Chapter 4.Focusing
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Excerpt
Engaging a patient may be a continual and ongoing process throughout participation in motivational interviewing (MI). But, at some point, you need to know what you’ll do in the session. Sometimes, the direction is very clear. At other times, the path involving change can be quite challenging and elusive. Using MI, the clinician facilitates the discussion so the patient chooses a focus based on his or her motivation to address a specific concern. Many therapeutic techniques have a defined and intentional goal, and in MI the goal is to maintain the MI spirit while partnering with the patient in change. Focusing is a process that allows the patient greater specificity for his or her attention. In spending a few moments to focus the session, you produce a mutually agreed-on area to further explore the patient’s feelings about change. Focusing may not occur as a single step or in a defined manner, but like the other MI processes, it is an ongoing practice that allows you to more effectively explore various motivations and behaviors that a patient identifies as needing change.
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