Motivational Interviewing: Helping Former Prisoners to be Motivated for Lifestyle Changes Send To Printer | Close Window

By Karen Swanson

Why don’t people change? You would think that spending time in prison, not seeing family, losing freedom, and loss of time would be enough to convince an individual to change his behavior. It is easy to see what habits or behaviors others need to change – quit smoking and drinking, practice sexual purity, find new friends, or control anger. But what about you? What changes do you need to make in your life? What do you need to “put to death” and “clothe yourselves” (Colossians 3)? Do you need to exercise more, eat healthier, spend less money, pray more, read your Bible or spend more time with your family? Why don’t you make these changes? The fact is, change is hard! Even as followers of Christ, change is hard. Paul expresses his struggle to do what is right in Romans 7:15-20, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do…For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” Paul was motivated to change and he recognized his need for the power of the Holy Spirit to help make those changes. What happens if there is no motivation to change? How do you work with a former prisoner who is ambivalent or resistant to making positive lifestyle changes? In addition to praying for and with them, you can apply motivational interviewing.

Motivational interviewing (MI) is an empirically based criminal justice practice that has been shown to reduce recidivism, and is often used to enhance addiction treatment. MI is a way of talking with former prisoners to build their internal motivation for change. It is fostering change by helping them explore and resolve ambivalence.¹ Think of it as dancing with someone, not wrestling with them. So often when we mentor a person who is ambivalent or resistant to change, we employ the “righting reflex” which is to try and fix them or to make it “right”. This often meets with more resistance because no one likes it when someone tries to “fix” them. This becomes a wrestling match as the mentor tries to convince, cajole or pressure the former prisoner to change and they fight back and become more resistant. We need to keep in mind that no one can change anyone else, we can only change ourselves and that change is a process, so we need to be patient.

The Stages of Change² model depicts the process of change. Stage 1: Precontemplation,
Stage 2: Contemplation, Stage 3: Preparation, Stage 4: Action, Stage 5: Maintenance.Relapse is part of the change process and must be handled in a way to move forward, not backwards. After a relapse, the temptation is to return to Stage 1 and become ambivalent or resistant again. Different interviewing strategies are applied at each stage to increase the motivation of the individual. The goal is to move the person to the next stage, not all the way through the stages in one setting. The basic principles of MI are:

Express empathy. Seek to understand the mindset of the former prisoner
Roll with resistance. Do not argue or debate with the former prisoner
Develop discrepancy. Where are the former prisoner’s goals and values out of line with their current behavior?
Support self-efficacy. Help them want to change and build their confidence that they can be successful.

Autonomy. Help them own their decision to change.
Competence. Help them believe they can make the change

Relatedness. For successful change to occur, those around him must support his or her desire for change and not provide temptation.

The methods used for MI is OARS – open-ended questions, affirming, reflective listening, and summarizing. Eliciting change talk and effectively applying OARS are skills that must be practiced. For more information and a more detailed description of MI download Motivating Offenders to Change: A Guide for Probation and Parole http://www.nicic.org.

¹Miller, W.R and Rollnick, S. (2002). Motivational Interviewing: Preparing People for Change, 2d ed. New York: Guilford Press.
²Prochaska JO, DiClemente CC, Norcross JC. (1992). In search of how people change. Am Psychol 47:1102-4