Motivational Interviewing in Social Work and Social Care
August 12, 2026 2026-08-12 14:19Motivational Interviewing in Social Work and Social Care
Motivational Interviewing in Social Work and Social Care
Social work conversations often combine support with responsibility. Practitioners may need to discuss safeguarding, risk, care, substance use, parenting, housing, mental health or behaviour while recognising that the person may not share the same priorities.
Can MI work when the conversation is not entirely voluntary?
Social workers frequently work in contexts where there is a real power difference. A person may have been referred, required to attend or know that the practitioner can influence important decisions.
MI does not pretend that this authority does not exist. Partnership becomes more credible when practitioners are transparent about what is and is not negotiable while looking carefully for areas where the person genuinely has choice.
This distinction can reduce the temptation to equate engagement with compliance.
Where MI can contribute
Engagement
Listening carefully to how the person understands their situation can help establish a working relationship, particularly when previous experiences of services have left them wary or defensive.
Safeguarding conversations
Practitioners can communicate concerns clearly while also exploring the person’s understanding, priorities and ideas about what needs to happen.
Ambivalence
People may simultaneously want circumstances to improve and fear what change will cost. MI provides a way of hearing both sides without immediately arguing for one.
Strengths and empowerment
Affirmations and evocative questions can help identify existing capacities, values, previous successes and resources rather than organising the conversation only around deficits.
Information exchange in social work
Sometimes information must be given. A practitioner may need to explain statutory responsibilities, outline options, discuss consequences or express concern about safety.
Ask: “What is your understanding of why the referral was made?”
Offer: “Would it be OK if I explained the concern that has been raised and what my responsibilities are?”
Ask: “What do you make of that?”
The practitioner has not hidden the concern. The difference is that the information becomes part of an exchange rather than a lecture.
Discord can contain useful information
Statements such as “You’ve already made your mind up about me” or “You’re only here to take my children away” may be tempting to correct immediately.
They can also tell us something important about how the relationship is being experienced. Reflecting that experience before explaining our position may help restore enough partnership for the conversation to continue.
MI fits social work best when it supports, rather than replaces, professional judgement
MI is not a substitute for assessment, safeguarding procedures, legal responsibilities or professional decision-making. Its contribution is to the quality of the conversation through which these responsibilities are carried.
Research on adult mental health social work placements has found examples of social work students applying MI principles in practice, while also highlighting the importance of moving beyond classroom knowledge into real practice.
For practitioners, the useful question is therefore not simply “Can I use MI here?” but “Which aspects of MI could help me have this necessary conversation more skilfully?”
Motivational Interviewing training for social work and social care
Training can use the actual tensions and conversations practitioners encounter rather than generic MI scenarios.
Explore MI TrainingBack to MI in Different Settings