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From Ken's desk February 2012

Online short courses. Regular blogs. Facebook. Late last year we worked with a group of management students from Waikato University to explore our ability to respond to the changing world of learning and development. When you have been in the business for as long as we have, two things happen: firstly, you build up a significant amount of clinical and training knowledge and experience, and secondly, you can be viewed as not being contemporary enough. We have never accepted the latter, as we have remained up with (and, at times, lead) practice development. Our commitment to our own ongoing learning, editing of books on contemporary practice, and being engaged in clinical work, all attest to our currency. However, a valid question is "How well are we delivering to a younger audience of learners as well as our existing supporters?" "How well are we utilising a range of platforms to deliver learning and development materials?"

You will notice us having a much greater online presence from now on. There are several ways you can keep up with rich thinking and work we are doing.

Embracing the bloggersphere - We have made a commitment to write down and share lots of our practice wisdom and ideas with the field. This will be done in two ways: a dedicated blog ‘Practice Tips & Techniques' where Ken will be providing a weekly practice idea to enhance your effectiveness as a practitioner. Secondly ‘What is Ken thinking about' which is a place to share my thinking about contemporary issues facing the human services sector.

Online courses - we have developed the first totally online module and need your help to test it. You can go online and take the course for free on the condition that you give us honest feedback about how you found it. There is a short questionnaire at the conclusion of the course to fill in. The course is on open questions - it will take you an hour to work through the content.

Facebook - You can also follow us on Facebook to see what exciting projects we are involved in and what our team are up to during the week. If you like, don't be afraid to click the like button.

As you can see we have really listened to that group of management students

Want a qualification in Motivational Interviewing?

How about a Certificate in Motivational Interviewing Competency (Cert.MI)?

Motivational Interviewing (MI) has increasingly been part of the landscape of human service work since the early 1980s, with by William Miller and Stephen Rollnick. Today Motivational interviewing is known as "a form of collaborative conversation for strengthening a person's own motivation and commitment to change. It is a person-centered counselling style for addressing the common problem of ambivalence about change by paying particular attention to the language of change. It is designed to strengthen an individual's motivation for and movement toward a specific goal by eliciting and exploring the person's own reasons for change within an atmosphere of acceptance and compassion". (Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers, 2011)
The spirit of Motivational Interviewing is based around respect for individual autonomy, working collaboratively, and encouraging a person to come up with their own arguments for change. The spirit is supported by practice principles that include:

• Overcoming interpersonal resistance and conflict, as well as avoiding confrontation and arguments (e.g., rolling with resistance)
• Working empathically to listen and understand what it is like for the person
• Developing discrepancy between current behavior and where the person wants to live their lives
• Empowerment through supporting self-efficacy

MI has proven to be a highly effective approach that assists people to grapple with e1. Evaluate existing MI skills by VASE-R-NZ and self-report of previous training

What HMA is offering
People who have learned the theory and skills of Motivational Interviewing often ask if they can receive some acknowledgment and certification of their training and skill sets. HMA is now offering the ability for practitioners of Motivational Interviewing to gain a Certificate in Motivational Interviewing Competency.
Knowledge and competency of MI will be assessed through reflective practice exercises and through analysing a work sample with the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity Scale (MITI). The MITI is a behavioural coding system and yields a proficiency score and feedback that can be used to increase clinical skill in the practice of motivational interviewing. The MITI is intended to be used: 1) as a treatment integrity measure for clinical trials of motivational interviewing and 2) as a means of providing structured, formal feedback about ways to improve practice in non-research settings.

Who supports the HMA Certification process?
DAPANNZ support this certification process for those working within the addictions sector.

How do I gain certification?
HMA is offering people three different pathways for certification in Motivational Interviewing competency.

New to MI? Then Pathway One best meets your needs. This will prepare you well for competency and confidence in the use of MI in your work. This is also for people who know they are not ready for assessment and want to develop their skills further.

Step	Task	Fee
1. Attend a two-day Level I MI workshop - Fee: $350.00	Run by an experienced MI trainer	PASS = Certification Fee: $300.00 +GST
2. Three individual coaching sessions by an experienced MI practitioner via video-conferencing	Run by an experienced MI trainer	Fee: $100.00 per session
3. Attend a two-day Level II workshop	Run by an experienced MI trainer	Fee: $350.00 +GST
4. Three individual coaching sessions by an experienced MI practitioner via video-conferencing	Run by an experienced MI trainer	Fee: $100.00 per session

Got experience in MI for a period of two or more years? Then Pathway Two is for you: For people who have been around the traps and have been practicing MI for some time and think they are ready for accreditation.

Step	Task	Fee
1. Submit a work sample for MITI coding	Reviewed by two experienced MITI coders	PASS = Certification Fee: $300.00 +GST
2. Submit a work sample NO PASS = recommendations a. Workshops b. Coaching c. Supervision	See Pathway One	Fee: $300.00 +GST
3. Submit a further work sample	Reviewed by two experienced MITI coders	PASS = Certification Fee: $300.00 +GST
4. Submit a further work sample NO PASS = Coaching or supervision until PASS	See Pathway One	Fee to be determined

Pathway Three: We also offer organisational contracts using a strategy to equip staff in MI through the development of training in-house coaches, supervisors and trainers.

1. Evaluate existing MI skills by VASE-R-NZ and self-report of previous training
2. Provide various levels as MI training (e.g. Level I and II) and/or MITI coding 
3.  See above pathways for streaming people by ability
4. Work with organisations to get everyone certified
5. If they want in-house experts
   • Select most proficient and keen people
   • Provide MI Master Class
   • Provide MITI training
   • Provide how to coach, supervise and/or train workshop

Your next steps
There are several ways to manage your next steps.
Step1: Email: lynette.money@hma.co.nz In the subject line type CertMI and we will send you the relevant pack.
Step2: Fill in the self-reflection sheet around your experience in MI, training done and where you self-assess on the Pathway.
Step 3: We will call you and talk with you about your training needs and either ask for an audio tape of your practice or suggest that you attend a further workshop. For more information regarding our training calendar go the www.hma.co.nz/workshops/
Step 4: Get started and then get yourself that Certificate in Motivational Interviewing (Cert.MI).

Who is HMA?
On our team are a group of experienced practitioners who have been working within the MI framework for many years. The people directly involved in this project are:

Joel Porter (Psy.D., M.A., B.S.) , Ken McMaster - MSW (Hons), CQSW, MANZASW

Understanding programme drop-out from family violence programmes

All of us working in the area of family violence intervention are acutely aware of the issue of attrition from programmes. I know that I often worry about the safety of partners and children of men who drop out of intervention. If we can go by general criminal justice research we know that programme drop-out has been associated by higher recidivism rates and more severity of criminal activity. So what makes the difference in terms of who drops out and who stays to complete family violence intervention? Is it the individual characteristics of the person? Is it the nature of the programme design? Is it related to men's own experience of victimization? These are interesting questions to explore and while some aspects have been answered, others haven't.

I was therefore pleased to read a well-constructed and astute article titled Variables associated with attrition from domestic violence treatment programs targeting male batters: A meta-analysis, by Lisa Jewel and Stephen Wormith (Criminal Justice and Behavior, vol.37, No.10, 2010). This article did not replicate the same old issues around demographic variables or fixed characteristics of an individual which we know so much about already, (e.g. age, income, education, employment status, marital status, ethnicity, etc.) but explored the relationship of men's own victimization, programme type (feminist versus cognitive behavioral), and other intrapersonal characteristics on attrition from programmes (e.g. alcohol and drug use, depression, risk level, motivation, psychopathology and therapeutic alliance). They also explored drop-out in relation to the three stages (before assessment, between assessment and programme engagement, and during intervention) which to my knowledge is new and fertile ground.

Key results:
In terms of demographic variables:

• Employed individuals were 20% more likely to complete programmes than unemployed men
• Older men were 16% more likely to complete programmes than younger men
• Men with less education were more likely to drop out of feminist psycho-educational programmes versus cognitive behavioural programmes
• Men with more education were likely to complete as opposed to men with less education.

In terms of violence related variables:

• Referral source was most strongly associated with attrition with court mandated men 16% more likely to complete treatment than non-mandated (it is interesting to view this finding in the context of the current debates on whether to mandate or not, family court clients to programmes)
• Men attending for the first family violence incident were 14% more likely to complete treatment than men previously arrested or convicted for domestic violence.

In terms of intrapersonal variables:

• Both alcohol and drug use were associated with treatment attrition (12% and 10% respectively). It is worth noting that this is also a factor in terms of recidivism
• Cognitive functioning was also found to be a factor in attrition. Less education may be a mask for lower cognitive functioning and these men may find it more difficult to ‘keep up' in programmes and therefore drop-out.

According to the authors the results also fit nicely in the risk, need & responsivity model developed by Andrews and Bonta (1990). This has been the core approach to general offender work for the past 20 years. It is based upon the idea that treatment intensity should be matched to level of risk posed, focussed on reducing criminogenic needs (crime causing factors) and that programmes match the ability of the person and their learning styles (including cultural matching). The overall results vindicate what this writer has been arguing for a long time; that one size does not fit all and that our programmes need to be take account of responsivity factors far more carefully. In an ideal world we would be much more careful in getting the right match of men to programme type and style. This would therefore mean better retention in programmes and the associated outcome of further enhanced safety for others.

Motivational Interviewing Symposium

Beyond an Effect Size: Innovations in Thinking & Practice 7-9 March 2012, Auckland, New Zealand

Over the two and a half decades, Motivational Interviewing (MI) has grown from a little known counselling approach used in some alcohol and drug services to a household word in a wide range of mental health and health care settings. MI was originally developed William Miller (1983) as client-centred alternative to the mainstream North American disease-based confrontation of denial approach to working with addiction problems. Early research on brief sessions of MI and addiction problems began to yield encouraging results in behaviour change. How was it that a brief intervention was able to be as effective as more intensive interventions? This clearly contradicted the dominant thinking in substance abuse treatment: "The longer and more intensive the better".

In 1991 Miller teamed up with Stephen Rollnick to publish Motivational Interviewing: Preparing People to Change. Now, 29 years later, with over 200 professional publications, the development of the international Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT: www.motivationalinterviewing.org) and global dissemination, Miller and Rollnick are set to publish the third edition of the MI book.

There have been a few mild, but important, developments in MI. The first is the definition. MI has evolved from being:

A directive, client-centered counseling style for eliciting behavior change by helping clients to explore and resolve ambivalence. (Miller & Rollnick (1991)

to becoming:

Motivational interviewing is a form of collaborative conversation for strengthening a person's own motivation and commitment to change. It is a person-centered counselling style for addressing the common problem of ambivalence about change by paying particular attention to the language of change. It is designed to strengthen an individual's motivation for and movement toward a specific goal by eliciting and exploring the person's own reasons for change within an atmosphere of acceptance and compassion (MINT: 2011)

MI is a simple approach to facilitating change or providing a space for people to make informed choices. Grounded in the Carl Roger's Person-Centred Therapy, the foundation of the approach is based on empathic listening, self-determination, compassion and gentle guidance. MI is not a way of getting people to do what you want them to do, but to make choices about their lives based on their own values and reasons. Although the MI is a simple approach, it is quite sophisticated in practice. Like any complex skill, learning MI takes practice and external support (coaching or supervision) to ensure the foundational skills are being used in harmony with the approach.

One of more recent developments in MI has to do with the language of change. In regards to outcome, who talks about change and how they talk about is important (Moyers, Martin, Houck, Christopher & Tonigan, 2009). Guess what? It is not the helper's clever ideas, Socratic questions and persuasive arguments to change that makes the difference. In fact, it appears to have more to do with the client talking about change and committing to change that makes the difference.

Motivational interviewing is an evidenced-based optimistic, strengths oriented and pragmatic approach that fits seamlessly with social work values, ethics and practice across a wide range of settings (Wahab, 2005). In particular, MI has a body of evidence that supports it use with people from diverse backgrounds and bends well with concepts of cultural competency (Hohman, 2012).

The symposium to be held in Auckland will provide a rich opportunity for a range of practitioners to update themselves with the contemporary thinking in the field of MI and get a taste of innovative practice ideas.

Terri Moyers and Allan Zuckoff will be the keynote presenters along with a range of practitioners.

Theresa Moyers, PhD
Theresa Moyers has spent the last decade dedicated to exploring the process of motivational interviewing and language of change. Who talks about change and how they talk about change are two aspects of the process of MI that emerged from her research. What has emerged is that one of the key ingredients in MI could be in-session client "change talk," or a specific language in favour of behaviour change. Terri and her colleagues have developed several essential behavioural rating tools to assess MI proficiency that are commonly used in research and supervision.

Allan Zuckoff, PhD
Why don't people change? How do we enhance engagement into treatment? These are just a couple of the questions that Allan has been exploring recently in his current research and writing? Allan Zuckoff has also been a pioneer in area of blending MI with other approaches to improve engagement and adherence. Allan's research has explored areas of complicated grief, working with people with co-existing problems, organ donation, maternal depression and substance use.

Places at the Symposium are filling fast so book your place today. The venue for ISMI is the Stamford Plaza Hotel located in the heart of Auckland city. There is accommodation available at the hotel for which we have secured a special rate.

You can register for the Symposium on-line at http://www.hma.co.nz/workshops/

Book review: Effective Interventions with Offenders: Lessons learned

Edited by Ken McMaster & David Riley. Christchurch, NZ: Hall McMaster & Associates, 2011.

We are pleased to re-publish this review by Jayson Ware, Executive Director, Offender Services & Programs, Corrective Services New South Wales, Australia from the Nov/Dec edition of Corrections News.
"It is no secret that New Zealand is considered to be one of the world's leaders in the rehabilitation of offenders. For this reason when I was told of a newly published book written by respected staff who work for, or in partnership with, the New Zealand Department of Corrections, I knew that this would be an invaluable read. Sure enough, it was clear that all of the contributors are practitioners who know their science.

This book represents both a state-of-the-art review of what we know about offender rehabilitation and equally importantly an informed commentary on how we should use what we know to ensure that we protect the public and enhance the wellness and wellbeing of those that we treat.

For more go to http://www.corrections.govt.nz/news-and-publications/magazines-and-newsletters/corrections-news/2012/corrections_news_nov-dec_2011/book_review_effective_interventions_with_offenders_lessons_learned.html

There are 11 chapters - each of which has very important messages that should be read, understood, and disseminated to all of us who work with offenders. At risk of doing the book a disservice I will outline only a few of these messages.

Within his chapter Riley powerfully outlines the evidence for rehabilitation within corrections. The take home message is simply that rehabilitation programmes work. More specifically Wales and Tiller alert us to the all important issue of treatment integrity whilst convincingly pointing out that correctional rehabilitation programmes that adhere to certain principles can be more effective than many physical interventions that we would never query - such as taking aspirin to reduce the risk of heart attack. McMaster and Wells outline the key components of rehabilitation programme design and provide an excellent commentary on the complexities and challenges in developing the right programme for the right people. Frost draws our attention to the often forgotten notion that rehabilitation programmes are contextual and must occur in a way that is meaningful to the offender and relevant to his real life concerns. Baker, King, and then Moth and Evans outline the issues for rehabilitative programmes about family violence.

Tamatea and Brown also remind us of the importance of incorporating cultural factors into our rehabilitative efforts. This cannot be overstated given the over-representation of indigenous people within all of our correctional jurisdictions.

Dark and McMaster then explore the competencies that facilitators of all of these programmes require and how these are to be provided. Farmer and Trainor then provide an excellent chapter which highlights the importance of good quality supervision for those who provide rehabilitation programmes. Finally, from a different perspective and in what is a very useful addition to the book, Gledhill examines the purposes of detention and poses the question of whether or not treatment is an offender's legal right or entitlement?

All in all this certainly is an impressive book written by individuals with considerable insight into the complexities of offender rehabilitation. I highly recommend that this book becomes essential reading for all practitioners within this field.

To buy Effective Interventions with Offenders - Lessons Learned, visit the on-line bookshop at www.hma.co.nz/publications