MI techniques: Recognising change talk

This article is the fourth in a series for TCP which isdrawn from the motivational interviewing approach. In the previous papers inthe journal, I have summarised briefly the principles of MotivationalInterviewing (Passmore, 2011a) and offered a perspective on the application of ‘reflective listening’ (Passmore 2011b), ‘the balance sheet technique’(Passmore, 2011c) and a ‘Typical day’ (Passmore, 2012). In this paper, I will briefly review a ‘technique’ which is at the centre of effective use of MI,‘recognizing change talk’ (previously known as ‘self-motivating statements’).The ability to recognize the type of change talk used by clients is a key skill of the MI practitioner and its content can usefully inform the practice of coaching psychologists.

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