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HMA Blog

Working with passion and integrity to bring out the best in people

I am not going to quit now!

I turned 65 in August, so I, along with my partner Suzanne, took a significant break from our work lives to reflect upon our next steps. When that magic number ticks over, people often start talking about the big ‘R’ question (retirement). Sam, my son, knew that this phase in my life would not necessarily […]

The place of groupwork in social change

I love group work. I love training people in the effective use of groups. I love the idea that people with similar issues can come together and support each other around social and personal change. I was privileged to be asked to contribute a chapter on social change through group work in Practice Skills in […]

Reflecting upon a lifetime of trying to disrupt domestic and family violence

I’m in a contemplative mood at the moment. I recently reached the tender age of 65. For many people reaching this age comes with a degree of angst, uncertainty, and worry. I’ve taken a decent break from work to allow time to reflect on my future direction.  I can never really see myself fully retiring […]

What does it mean to be accountable?

Last week I was running a masterclass on Disrupting Family Violence, and the issue of accountability versus responsibility arose. I believe that in the DFV sector, we have embraced a legalistic view of accountability. We talk about holding users of violence accountable for their behaviour. I don’t have a problem with this, but accountability can […]

Three ways our behaviour change app will enhance your program

Our team created Ake with the goal of addressing the common challenges faced in the field of family violence intervention. Watch the videos below to find out the reasons why Ake can improve engagement and outcomes for men participating in your behaviour change program. 1 – Early engagement is key It goes without saying that […]

Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers Chapter Meeting

It’s an exciting time for members and Friends of MINT Oceania as they prepare to gather in Melbourne next weekend. This gathering marks the first time in three years that they will be together in person rather than virtually. With so much happening in the MI space during this time, this conference presents a unique […]

Who uses domestic, family, and sexual violence, how, and why?

At the recent ‘Working with Men to End Family Violence’ online conference, Associate Professor Michael Flood from the Queensland University of Technology presented a state of knowledge report on violence perpetration. Who uses domestic, family, and sexual violence, how, and why? (qut.edu.au) We know that domestic, family and sexual violence is widely underreported. If it […]

Substance Misuse, Trauma and Family Violence

There is often heated debate about the links between these three factors. When a report from the Centre for Justice Innovation (UK) Substance misuse, trauma and domestic abuse perpetration: The perspective from Family Drug and Alcohol Courts (justiceinnovation.org) came across my desk, I was interested in seeing how they made sense of the issues, given […]

We are almost ready

We are in the final stages of publishing the app onto the Apple and Google Play stores for iOS and Android devices and are due to go live with Ake – our safety and behaviour support app, at the end of March. As you can imagine, this is an exciting milestone, representing many hours from […]

Associate Spotlight – Peter Feeney

Peter Feeney is an actor, writer, teacher, and director. Peter is a good friend to HMA, having been involved in several of our media projects. His relationship with HMA began when we produced the extensive “Motivational Interviewing – a Learning Resource ”, which captured motivational interviewing practices from within New Zealand and Australia. Since then, […]

Engaging with young people who use DFV 

Increasing attention is being directed at youth domestic and family violence. A significant amount of violence against parents goes unreported to formal systems (Police, Youth Justice). We also know that there is significant underreporting of dating relationships that young people are involved with. Last year we had the privilege of working with Mission Australia to […]

It is good to have dreams/moemoeā

    When I started my social work career in the early 1980s, I had no idea where the journey would take me. Little did I know that I would find myself contributing to best practices in family violence and criminal justice work in New Zealand and across Australia. None of us does this role […]

Once a week or all week?

How do we increase the dosage in our men’s behaviour change programmes? How do we ensure learning transfer of the work we do in programmes continues after the session? How do we ensure programme participants are ready for the session?   These questions have been central to our thinking over the past forty years. We know […]

What our young boys / men are subjected to

Forty years ago, I joined a number of projects that worked with the restraints that gendered restrictions placed on boys and men, and how these flowed through to behaviour towards girls, women, and men. I was hopeful that in my lifetime we would realise the dream of gender equality by making inroads into issues such […]

Is exposure to family violence a gateway to sexual violence?

I have increasingly been interested in the question of pathways that lead a person to engage in harmful behaviour, such as family violence and sexual violence. While it is generally agreed that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) create the conditions for more challenging behaviour as an adult, much of the research has been generalised.  I was […]

The gendered weight of desistance

The question of who does the social and emotional heaving lifting in relationships is a central question to the gender question. It is in my view that this is a key issue that maintains abusive practice, as well as gender imbalance.   I was excited to see the research paper by Lauren Hall and Lyndsey Harris, who […]

Hi from the No To Violence Conference in Adelaide

    Hi from the No To Violence Conference in Adelaide. I am enjoying the opportunity to meet in person with old friends, meet new ones, and engage in thoughtful conversations around the changing nature of intervention practice in the DFV space. Shifting the burden, the conference theme, is designed to spotlight the users of […]

Male privileges and respectful living

    Forty years ago, I started a journey. That journey was born out of the challenges at the time of appreciating the privilege that comes from being male.  It was during the time of the second wave of feminism; the rights of women to be treated as people, with autonomy over their bodies and […]

29% of adults have experienced sexual assault or intimate partner violence in their lifetime

    Every year I look forward to the data from the New Zealand Crime And Victim Survey (Cycle 4 November 2022 – November 2021, N=6,244, response rate 76%). Looking forward may not be the best descriptor, given what it really tells us about what is happening or has happened within our communities.   The report […]

On the road again – Our focus on Youth DFV

    It was with some trepidation that I got on a plane and headed from New Zealand to Australia. The last time I travelled out of New Zealand was a year ago. That trip took me to the Northern Territory (Alice Springs and Darwin) for two weeks.  This trip however couldn’t have been more […]

24/7 support for men kicking the behaviour of abusive practices

Have you ever wondered how much learning transfer occurs from the in-room or online session you are running back into the person’s life? This is an issue that has vexed me for a very long time. I don’t think we are making the most of how we support men on programs to disrupt family violence […]

The role of trauma in DFV

How often have you wondered, “Why does he hurt the people he says he loves?” I know I have. Having spent the past 40 years trying to come up with explanations to that question, if there is one thing I have made sense of, simple reasons don’t consider the vast diversity in the population of men who use violence within their families.  

A third of domestic violence killers in Australia are middle class

    Statistics presented at Australia’s National Research On Women’s Safety (ANROWS) conference by Hayley Boxall from the Australian Institute of Criminology, saw that a third of domestic violence killers in Australia are middle class, challenging the common stereotypes that family violence abusers are from disadvantaged backgrounds and are in regular contact with Police.   We […]

Looking forward to 2022

  It is a truism that life often throws us curveballs. At HMA, we have certainly experienced a few curve balls over 23 years of business. The 2011 Christchurch earthquake saw the floor we owned in a high-rise building come crashing down. Thank goodness none of our team were injured. I almost lost my shirt […]

People with brain injuries, developmental issues ‘over-represented’ in justice system – new report by Chief Science Advisor (Justice)

We have always known the challenges of those who are imprisoned in terms of early life trauma due to issues such as exposure the family violence and general violence, drug addiction and learning difficulties. This report by Ian Lambie, the Chief Science Advisor for Justice provides the evidence for a humane way to understand the […]

Workshop – The role of Motivational Interviewing in working with Family Violence

“Resolving ambivalence and developing motivation is a key aspect of engagement into Men’s Behaviour Change (MBC) programs.”​ Given that most men referred to programs are mandated either formally or informally through pressure from family, friends or significant others in their lives, then this is even more critical. Even those who appear willing at the start […]

We are sad

As you can imagine, the situation in Christchurch is incredibly sad and distressing for us as a nation right now. New Zealand has a long history of taking in refugees displaced as a result of war, famine and religious intolerance. We are proud to welcome people to our part of the world, to support the […]

Well done Gillette on taking a stand against the impact of rampant sexism

You may be aware of the furore around the new Gillette ad on masculinity. It has certainly lit up the internet. I am always interested that when traditional notions of the balance of power is threatened, there is an instant over-reaction. It is my view that we have done a disservice to our sons (and […]

HMA 2018 Round-Up

We have had a fantastic year. Heartfelt thanks go to the agencies and organisation that have placed trust in HMA to work with their staff. From large delivery and design projects to working with dedicated staff on the front line, we have been very pleased to work with passion and integrity to bring out the […]

Disrupting Family Violence Programme Launch!

Disrupting Family Violence & Moving Closer to Family Wellbeing An 18+ session family violence intervention programme for men Family violence has emerged from behind closed doors since the second wave of feminism during the 1970’s. Family violence now accounts for around of 40% of policing time, is prevalent across the population and often follows intergenerational […]

Winner! Outstanding Performance in Carbon Management

At HMA we tend to get around a bit. Given the large amount of work that we do throughout New Zealand and Australia, this is not surprising, but it comes at a cost. That cost being a lot of travel. While our commitment to sustainable growth is a principle that sits behind our company’s aim […]

Empathy: The foundation of best practice

We are currently working with Corrections Victoria on a large pilot program implementing aspects of motivational interviewing with custodial staff. This is happening in two prison sites and a probation site in the Grampians region. Given that empathy is a foundational skill for motivational interviewing (we code for it as a global measure on the […]

Compassion… The greatest of virtues

Ranked a great virtue in numerous philosophies, compassion is considered in almost all the major religious traditions as among the greatest of virtues. Compassion motivates people to go out of their way to help the physical, spiritual, or emotional hurts and pains of another. Compassion is often regarded as having an emotional aspect to it, though when based on […]

How technology will disrupt behaviour change interventions

I spend a lot of my time thinking about the best way to help with behaviour change. Don’t get me wrong, I am one of those people trained in face-to-face group work which involves sitting with a collection of people to make sense of behaviour that is problematic to both them and others. Over the […]

Being careful how we see others

‘Me against my brother; my brother and I against my cousin; myself, my brother and my cousin against others’, so goes this old Arab Bedouin saying. It is however problematic and underpins sameness, rather than diversity. Now more than ever, we are seeing a hardening towards those who are different than ourselves, which in turn […]

Technology… An abuser’s best friend?

Nowadays, the same technology designed to make our lives easier and more efficient, is increasingly being used as a tool to monitor, manipulate, shame and control people easily, and at a distance. As you will know, domestic violence isn’t always about physical violence, and in fact, it is psychological abuse that is by far the […]

Men’s Safety Project – A FREE site for men and practitioners

81% of people think it is possible to change people’s behaviour around family violence* So do we… It’s not uncommon for men to struggle with patterns of abusive behaviour in their relationships, and for that pattern of behaviour to have a detrimental impact on everyone; partners, children and men themselves. While changing these often ingrained […]

And the winners are…

We had a great response to our post ‘Motivational Interviewing Resources – OARS Tokens and MI Rulers’. Thanks to all of those people who got back to us expressing interest in receiving a free pack. Originally we intended to give away five resources packs, but because the interest was so high we have increased that […]

Motivational Interviewing Resources – OARS Tokens and MI Rulers

Are you looking for innovative ways to up-skill yourself or your staff in Motivational Interviewing? Perhaps your wanting help with specific clients who seem stuck. Well, our new MI resource pack can help you with both. Read on to learn more about the resource pack, and, how you can get one for free! OARS Tokens […]

Making behaviour change sticky

Here’s a question… What do you do after learning something new? Answer: I bet you go back to doing what it is that you usually do the whole time thinking, “that was nice”, “interesting”, “informative” etc. What you probably don’t do is implement the information fully, whether immediately, later, or in some cases… ever! The same applies […]

Small numbers of family violence offenders create big impact!

Over the summer I received a tweet from the Sentencing Council in Victoria which reported half of reported domestic violence harm was caused by 2% of offenders. The report, by the Cambridge Centre for Evidence-Based Policing, used a harm index based on time spent in prison to analyse the offences of 36,228 people charged in […]

Mindful Facilitation

Have you ever walked into a group session and found yourself in reactive mode to one or more of the participants? Have you ever walked away from a session, knowing you have been triggered and felt uncomfortable with your performance? We have all been there at some point in our group facilitation. I certainly have. I was […]

MI in groups – Chris Wagner

Many practitioners have found Motivational Interviewing to be a useful addition to their work. While MI has become almost standard care over the past years, it is an individualized approach that requires some adaptation for group work. MI helps people find their way to a better future – from a single habit or lifestyle change […]

Training waste – an expense we cannot afford

How often have we turned up to run or been part of a training event where you experience the following: Participants have been told they need to attend and they don’t want to – their behaviour gives a clear message, “I would rather be somewhere else” Participants have not done the pre-work – they come […]

Wanting to be SAFE within your relationships – a free website for men

  Many years ago when I wrote a self-help book for men titled ‘Feeling angry, playing fair’. It was written for men struggling with patterns of abusive practice in their relationships, a not uncommon pattern of behaviour that has detrimental impact of everyone; their partner, children and the man himself. Few men in my experience […]

HMA launches new website

We are excited. Today we launch our new website (www.hma.co.nz). Over the past three months we have been working with Wired Internet Group to rebuild our website so that it now operates across a number of platforms including desktop, tablet, and other mobile devices such as smart phones. We invite you to go and have […]

Working with discord – Ken interviews Daryl about returning to a life of crime

This months DVD on motivational interviewing focuses upon the notion of discord and the challenges of engaging with a client who is deciding on where to go next after spending time in prison.  This month it is me (Ken McMaster) undertaking a session with Daryl who is ambivalent about a return to lifestyle of drug […]

MI Oceania presentations now online

Thanks to everyone who attended either the MINT sponsored TNT, MITI4 coding workshop and/or the 4th International Symposium on Motivational Interviewing that was held in Melbourne during August. These events provided a rich and diverse opportunity for practitioners using motivational interviewing in a range of settings to come together to share ideas and enhance practice. We were incredibly […]

Anxiety robs us of our empathy

I spend a lot of time working in the criminal justice area with staff around general offending or family violence. The literature from the motivational interviewing field teaches us that empathy is one of the global measures, that along with partnership, indicates a strong working alliance. I have been thinking about what makes it so […]

Our big successes

People often ask me, “What do you do?”. Putting this into a two minute pitch is often difficult. When asked I say our team is about enhancing community safety and wellbeing. Firstly we develop a range of evidence-based interventions in the family violence and general offender sector. Secondly, we up-skill practitioners to deliver ours and […]

Case study on HMA features on Totara site

As you will know Hall McMaster & Associates (HMA) is a niche consulting agency. HMA provide programme design, training and mentoring to New Zealand and overseas governments in the important areas of criminal justice, family violence prevention, motivational interviewing and parenting. We are excited to be mentioned in a case study around the use of Totara, the learning management system that we use to host our online learning […]

Last chance registrations for ISMI

Registrations for the International Symposium of Motivational Interviewing (ISMI) close this weekend! The 4th ISMI will be held in Melbourne on Friday 7 August at the Treacy Centre in Parkville. The line up of international and local speakers is impressive and it’s shaping up to be a stimulating day. Presenters include: Dr Terri Moyers (US): Beyond […]

17 years six months

I was looking at my LinkedIn profile and was surprised to discover that 17 years and six months was the length of time since Suzanne and I formed Hall McMaster and Associates Limited (HMA). Our vision has always been ‘Working with passion and integrity to bring out the best in people’. This emerged from our […]

Time running out to get on the MINT Training for New Trainers Workshop: 4-6 August 2015

Is MI a core part of your practice? Do you love MI? Share MI? Train others in MI? Want to join like-minded colleagues? The MINT Endorsed TNT is the first of it’s kind in our region. This entry workshop opens up membership of MINT and the chance to connect with and share the rich MI […]

Spotlight on the International Symposium on Motivational Interviewing: 7 August 2015

Do you use MI? Have conversations about change in your role? Want to know more? Go beyond the basics with this stimulating one day program on applications of MI. When we first meet MI, we often meet a user-friendly, accessible method that makes a lot of common sense. However, the more we play with MI […]

Spotlight on the MITI4 Workshop: 4-6 August 2015

Do you want to deepen your understanding of the elements of MI? Review how you’re going? Coach others MI? Conduct research on MI? Then the MITI 4 workshop could be the perfect professional development for you. The Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity coding manual is one of the leading methods for assessing MI fidelity and providing […]

Online enrolments for Melbourne MI events now open

You are now able to enrol online with the early bird rate for the upcoming Melbourne Motivational Interviewing events here. The two events currently open are: Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity coding workshop (MITI4) with Denise Ernst (4th – 6th September) – places are limited 4th International Symposium on Motivational Interviewing (7th September) For those wishing […]

A lot happening in the Motivational Interviewing space

We are delighted to confirm three exciting professional development opportunities will be held on 4-7 August 2015 by the newly formed MI Oceania, a not for profit group interested in promoting excellence in MI and supporting those interested in this practical communication approach. All events will be held at the Treacy Centre in Parkville, Melbourne. […]

Rules or values – what works best in developing group culture

Have you ever struggled developing group rules or ground rules for the programmes you are facilitating? Often we establish rules, write them on flipchart paper, and then ignore them for the rest of the programme. Or worse, the rules become the job of the facilitators to hold group members to account around. It can feel […]

17 year anniversary – a time of reflection

Over the past couple of weeks I have been getting a number of congratulations on LinkedIn acknowledging my work anniversary of leading the HMA team. It is amazing to think that 17 years ago I left the security of a salaried position in the Social Work Department at Canterbury University to pursue my passion of […]

MI Oceania website goes live

MI Oceania was formed by the local members of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT). This non-profit group covers Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands. The founding members of MI Oceania are all passionate about representing an evidence-based, up to date face of MI. We love MI but we don’t expect you […]

Stephen Rollnick Free MI resource online

The British Medical Journal has a free one hour module on MI with Steve Rollnick. This is a nice introduction to MI that anyone can access. Register first here:http://learning.bmj.com/learning/home.html Then access the module here: http://learning.bmj.com/learning/module-intro/.html?moduleId=10051582

Practitioner Interview Video Series – Male Sexual Assault

In support of Sexual Violence Awareness Month, Living Well are pleased to release a new Practitioner Interview Series of videos for those meeting and working with men sexually abused in childhood and their partners, families and friends. Check out the entire 14 practitioner videos at the Living Well website. Rationale Living Well are aware that men who […]

Motivational Interviewing Intermediate Workshop Auckland 19 – 20 November 2014

This rare opportunity to attend a public workshop with Ken is limited to 20 participants. This workshop is for participants who have been using MI for a time and are ready to extend their skill base. By the end of the course, you will be able to:    Assess, evaluate and revise your own personal, […]

Aviva and Pillars do our sector proud

Big heads up to Nicola and team at Aviva being named the region’s top charity in the medium-to-large category at the annual business awards in Christchurch last night. Aviva (formerly Christchurch Women’s Refuge) was the first Refuge in the city and have a proud tradition of supporting women and children since 1973. Latterly they have ventured […]

Thanks for doing what you do

I am often asked why I keep the pace on doing what I do. My response is: “It is all about you.”  What sits behind this for me are the following ideas: It is people like you who work in often challenging conditions with people who others have often given up on and written off. […]

Two workshop opportunities with Ken McMaster

These days I spend most of my time running learning and development workshops for organisations across Australia and New Zealand. I therefore haven’t had time during the past year to offer public workshops. As a member of MINT (Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers) I am keen to create opportunities for people to explore the power […]

Exciting developments around motivational interviewing

Over the past six months the group of us MINTees (Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers members) from Australasia have been busy on several projects to bring greater awareness and accessibility of motivational interviewing (MI) to the region. Over the next 12 months we will be bringing opportunities that will support workers to develop competency in […]

A restorative justice approach to family violence: Changing tack

This volume provides an essential update on current thinking, practice and research into the use of restorative justice in the area of family violence. It contains contemporary empirical, theoretical and practical perspectives on the use of restorative justice for intimate partner and family violence, including sexual violence and elder abuse. Whilst raising issues relating to […]

A resolution approach to family violence

Consider the following scenario: A woman survivor of domestic violence approaches your service seeking assistance. Her son, aged eight, has just completed a children’s program to express/work through the violence experienced and to establish a personal safety plan. The child is both scared of his ‘Dad’ but also worries about him and waivers between wanting […]

Self talk that keeps us stuck

I am currently preparing to run a workshop on motivational interviewing for prison officers who are about to manage a unit for prisoners with mental health issues. In my research I came across a great book chapter by Ronald Murphy on MI (in source below). While the article was on developing motivation in those with […]

App for men who have been sexually abused or sexually assaulted

I am always impressed by the fantastic work that the team at Living Well in Queensland are doing to support men who have been sexually abuse or sexually assaulted. This app, which can be downloaded to a smart phone or iPhone, has information and tools to support mental health and well-being. It includes MP3 mindfulness, relaxation […]

Restorative conferences continue to empower victims

I have always been a strong supporter of restorative processes since the time HMA worked on the design of the original pilot programme for the Ministry of Justice back in 2005. The idea of ‘facing up’ to those that we have hurt is at the heart of the process; it is at the heart of […]

Best practice for family violence intervention

Sit around with a group of family violence practitioners (not those perpetrating violence) and ask them to describe what best practice looks like and you will get a range of responses. Best practice is often from our own experience and therefore is inherently biased. I learnt this early on in my career when I worked […]

Restorative conferences for psychopaths

Imagine putting an offender who has little ability to express empathy and a victim together to talk about the impact of the crime committed. I’m not sure about your initial reaction but mine was: “This runs a real risk of revictimisation.” I was really interested therefore to watch a TED Talk by Daniel Reisel who […]

The things dads give us

My dad died on Boxing Day eight years ago. The day we buried him next to my mother, was the day I stopped smoking for good. Every Xmas I take time to remember and appreciate all of the gifts that this man, who struggled with bipolar disorder most of his life, gave his family. That is despite […]

Intimate terrorism even happens to the rich and famous

The jokes have been flying around recently about Nigella (‘Higella’) Lawson and her very public court case with her ex: Charles Saatchi. As most of you will know it involves solicitous reference to drug use – I think cocaine and smoking a few refers with her grown up children. I have always said that the […]

Protection Orders – Do they work?

Edward Livingstone came back to his ex-partner’s house in the quiet suburb of St Leonards in Dunedin. He had been separated for the past year. He had a shotgun. Katherine, his terrified partner, fled the house. She would not have thought he would harm the children. He shot his six and nine year old daughter […]

Men and boys do have a place in violence prevention

“Engaging boys and men to prevent violence against women has been identified internationally as one of the top 20 ‘practice innovations’ in violence and injury prevention during the last 20 years. Violence prevention efforts among men and boys can make a difference. Done well, they can shift the attitudes that lead to physical and sexual violence, and […]

Have you signed the pledge

Today of course is White Ribbon Day, a day of remembrance of men’s violence towards women. It is also a day where we take stock of the appalling statistics, recognising that in New Zealand alone, on average 14 women per year die at the hands of their partners or ex-partners. It is easy for those […]

“Will they do it again” (new stock arrived)

We have had renewed interest in this book around risk assessment and management. We decided to do another small print run. Every day we are bombarded with the reality that people do bad things to each other as well as to themselves. Those of us who work in the human services are increasingly being asked […]

Reintegration of offenders back into the community

The puzzle of what works in the reintegration of prisoners back into the community is a major issue facing a number of jurisdictions. A small study of 26 prisoners released from New South Wales Prison by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre showed that a third spent their first night after release sleeping rough. The rest […]

7 Challenges of online learning

Learner flexibility is recognised as a key need for fast changing workplaces. Keeping up with new ideas is challenging for all of us. E-learning provides us with an efficient and cost effective way to keep our workforce growing in confidence and competence around skills and knowledge. But there are downsides and challenges to overcome. Making […]

MI is not a decisional balance

In their 2009 paper, ‘Ten Things that Motivational Interviewing Is Not’ Miller and Rollnick, noted that one of the things that MI is not is the notion of decisional balance, or what is commonly referred to as the cost benefit analysis. For those unfamiliar with the tool the facilitator or counsellor evokes from the client […]

‘He just gets me’ – The layering of psychological abuse

“He makes me laugh. He makes me cry. He makes me feel beautiful. I love him like I have never loved anyone before. If he doesn’t get out do I just shrug my shoulders and say, ‘oh well’”. She later texted: “He’s the best kisser I’ve ever kissed” and he was “seriously the best – […]

Effective Interventions with Offenders – New Stock has arrived

The view of the 1970s and ’80s – that in terms of rehabilitation programmes, nothing works – continues to exert an influence that is no longer deserved. Over the last twenty years more than 2,000 published evaluations and 75 meta-analyses have shown that carefully designed and delivered interventions, supported by good supervision, at their best […]

Videos of presentations from ISMI 2013 available

Open source and rendering practice ideas visible have always been important to us at HMA. We therefore decided as part of the hosting group for the 3rd International Symposium on Motivational Interviewing to video those presenters who were happy to have their voices heard to a wider audience. You can catch up on presentations below. Stephen […]

3rd International Symposium on Motivational Interviewing

What happens when you put a bunch of people who are passionate about change in a room together? Rich conversations, presentations and enhancing practice, thats what. That was the feel for the two day symposium that HMA hosted in Melbourne recently (ISMI2013). With Dr Stephen Rollnick (co-developer of MI) and Dr Anya Sheftel (adolescent MI […]

Stephen Rollnick – down under

We have been privileged over the past week to have Professor Stephen Rollnick visit New Zealand and run three workshops on motivational interviewing. The respect for Stephen’s work in developing MI along with Dr William Miller, was evidenced by the number of people who attended the three events. Overall we had 455 people attending at various […]

No To Violence Conference Resources now available

The No To Violence Conference on Responses to Men’s Domestic and Family Violence: Experience, Innovations and Emerging Directions, was held in Melbourne during November 2012. This was one of the best conferences in the family violence sector I had attended in a very long time. In addition to a rich tapestry of practice ideas across a range […]

Motivational interviewing in health care – an interview by Mark Wallace Bell

I indicated in our last newsletter that over the next few months we would be putting up on line a number of motivational interviewing sessions that model the diversity and richness of MI practice. This month we feature Mark Wallace-Bell undertaking a session after a referral from the GP of a man with issues related […]

Meeting in the middle: motivational interviewing and self-determination theory

The following article by William R Miller and Stephen Rollnick from the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 2012,9:25 explores the relationship between motivational interviewing (MI) and self determination theory (SDT). Motivational interviewing (MI) is indeed a “bottom-up” model that emerged from practical experience in the field of alcohol treatment. The original description […]

Great response to Dr Stephen Rollnick’s visit to New Zealand

Are we there yet – well we are very close to filling the numbers we have set for Dr Rollnick’s visit to New Zealand in May. It is not very often that we get the opportunity to have someone with Stephen’s depth of experience and considered thinking around the issue of motivational interviewing to visit […]

What kills more women aged …

What kills more women aged 15 – 44 each year than malaria, HIV, cancer, accidents and war combined? You guessed it – violence. I was therefore incensed when I read an article in The Press Christchurch today (6th March) which described the opposition by the Holy See (Pope), Iran and Russia to the notion that religion, culture […]

Updated details on ISMI 2013 Melbourne May 2013

Interest is now building for the Third International Symposium on Motivational Interviewing which is being held in Melbourne in May 2013. This will provide a rare opportunity to meet and talk with Dr Stephen Rollnick, one of the founders of motivational interviewing. Dr Rollnick’s interest is in how we incorporate MI into a busy practice […]

Motivational interviewing – an interview where Ian talks with Ricky

Over the next couple of months we will be putting up on line much of the MI DVD that we developed here in New Zealand last year. The DVD has our particular flavour and voices. This interview by Ian MacEwan is a wonderful example of a gentle motivational conversation with Ricky whose drug use is […]

Back to school – not quite

Next week will see me back in the classroom working alongside third year social work students at CPIT (Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology) exploring the issue of how social policy impacts upon our everyday choices. I am teaching this one course this semester. It’s been a while since I have been in a direct teaching […]

Child protection and MI – results from the NSW project

Utilising motivational interviewing spirit and processes within child protection is designed to engage parents in overcoming obstacles in  keeping children safe. As reported previously in our December blog, the Practice First model was trialled in 16 CSCs and one Child Protection Adolescent Team across the seven Community Services regions within New South Wales. The trial […]

Registrations now open for the 3rd International Symposium on Motivational Interviewing

ISMI offers a rare opportunity to engage with the latest thinking, challenges and opportunities in Motivational Interviewing and the broader field of effective communication and behaviour change. The event offers a friendly, stimulating environment to examine our practice, share ideas and sharpen skills. The driving curiosity behind ISMI is to ask “Is what we are […]

Motivational interviewing and internalised other questions

Lately I have been contemplating the importance of ‘internalised other questions’ in developing motivation for change. While some may argue that this is relying on extrinsic motivation, in my view internalised other questions can create dissonance which in turn leads to intrinsic motivation. I also think that there is much more at stake for the […]

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