Motivational Interviewing and Counseling Skills Flashcards
7 cards from real CASAC practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Motivational Interviewing and Counseling Skills flashcards as text
During an MI session, a counselor uses a 'summary' statement. The primary purpose of this technique is to:
Answer: Collect and present back key points, especially change talk, to reinforce motivation
Summaries in MI gather and reflect back important information, especially change talk, to reinforce the client's motivation and demonstrate that the counselor has been listening carefully.
Which of the following best describes 'reflective listening' in the context of MI?
Answer: Paraphrasing and mirroring the client's statements to demonstrate understanding
Reflective listening involves making statements that reflect what the counselor has heard, showing understanding and encouraging the client to continue exploring their thoughts and feelings.
A counselor notices a client becoming defensive and resistant. According to MI principles, the counselor should:
Answer: Adjust their approach, decrease directiveness, and explore the client's perspective
In MI, resistance is a signal for the counselor to change their approach — it often indicates the counselor is pushing too hard or too fast, and rolling with it is more effective than confrontation.
The Precontemplation stage in the Transtheoretical Model is best characterized by:
Answer: The client having no intention to change in the foreseeable future
In Precontemplation, the person does not see a need to change and may be unaware or unwilling to acknowledge that a problem exists, making it the earliest stage of change.
Which MI strategy involves the counselor asking clients to explore the positive aspects of their substance use before discussing the negatives?
Answer: Eliciting change talk through decisional balancing
Decisional balancing invites the client to examine both the pros and cons (including the good things about using), which reduces defensiveness and builds an honest foundation for exploring change.
In which of the following scenarios is a counselor demonstrating 'accurate empathy'?
Answer: 'It sounds like you are feeling torn between wanting to be sober and not wanting to lose your social circle.'
Accurate empathy involves reflecting the client's underlying feelings and perspective without judgment, showing the counselor truly understands the client's experience.
Which of the following behaviors by a counselor would be MOST inconsistent with the principles of Motivational Interviewing?
Answer: Offering unsolicited advice and telling the client what to do
Offering unsolicited advice and directing the client what to do is inconsistent with MI's spirit of autonomy and evocation, which emphasize drawing out the client's own motivation rather than imposing the counselor's agenda.