University at Buffalo Motivational Interviewing Center

University at Buffalo Motivational Interviewing Center

The University at Buffalo Motivational Interviewing Center is dedicated to providing training, consultation, and implementation support services to UB, the greater Western New York Community, and beyond. These services include presentations, workshops, and coaching, as well as support for learning communities, educators, researchers, and administrators.

Motivational interviewing (MI) is an empirically supported approach for promoting individual change. Because MI is as much a “way of being” as it is a set of communication skills and strategies, it can serve as a foundation for improving engagement with and effectiveness of other helping methods and approaches. In healthcare and human services:

  • MI operationalizes essential elements of client/patient-centered care
  • MI is useful at all stages of the helping process:
    • establishing trust and openness
    • choosing a behavior to address
    • strengthening motivation to change
    • developing and implementing specific plans for change
  • Skill at MI can be objectively evaluated using validated measures
  • MI addresses the triple aims of healthcare improvement
    • enhancing patient experience
    • improving population health
    • reducing costs
  • MI can also address a fourth aim:  
    • improving the work life of health care providers, clinicians, and staff, by increasing their ability to engage patients in collaborative, productive conversations about health behavior change

Visit the University of Buffalo Motivational Interviewing Center’s Website

The University of Buffalo Motivational Interviewing Center’s Partnership with the Help Me Grow National Center:
Advancing Goal Concordant Care Through Help Me Grow Implementation