I was recently reading the fourth edition of Motivational Interviewing by William H. Miller and Stephen Rollnick, and often found myself thinking about how this approach to helping is a great fit for neurodivergent people in general—and autistic people in particular.

Miller and Rollnick define motivational interviewing, or MI, as “… a particular way of talking with people about change and growth to strengthen their own motivation and commitment.”

I am especially inspired by Miller and Rollnick’s summaries of the basic tenets of MI—what they refer to as the spirit of MI. I will review many of these principles, the spirit of MI, in this post.

The Spirit of Motivational Interviewing (MI)

Miller & Rollnick write that the spirit of motivational interviewing “ … lies in … the helper’s underlying attitude of partnership, acceptance, compassion, and empowerment.”

More specifically, the spirit, or heart, or way of being associated with MI includes (adapted from Miller and Rollnick):

• Acknowledging and honoring a person’s freedom of choice and self-determination (their autonomy)
• Helping a person work towards their goals and live in ways consistent with their values
• Interacting with a person as a person; respecting and seeing them as an individual with their own history, circumstances, relationships, values, wants and needs; not as a type or a diagnosis
• Helping people realize and utilize their own strengths, abilities and resources – and highlighting and spending time talking about these more than deficits or pathologies.
• Noticing, highlighting, asking more about, and appreciating moments of change and growth; keeping in mind that it is a privilege to witness growth and change.
• Adopting a humble beginner’s mind; entering an interaction with curiosity and openness; knowing that you don’t know
• Developing a collaborative working relationship—a partnership—within which the helper and the person being helped are both “experts” and the helper is not the only “wise” person in the conversation.

Miller & Rollnick emphasize that MI-informed practitioners work to avoid:

• The expert trap—assuming and communicating that the helper has the best answers to the person’s problems
• The fixing reflex—the natural desire of helpers to prevent harm and promote a person’s welfare by trying to correct or repair perceived problems

Another Way of Saying It

The motivational interviewing approach to helping encourages helpers to help with respect and positive regard, acceptance and non-judgment, compassion and empathy. The goal is not to persuade, fix, or correct someone—MI is not a manipulation. It is important not to fall into the expert stance or assume a position of superiority. The helper is not the only one with expertise—people are experts on themselves, their experiences, their relationships, their wants and needs. The MI approach recognizes the strengths and capabilities people bring to a helping relationship and encourages helping people use these to work towards change and growth. The MI approach identifies and highlights episodes, even moments, of change and growth. MI-oriented helpers help people work towards their goals and manifest their values.

MI and Neurodiversity-Autism

In their book, Autism and Solution-Focused Practice, Els Mattelin and Hannelore Volckaert write: “For us, it is fundamental that one regards persons with autism as people who think differently, with other ideas, values, life targets, needs, and solution strategies. Furthermore, we regard them as people with different strengths, talents, and ways of making life valuable. Different. Nothing more and nothing less.”

Mattelin and Volckaert argue that solution-focused therapy is, thus, a great fit for neurodivergent people, including people diagnosed with autism (see my post, “How Solution Focused Therapy Can Help Autism”). Motivational Interviewing, which has a lot in common with solution-focused approaches, similarly fits well for neurodivergent-autistic people. It sees people as individuals, identifies and works toward their goals, recognizes strengths, intelligences, and resources, and focuses on change and growth rather than pathology.

Some Invitations

I invite you, perhaps as a neurodivergent person or perhaps as a parent-partner-family member-helper of a neurodivergent person, to ask yourself, “To what extent, if any, does this approach to change and growth, this spirit of MI, fit me and the ways I would like to be helped—or the ways I would like to help?” Perhaps think about whether or not any work you might be doing with a therapist-counselor-helper is consistent with the MI spirit or way of being. Perhaps even share this post and discuss it with your therapist-counselor-helper.

I plan to keep the list of MI principles highlighted in this post handy, perhaps even on my desk or bulletin board, as I am working with neurodivergent people, to remind myself of these important principles and keep track of how well and often I am thinking and interacting in ways consistent with them. If you are a helper, I invite you to consider doing some version, your version, of this as well.

To find a therapist, visit the Psychology Today Therapy Directory.