Explore every episode of the podcast Motivational Interviewing & Beyond

This episode of MIB explores MI as a craft, moving beyond a set of skills to a nuanced conversational art form. We aim to explore what it takes to become a practitioner focusing on the intuitive, adaptive and deeply personal aspects of helping. We were joined by Heather Flynn, Patrick Berthiaume, David Rosengren, Mike Porteous and Allan Zuckoff for the unbounded conversation. 

The 2025 Motivational Interviewing Summit was a gathering of
colleagues from around the world to explore the future of MI
practice, and research. Sponsored by the Florida State University Center for Behavioral Health Integration, the MI Summit was held in Tallahassee, Florida, USA on  17-18 May 2025. This interactive collaborative event included roundtable and panel discussions centred on innovations and directions of MI. We had robust exchanges, friendly differences, and good humour through a lively two-day
gathering. In this podcast we reflected on the the learnings and questions that emerged from our time together.

In the episode of MIB, Steve and Joel are joined by Terri Moyers, Chris Wagner and Densie Ernst to explore how skillful do you need to be at MI to be hopeful. This conversation compliments up our last episode on "Harmology". We hope you find this discussion stimulating and enjoyable. 

We could not do MIB without the generous support of the team at the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Support at Florida State University. 

Thanks for listening! 
Joel & Steve

In this episode Joel, Steve and friends explore how attempting to help people can sometimes cause harm. Steve lays out four types of people that cause harm. We explore the potentially side of toxic empathy and sympathy. The importance of informed practice. We also begin a conversation on: How much MI do people actually need to know to be helpful? Thanks the guests Brendan Murphy, Shaun Shelly and our host at Florida State University Heather Flynn for sharing your wisdom and experiences.

In this episode Steve, Joel and Ange are joined by our good friends Allan Zuckoff and Chris Wagner to explore MI and Person Centered Counselling. Where do these approaches converge and diverge. We did the best we could to explore what Carl Rogers might think about MI if he was alive today. Happy Holidays and we will see next year!

In this episode, Steve, Kendelle and Joel are live from the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers annual Forum in Copenhagen, Denmark.  The conversation was with both friends in audience and online. There was a lot of conversational territory covered in an hour and half. Apparently, the use of MI is being explores in a wide range of areas from cultural humility to family relationships and even climate change. Based on this conversation the future of MI is a work in progress. 

In this episode of MIB, Joel, Kendelle, Steve, Ange and some wonderful guests explore two questions: What exactly is Artificial Intelligence? and What is happening with AI and MI in regards to research, training and practice. As always we welcome ideas and questions form the global MIB community and look forward to seeing you later this month. Guests: David Atkins, Michael Tanana, Catharine Devany Serio, Alex Wait and June Kim.

In this episode, Joel, Kendell, Ange, Molly Magill and the participants will have a conversation with Steve about what to expect to find in the upcoming 4th edition of the MI book. Bring your questions and ideas to share with Steve and everyone.

In this episode, Joel, Steve and Ange take a long look at psychedelic assisted therapy (PAT) and how MI may or may not fit. We are joined by Joshua Bringle, PhD, Joji Suzuki, MD, Candida Mauer, PhD and Michael Fluop, MD who are all engaged in funded clinical trails  ketamine and psylocibin. The conversation was fun, illuminating and mind altering (or changing) for some. The audience chat is included in the Transcript section.

On a side note, MIB is heading into our third year,  with 42,000 down loads and continues to build a lovely international community of friends. MI Around the World is a international project offer low cost to no cost MI training  in three time zones over the next two months. For more information, please visit us: https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/o/dr-joel-porter-18627665246 or emai: miworkshops@mail.com

In this episode of MIB, Kendelle, Joel, Angela and guests explore the place of hope in helping people grow and make changes. We take a look at how hope fits with the spirit and practice of MI.

In this episode we introduce Kendall Bond as part of the MIB team. We are joined by Karen Ingersoll, Tyrel Starks and Chris Wagner to explore how MI can be adapted to work with more than on person in groups counselling, couples therapy, classrooms and sports teams.

In this episode,  Steve, Joel, Kendelle Bond and friends from around the world explore if, where and how MI fits into the broader conversations about change. What can MI bring to the conversations outside of the therapy room, locker room or classroom?

In this Oceanic episode of MI & Beyond we have Helen Mentha, Tipene Pickett, Kyle McKenzie and Ken McMaster in a conversation to explore how learning and practicing MI improves practice across the spectrum of helping.

 In this episode of MIB, Joel, Ange, Steve, Bill Miller, Molly Magill, Chris Wagner, Paul Earnshaw, Allan Zuckoff will continue the discussion to try to discover if an underlying theory of MI exists (or if one is needed). We are joined by a couple of people from the audience to liven thing up. This is one robust and stimulating conversation for MI Geeks!

In this episode of MIB, Joel, Ange, Terri Moyers, Bill Neto, Kathy Goumas, Allan Zuckoff and other guests will try to discover if an underlying theory of MI exists (or if one is needed). After a  a robust opening, the conversation eventually finds it's way to the place where we hoped it would.  It looks like we be having a part two of this conversation before too long. 

Motivational Interviewing has been disseminated to an untold number of people around the world. In this episode Joel, Ange, Steve and guests from around the world take a look at Motivational Interviewing training over the years. We explore questions such as: What's changed over time? What's stayed the same? Virtual training versus face-to-face training, what’s best? Does everyone really need to be proficient in MI to be helpful?

Best friends with the potential for making an impact at home, school, and in sport? Join Joel, Ange, and Steve with special guests Andy Williams, Orla Adams, Steve Berg-Smith, David Rosengren and Ken McMaster for a bumper discussion on how to improve culture, relationships, and outcomes.

Steve, Ange and Joel along with Jennifer Luther  (USA), Michael Clark (USA), Ken McMaster (Aotearoa/New Zealand) and Fredrik Eliasson (Sweden) take a look at the past, present and future of MI in area of corrections. This freewheeling and, at times, personal conversation covers a lot of ground.

Joel, Steve, Ange, Cristiana Fortini, Ken McMaster and Tipene Pickett were curious to know what questions are about MI are out there.  We may not have had all the answers, but we gave it our best shot. We had some thought provoking questions, interesting answers and good fun.

In this episode of MIB, Joel, Steve, Ange along with Molly Magill, Denise Ernst, Colin O'Driscoll and Rick Cotgreave take a look into what happens in our conversations about change and more. The conversation has some turns and twists that create more questions than answers. 

In this third part of the Inside The Conversation of Change, Joel, Steve, Ange, Denise Ernst, Molly Magill, Shaun Shelly, Patrick Berthiaume and friends discuss the idea of harmful conversation, exploring when attempts at helping accidentally cause harm and how to prevent it.

In this episode of MIB, we explore the appeal and helpfulness of MI across cultures, languages and borders. Joel, Ange and Steve are joined by friends and colleagues from Brazil, South Africa and Aotearoa/New Zealand to share ideas and stories from training and practicing MI to get a better understanding of international and cross cultural adoption of MI.

In this episode, Steve, Ange & Joel are joined by Denise Ernst (USA), Simon Adamson (New Zealand), Shaun Shelly (South Africa) and surprise guest Molly Magill (USA) to explore how MI has changed the way we think about and work with addictions and addictive behaviours. The conversation meandered into a range of areas from about how we hold people in mind and in heart to do we need the word "treatment" anymore.

In this MIB episode David Rosengren, Margo Bristow and Onna Brewer join in and try to answer Steve's question: Does Listening Save Time? We spent a lot of time talking about listening. 

Welcome. In this episode Steve, Joel and guests have a well rounded conversation about change. We explore the limitations and unearth question about focusing only behaviour change as an acceptable outcome. Heather Flynn, Kathy Goumas and others join in the conversation to help connect some of the dots and deepen our understanding of what it means to help others. Steve also does some foreshadowing of the fourth edition of the Motivational Interviewing.

In the episode Steve, Joel and guests Stan, Brendan and others explore the upper limits of caring for others. We talk about Compassion Focused Therapy, self-compassion, compassion vs. empathy, therapist shame, vicarious trauma  and more. We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we enjoyed having it!

In this episode we explored the universe of virtual learning and training with Susan Dopart (USA) and Ken McMaster (New Zealand) . How has COVID fast tracked and required us to adapt to a new teaching, training and learning environment? We were also joined by Pip Mason, Steve Berg-Smith and Onna Brewer to further explore the personal challenges of moving from training in the room to training in cyberspace. 

In this episode Joel and Steve are joined by Russell Calderwood (Wales), Fredrik Eliasson (Sweden), Margo Bristow (USA) and Brendan Murphy (Ireland) to take deep dive in role of supporting autonomy while helping people change. 

This episode starts with Madtv 's clip Stop It  with Bob Newhart and Mo Collins. Afterwards, Joel and Steve are joined by colleagues Andrew Brownhill, Orla Adams and Judith Carpenter to explore what advice and feedback actually are. Is it a task to be done, a skill to learn or art form? Steve provides a live demonstration of he offers advice and feedback. There are questions and comments from the audience 

This Episode focuses in on the role of empathy in sport.  We had three guests that are involved with working with professional athletes who are trying to change the culture of who athletes both young and old are  treated by coaches.  Does empathy have a place in sport? How can empathy support optimal performance? Is coaching about more than just winning? 

Our flagship episode of Motivational Interviewing & Beyond (MIB) was focused on the importance of listening in this time of uncertainty. As we found our way into learning how to do a webinar and inviting people to join, we covered a lot conversational ground.  

Steve and Joel have a robust conversations with experts in vaccinology, diabetes, motivational interviewing and general medicine on vaccinations, ambivalence and hesitancy. There is a MI demonstration of how to approach the topic and questions from the audience in this episode. 

Joel and Steve along with Allan Zuckoff, Terri Moyers, Chris Wagner and Kathy Goumas explore the topic of psychotherapy integration. This lively conversation covers a lot ground  from the history of therapy integration to what makes an effective therapist. There are spontaneous  appearances and questions from the audience.