Deliberate Practice in Motivational Interviewing
August 12, 2026 2026-08-12 14:20Deliberate Practice in Motivational Interviewing
Deliberate Practice in Motivational Interviewing
Using MI more often can provide experience. Deliberate practice adds something different: a clear learning target, repeated practice and useful feedback.
Getting better at something specific
“I want to get better at MI” is understandable, but it is too broad to guide practice. A more useful question is: what particular conversational behaviour am I working on?
Reflect more
Practise responding with reflections where you might normally ask another question.
Deepen reflections
Experiment with reflections that add possible meaning, feeling or emphasis rather than simply repeating content.
Hear change talk
Notice the person’s own language about desire, ability, reasons, need or commitment to change.
Notice the fixing reflex
Identify moments when you feel pulled towards explaining, persuading or solving before understanding.
Practise, receive feedback, adjust, practise again
Deliberate practice works best when feedback is specific enough to influence the next attempt. That feedback might come from a trainer, coach, mentor, peer, recording or structured fidelity measure.
The purpose is not to collect criticism. It is to reduce the gap between what we intended to do and what actually happened.
Recent MI training research continues to use deliberate practice exercises alongside MITI-based feedback to examine development in observable MI behaviour.
One learning edge at a time
Trying to improve everything at once can make practice feel artificial. Choose one or two targets, use them repeatedly and review what happens.
As those behaviours become more fluent, the learning focus can move. Over time, the individual skills become increasingly integrated into natural conversation.
