ADVANCING MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING – Sample Activity

From: Hope Beyond Hope

As Howard Zinn (2018) writes, “To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. [. . .] If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least see the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. [. . .] The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is a marvellous victory” (p. 208).

This kind of hope, a hope beyond hope, endures beyond any current or anticipated misfortune and sustains us when all other ways of hope may be silent. Hope beyond hope is not so much a belief or a feeling as much as it is a commitment to a vision. We hold to the horizon, perhaps even well beyond our own lifetime. Many social movements are founded on and nourished by hope beyond hope (Zinn, 2008). As with offering affirmations in MI, conveying hope beyond hope to our clients reminds us that hope cannot be pushed in or installed. Rather, clients open the door from the inside—it is their choice and their autonomy that let affirmation and hope in to be absorbed.

How can you invite, recognize, and strengthen “hope talk”? Ask for it? Affirm? Reflect? Summarize it?

Write some ways you can offer hope beyond hope, or explore it, with your clients with explicit autonomy support and collaboration. Perhaps something like “I see some hope here; what would you say about that?” or “Just you deciding to show up today, being willing to give these sessions a try, shows a lot of hope. I know you weren’t sure about that in the past. What are you thinking about it now?” or “There’s something in you that seems determined to keep trying. What are your thoughts about that?”

The following are a few more activities and self-reflections that can help you offer hope to your clients. Please pick one or more and try them!

You’ve been hired as a “professional hoper.” And what a great opportunity—you even get to write your own job description! What will you include in it? What are things a “professional hoper” does?

What does it look like to rest and refuel? To reinflate your life jacket again? How is taking a “hope break” also a way of demonstrating hope? What are some restorative efforts you can regularly take or offer as ideas to your clients with permission?

Consider this quote from Britten LaRue (2024) and reflect on how it relates to hope: “One of the ways nature responds to harsher times is by hardening. Hardening is the process by which plants prepare and relocate nutrients to storage organs in order to acclimate to winter. This means they don’t flower or grow, rather, they are still, hibernating, and only doing what’s necessary” (p. 252).

From the water level, a swimmer can at most see about twelve miles ahead due to their angle related to the earth’s curvature. A kayaker next to the swimmer, just from a slighter elevated position, can see about fifteen miles ahead. From a small boat, a sailor may be able to see about twenty miles ahead. How does shifting perspective or sharing perspectives with others enliven your hope?

Clinicians may rage at difficult circumstances they encounter—for themselves, their clients, or both. How does this express hope?

When fear arises, it can constrict you and narrow what you see as possibilities. With fear can also come a lot of worry-based “what-ifs.” One way to flex from fear to hope is to turn those “what-ifs” into “even-ifs.” For example, “What if I fail my test tomorrow?” can be shifted to “Even if I fail my test tomorrow, I will continue to do what I can to pass the class.” Note that the “even if ” sets you up to add a hopeful statement. Write a “what-if” that you think about and see how it changes when you change it to “even if.”

Make a list of some “hope practices” you can reach for in tough times, kind of like a hope first-aid kit. These might be things that are small enough to be doable, and intentional enough to support what matters to you. We often mistakenly believe that only big things matter—and only those things we are aware of. Your hope practices may put so many good and as yet unseen things into motion. In what ways could this be true?

When we’re bored or have a spare moment, we tend to reach for our “anti-boredom devices” (oftentimes, our phones). What would it be like to fill those moments instead with deep breathing or some kind of hopeful thoughts or feelings? Hope often arrives in quiet moments when you can access your most meaningful feelings and longings. What are at least two activities you can do to bring you into the present moment when you can reflect on what gives you hope?

Consider this quote from journalist M. Gessen in a 2025 interview with David Leonhardt: “We have to find a way to balance sounding the alarm and conjuring hope. There’s a useful distinction in the study of political hope between hope and faith. Faith is when you kind of sit back and think that, well, America is exceptional and everything will work out in the end. And hope is when you observe and participate in the thing that carries out the truth of the theory that it will actually get better. So hope is connected to action, and you can’t act without hope, but you also can’t have hope without acting. So, it’s a feedback loop.” What are your thoughts about this? Can you imagine using this quote as a discussion prompt with a friend or colleague? What actions can you take to help build and promote hope?

ADVANCING MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING

Copyright © 2026 by Kristin L. Dempsey and Ali Hall