Session: Motivational Interviewing (MI) for fitness professionals
Presenter: Matthew Williams
Time: 9:00am - 4:30pm
If you asked a group of 100 exercise hopefuls to explain the term, ‘motivation to exercise’, I’m sure most of them would explain it pretty well. However if you asked the same group to actually motivate themselves to exercise, the outcome would be much different.
Far from the typical motivational approach where the professional does all of the work, MI aims to return responsibility to the client by enhancing self-efficacy and personal control for behaviour change. The use of an interactive, empathic listening style increases motivation and confidence, and allows clients to safely explore the discrepancy between personal goals and current health behaviours (a powerful way to develop long lasting intrinsic motivation).
In this interactive workshop we will first explore what MI is, and, how it works, before examining the elements that are of particular relevance to fitness professionals. Part of this discussion will be around the practical use of MI within typical environments, e.g. how to use MI when the focus regularly shifts between conversation/exercise execution/conversation etc.
From here we will explore several motivational techniques which will be examined and applied to real situations and scenarios that occur within the industry. Participants will be encouraged to identify some of the more common motivational problems they face day to day, and will get an opportunity to practice the skills and techniques learnt to achieve better outcomes for clients.