Coaching and Mentoring for Motivational Interviewing
August 12, 2026 2026-08-12 14:20Coaching and Mentoring for Motivational Interviewing
Coaching and Mentoring for Motivational Interviewing
Motivational Interviewing training can introduce the approach and create opportunities to practise. Coaching and mentoring help practitioners continue learning once they return to real conversations.
Why support after training matters
Knowing what MI looks like and being able to use it flexibly are different achievements. Research on MI training has found that skills can erode after workshops when practitioners receive no subsequent feedback or coaching. A meta-analysis of 21 training studies found that post-workshop feedback and coaching helped sustain MI skill gains over time.
What does MI coaching involve?
Coaching focuses on observable practice and manageable next steps. Rather than trying to improve everything at once, a practitioner might work on increasing reflective listening, recognising change talk, responding differently to sustain talk, or noticing when the fixing reflex takes over.
What does mentoring add?
Mentoring provides a continuing developmental relationship. It creates space to explore difficult conversations, reflect on feedback, experiment with skills and consider how MI fits the practitioner’s professional context.
Using recordings and feedback
Where appropriate consent, confidentiality and governance arrangements are in place, recordings can provide particularly useful material for learning. They allow practitioner and mentor to work with what actually happened rather than relying only on memory.
A useful developmental cycle
Practise → Review → Feedback → Choose a learning focus → Practise again.
The purpose is not to produce a perfect MI conversation. It is to help practitioners become increasingly aware, flexible and intentional in how they respond.
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