Bringing MI to Life
Let me talk about rulers for just a minute because this is one of those things that I've seen people learn as part of learning about MI. And it gets used really mechanically. And it sort of loses the richness of why we would do these with MI. So when we ask someone to identify where are you on this ruler, whatever it is, readiness, willingness, confidence, And I've heard all three of those use and research around all three. Doesn't really matter where that number is other than accuse us in about whether somebody's really ready to do this.
But it's what happens after they identify that number. So if they say it's a 7 it's our probes about what makes it a 7 vs not a 4. That's really the critical element. So that's one of those things that I see practitioners skip over sometimes, or they ask the question in the wrong way and say, well, why is it a 7 and not a 10? In which case what you're gonna get is sustained talk, what you're gonna get the client arguing for the reasons not to change. So I think rather than a specific technique saying every always do rulers with someone or something like that.
It's a useful technique, but know what you're doing and recognizing that what comes out of client's mouth about the why of that or the what of it becomes the part that's really critical for us to pay attention to, to respond to. What are they telling us and then how can we use that to reinforce?