Welcome to Learn on the go, a Community Care Inform podcast where we discuss what the latest research, practice models and policy guidance mean to your practice.

In this episode, we discuss motivational interviewing: what it is, the research behind it and some of the possible risks and drawbacks.

The experts

Lydia Guthrie
Co-director of training organisation Change Point Learning and Development, and a qualified social worker who has worked in the probation service and in the voluntary sector.

David Wilkins
Social work lecturer at the University of Cardiff, with previous roles including principal child and family social worker for the London borough of Enfield.

01:01 – 05:20
Lydia and David discuss their definitions of motivational interviewing.

05:27 - 14:05
What’s the research base behind MI? Lydia and David talk about what the evidence says about how effective MI is at creating behavioural change.

14:05 - end
Are there any risks or drackbacks with using MI? Lydia talks about the potential risks of sounding patronising if you use MI with a low level of skill, and David discusses how many of the problems we encounter in social work are not amenable to behaviour change.

This is the first episode of two on motivational interviewing – in the next episode, David and Lydia improvise scenarios showing an MI approach in action.

If you’re a Community Care Inform subscriber, you can access supporting materials for the podcast, including a written transcription, the key points covered in the episode, and learning activities you can do by yourself or in a group. Just go on the Inform Children or Inform Adults site and search for ‘podcast’.