to exploring Motivational Interviewing (MI) in behavior analysis and mental health. Hosted by Dr. Monica Gilbert, a Board Certified

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Best of MI for Change: Motivational Interviewing in ABA & Mental Health

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  1. Number 1: The Session Where I Said Almost Nothing — And the Parents Built the Whole Plan

    Share Your Thoughts With Us Mom wanted structure and safety. Dad wanted independence and flexibility. For months they couldn't agree on anything — and the BCBA caught in the middle was running out of ways to explain, mediate, and convince. So she asked Dr. Monica Gilbert to sit in. What happened in that session wasn't a technique or a script. There was no agenda. No talking points. Monica came in with nothing — and by the end, the parents had built their own complete plan. Without being told what to do. Without being convinced of anything. Without Monica or the BCBA solving a single problem. The only thing Monica did was ask two questions. In this episode, Dr. Monica Gilbert walks through that session in real time — what she observed, why she stopped the conversation and went somewhere completely different, what she asked, and what happened when she stopped talking and let the parents find each other. It's the clearest example yet of why the goal in parent sessions isn't getting parents to agree with you. It's helping them reconnect with what already matters to them. The lesson that changes everything:"People follow through on plans they create far more than plans they're handed." One of the biggest mistakes in parent sessions is believing your value comes from having the answers. From solving, fixing, convincing. But in that session, the less Monica tried to solve, the more movement happened. The more space she gave, the more ownership the parents took. What transformed Monica's practice wasn't learning more solutions. It was learning when not to provide them. What this is — and what it isn't: What happened in that session wasn't magic. It wasn't luck. It wasn't a personality trait. It's a skill. It can be learned. It can be practiced. And it's exactly what Monica teaches inside her Motivational Interviewing for ABA Parent Training course. MI for ABA Parent Training — CEU-Accredited Course This course is:CEU accredited through Crystal Minds New Beginning, approved by the BACBSelf-paced — work through it on your scheduleDesigned specifically for behavior analysts who want parent sessions to feel less like persuasion and more like partnership👉 https://monica-gilbert.mykajabi.com/new-mi-beginners Not ready for the course yet? Join the free live training. Monica is hosting a free live webinar where you'll see these conversations unfold in real time — how to evoke change talk, reduce defensiveness, and run parent sessions that actually go somewhere. 👉 Register Now If this resonated: This is episode 5 of a 6-part series. Next week Monica closes the arc with something nobody in this field wants to talk about — the ethical tension that keeps BCBAs from fully committing to this work. If getting better at parent sessions means faster progress and fading services sooner, what does that mean for your hours and your income? She names it honestly and dismantles it completely. Subscribe so you don't miss it. Learn more about Motivational Interviewing and explore on-demand courses at www.drmonicagilbert.com Join the MI Academy for practical training and resources — and enjoy an exclusive 15% off with code MIFORCHANGE at checkout. 📲 Connect with me on Instagram: @drmonicagilbert

    15min
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  2. Number 2: Why Parent Sessions Feel Awkward . How a Framework Changes Everything

    Share Your Thoughts With Us Here's something almost nobody in this field says out loud. Parent sessions feel awkward. Not always. Not with every family. But often enough that you've probably rehearsed what you were going to say in the car on the way there. Often enough that you've sat across from a parent thinking what do I do if they start crying? What do I say if they push back? Do I have enough to fill this hour? Often enough that you've left those sessions feeling drained, incompetent, or convinced you said everything wrong — while assuming everyone else is walking out of their parent sessions just fine. They're not. They're coping with the same discomfort in different ways. They're just not talking about it either. In this episode, Dr. Monica Gilbert says it out loud — and then explains exactly where that feeling comes from and what to do about it. What you'll hear in this episode:Why parent sessions feel awkward — and why it's not a personality problemThe two traps therapists fall into: too rigid or too friendly — and why both come from the same root causeWhat confidence in parent sessions actually looks like (it's not charisma, extroversion, or "fake it till you make it")The Transtheoretical Model of Change: a stage-based framework that tells you exactly where a parent is and what to do about itWhy pushback from a parent is information, not failureHow to guide instead of convince — and why that distinction changes everything about how sessions feelThe questions that open ambivalence instead of shutting it downFree Live Webinar — Coming Up Monica is hosting a free live webinar where she'll model real parent sessions, show you how to evoke change talk and reduce defensiveness, and walk through the emotional accountability piece that most parent training sessions miss entirely. If this episode resonated, the webinar is the next step. If this resonated: This is episode 4 of a 6-part series. Next week Monica shares the session that changed everything — the one where she said almost nothing, asked two questions, and watched two parents build their own plan from scratch. Subscribe so you don't miss it. Learn more about Motivational Interviewing and explore on-demand courses at www.drmonicagilbert.com Join the MI Academy for practical training and resources — and enjoy an exclusive 15% off with code MIFORCHANGE at checkout. 📲 Connect with me on Instagram: @drmonicagilbert

    21min
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  3. Number 3: Why BCBA Programs Never Taught You How to Work With Adults — And What to Do About It

    Share Your Thoughts With Us Go back to your BCBA coursework for a second. Data collection. Behavior analysis. Program design. Ethics. Verbal behavior. The hours were real. The training was rigorous. And it prepared you to be an exceptional clinician for the children you work with. Now answer this honestly: how many of those hours were dedicated to sitting across from a parent who's heard your advice a hundred times — who is ambivalent, resistant, overwhelmed, and has fears that have nothing to do with your program — and actually knowing what to do? For most BCBAs, the answer is zero. And yet that conversation is the hardest part of the job. It's the part that drives burnout. It's the part that determines whether the work you're doing in session ever generalizes. And nobody taught it. What you'll hear in this episode:Why the BCBA curriculum was built entirely around child behavior — and what got left outThe Toys R Us story: a real session, a real mom, ambivalence playing out in real time in the middle of a toy aisle — and what it revealed about everything we weren't taughtWhat ambivalence actually is, why it's normal, and why pushing harder against it always makes it worseThe difference between a non-compliant parent and an ambivalent one — and why that distinction changes everything about how you show up in sessionsThe first introduction to Motivational Interviewing: what it is, where it came from, and why it maps so cleanly onto the exact problems BCBAs face with parentsWhy MI isn't soft skills or intuition — it's an evidence-based method built specifically for working with ambivalent humansA direct message to every BCBA who has ever left a parent session feeling like they failed🔗 Free Resource: The AOA Approach — One-Page Guide The AOA approach is one of the most praised techniques from Monica's MI Bootcamp. It stands for:Ask what they already knowOffer information with permissionAsk what they understoodIt's a structured way to give feedback and recommendations that protects your relationship with the parent, respects their autonomy, and actually lands. Download the free one-pager in the link below. You can use it in your next parent session. Learn more about Motivational Interviewing and explore on-demand courses at www.drmonicagilbert.com Join the MI Academy for practical training and resources — and enjoy an exclusive 15% off with code MIFORCHANGE at checkout. 📲 Connect with me on Instagram: @drmonicagilbert

    15min
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  4. Number 4: The Parent Is Your Real Intervention — Why Everything Else Is Secondary

    Share Your Thoughts With Us Quick question: who is your client? If you said the child — you're right. And you're missing half the picture. Here's the math nobody talks about in BCBA programs: your child client spends maybe 10 to 20 hours a week in therapy. They spend 100 or more hours a week with their family. If the parent isn't carrying what you're building in session, you are fighting against 100 hours of counter-programming with 10 hours of intervention. That math doesn't work. It was never going to work. In this episode, Dr. Monica Gilbert shares two real families — one that stopped services because the behavior never generalized outside of sessions, and one that came from Ecuador with a nearly identical child profile and saw a complete turnaround in six weeks. Same diagnosis. Same presentation. Completely different outcome. The only variable that changed was the parent. Monica also names an uncomfortable truth that most people in this field already sense but nobody says out loud: most parent training sessions in ABA aren't actually parent training sessions. They're check-ins. And the difference between those two things is where child outcomes are actually determined. No frameworks yet. Just the truth about who your real intervention is — and why that realization changes everything. Learn more about Motivational Interviewing and explore on-demand courses at www.drmonicagilbert.com Join the MI Academy for practical training and resources — and enjoy an exclusive 15% off with code MIFORCHANGE at checkout. 📲 Connect with me on Instagram: @drmonicagilbert

    10min
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  5. Number 5: BCBA Burnout: Why the Parent Piece Is Draining You (And What to Do About It)

    Share Your Thoughts With Us You went into this field because of the kids. The sessions with them — even the hard ones — leave you feeling something. Fulfilled. Purposeful. Like you're doing exactly what you were trained to do. But the parent sessions? That's a different story. If you've ever sat across from a parent — in person or on Zoom — and felt that slow crawl of frustration, that quiet defeat, that voice in your head saying why am I doing all of this if nothing is going to change — this episode is for you. In this episode of MI For Change, Dr. Monica Gilbert gets honest about where BCBA burnout is actually coming from. And it's not the kids. It's not the caseload. It's not even the documentation. It's the weight of carrying the entire parent piece on your back — the responsibility, the solutions, the follow-through — all of it. And nobody in your BCBA program ever told you that was happening. Monica shares a real Zoom session she sat in on with a fellow BCBA — what she watched unfold, what she was texting behind the scenes, and the moment she realized: you don't have to work this hard. Learn more about Motivational Interviewing and explore on-demand courses at www.drmonicagilbert.com Join the MI Academy for practical training and resources — and enjoy an exclusive 15% off with code MIFORCHANGE at checkout. 📲 Connect with me on Instagram: @drmonicagilbert

    15min
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The podcast currently has 53 episodes available.

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