Allan Zuckoff - Finding Your Way to Change: How the Power of Motivational Interviewing Can Reveal What You Want and Help You Get There

This brilliant book guides you through a journey of discovery in that most intimate and difficult relationshipthe one with yourself. Stories of others who have made the trek illustrate the challenges of being stuck in a problem that seems intractable, the way through the mire, and the joy of emerging on the other side. The book offers not only the promise of change, but also the ability to sustain it.

David B. Rosengren, PhD, Prevention Research Institute

The method in this book can fuel the fire of change and help you move from despair to positive action. The exercises are wonderful. The book helped me think differently about a dilemma in my own life, and I found myself reading parts of it to a friend who came to me for advice.

Theresa B. Moyers, PhD, Department of Psychology and Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictions, University of New Mexico

A friend suggested that I read this book when she learned I was considering a career change. It provided me with a useful toolkit for considering what I want to do next, based on my own deep-seated interests and visions of my professional life. The concepts and techniques are easy to grasp. Previously, I tried to make difficult decisions by listing the pros and consthis book offers a more sophisticated and thoughtful approach.

John F.

If youve ever said to yourself, I really want to change, but I just cant seem to do it, you need to read this excellent book. Dr. Zuckoff knows that there are powerful forces within us that can sabotage our good intentions and best-laid plans. He gives you practical, scientifically grounded tools to help you understand why youre spinning your wheels and how to productively work through it.

Henny Westra, PhD, CPsych, Department of Psychology, York University, Canada

Changing our behaviors is a journey with lots of twists and turns. Including compassionate stories of people facing different challenges and problems, this book guides you to deal with ambivalence, find confidence, overcome false starts, handle well-meaning advice and nagging, and make personally meaningful decisions and plans.

Carlo C. DiClemente, PhD, ABPP, coauthor of Changing for Good

This book is a compassionate companion that helps you draw on your strengths and proceed at your own pace to unlock your capacity for change. It provides a nonjudgmental, step-by-step approach that can lead you to take brave new actions that fulfill your needs.

Nancy K. Grote, PhD, School of Social Work, University of Washington

Plenty of self-help books offer great ideas about how to make changes, but most are missing the most obvious and important ingredientintrinsic motivation. Decades of research have proven that if we are not internally motivated to change, all the help in the world wont make a difference. Dr. Zuckoff provides the missing link in the world of personal growth. This book is a gem.

Joel Porter, PsyD, Clinical Director, Lives Lived Well, Brisbane, Australia; member, Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT)

This book uses a scientifically proven approach to help you move forward from feeling stuck to creating a plan of action. Written exercises encourage reflection and self-discovery and help you explore your ambivalence, goals, and dilemmas. Superb examples of five easy-to-relate-to people making important changes accompany you through the process.

Holly A. Swartz, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

I am thrilled that MI is now readily accessible to all.... The book reminds us that the most powerful force for change resides within each of us, and uses thought-provoking exercises to unleash this power.

Sandy Downey, MS, LPC, psychotherapist, Harrisonburg, Virginia

THE GUILFORD PRESS
New York London

Epub Edition ISBN: 9781462520862; Kindle Edition ISBN: 9781462520855

2015 The Guilford Press

A Division of Guilford Publications, Inc.

370 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1200, New York, NY 10001

www.guilford.com

All rights reserved

The information in this volume is not intended as a substitute for consultation with healthcare professionals. Each individuals health concerns should be evaluated by a qualified professional.

No part of this book may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Last digit is print number: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Zuckoff, Allan, 1960

Finding your way to change : how the power of motivational interviewing can
reveal what you want and help you get there / Allan Zuckoff, with Bonnie Gorscak.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-4625-2040-4 (paperback)ISBN 978-1-60918-064-5 (cloth)

1. Change (Psychology) 2. Motivation (Psychology) 3. InterviewingPsychological aspects. I. Gorscak, Bonnie. II. Title.

BF637.C4Z83 2015

158.1dc23

2014050371

To Gerry Zuckoff (19312014),
mother and mother-in-law,
loved and missed by us both

Contents

I.

II.

III.

Purchasers of this book can download and print forms from the online supplement at www.guilford.com/zuckoff-forms.

We introduced motivational interviewing (MI) over 30 years ago as an approach to be used in conversations between clients and their counselors. Many studies since then have found it to be an effective way of helping people change. Our original efforts with this counseling style were directed at people facing difficult life challenges like changing their health habits or getting free from an addiction. We found that deep listening helped people as they faced why and how they might change.

Now here is a book, Finding Your Way to Change, that addresses a new question: Can you use some of the same insights and practical ideas on your own to support important changes? There are solid links between the worlds of counseling and self-help that this book highlights. One example is the idea of ambivalence, or uncertainty about whether or not to change. Its something that we emphasize in counseling, and an understanding of this internal conflict is the focus of the first chapter. Another link is that being gentle and accepting of yourself can serve as a foundation for change. When you feel unacceptable, its very hard to change; but when you take the pressure off and accept your situation, it becomes possible.

Based on the principles and practices of MI, this book is designed to help you get unstuck from ambivalence and move ahead with positive changes you might choose to make in your life. It gathers up-to-date knowledge and insights from MI into the world of self-help, offering useful ideas without falling prey to the hyperbole that is so common in self-help books. The authors do not dispense quick tricks or promise to give you something that you lack. Rather, they help you find that which you already have within you and draw out your own motivations for and wisdom about change.