IV. Elicitating Self-Motivation Statements

Open Questions

Research has shown that asking multiple closed questions in a row effectively ends communication. Offenders respond with a simple "yes" or "no" and nothing further is learned. Open questions require an offender to talk about an answer in a more detailed way than a simple "yes" or "no," which can lead to less resistance and fewer arguments. For example asking an offender, "How do you feel about your drug use?" will force him to answer with more than a "yes" or "no".

Self-Motivation

Another important MI skill helps offenders "buy into" their supervision plans by eliciting selfmotivating statements. This is one of the more difficult MI techniques as well as one of the most beneficial. What staff is trying to do is create a "Eureka!" moment for the offender -- a realization that there is in fact a problem, and that he must either fix the problem or face meaningful consequences. This kind of confidence and self-realization is the key to someone believing that changing the direction of their life is possible. Statements such as "I need to change my life for my child" and "I don't want to be a druggie all my life, what can I do to get better?" are examples of self-motivating statements.