Motivational Interviewing, step by step
The spirit is partnership, acceptance, compassion and evocation. OARS are the skills.
- Open questionsInvite the person's own account rather than a yes or a no.
- AffirmationsNotice specific strengths and efforts, honestly and concretely.
- Reflective listeningSay back what you heard; let them correct the reflection.
- SummariseGather the change talk together and check you have it right.
- Roll with resistanceResistance is a signal about the conversation, not the person.
- Evoke change talkAsk what they would gain, and how they have changed before.
Educational reference. Motivational interviewing is a trained skill developed through supervised practice and feedback, not from reading a summary.
Questions about the Motivational Interviewing poster
- What’s on the Motivational Interviewing poster?
- 6 numbered steps. The spirit is partnership, acceptance, compassion and evocation. OARS are the skills. Open questions — Invite the person's own account rather than a yes or a no.; Affirmations — Notice specific strengths and efforts, honestly and concretely.; Reflective listening — Say back what you heard; let them correct the reflection.; Summarise — Gather the change talk together and check you have it right.; Roll with resistance — Resistance is a signal about the conversation, not the person.; Evoke change talk — Ask what they would gain, and how they have changed before.. Educational reference. Motivational interviewing is a trained skill developed through supervised practice and feedback, not from reading a summary.
- Who is the Motivational Interviewing poster for?
- Motivational Interviewing belongs to the Nursing section rather than to a school year, because life science is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning mental health can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Motivational Interviewing poster?
- When you argue for change, the other person argues against it. That is the point. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Motivational Interviewing belongs on the wall where that life science work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Motivational Interviewing?
- Anxiety in Practice, De-escalation and Delirium & Dementia sit alongside Motivational Interviewing in the Nursing section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Anxiety in PracticeDe-escalationDelirium & Dementia
- Is the Motivational Interviewing poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Motivational Interviewing downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Nursing section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Motivational Interviewing poster print at?
- Motivational Interviewing is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Motivational Interviewing loses nothing.Printing guide
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