Law Enforcement and Motivational Interviewing

Did you know that Motivational Interviewing as a skill can be an effective tool for law enforcement?

Motivational Interviewing, although born out of the addiction field is an evidence-based communication method that lessons resistance, increases engagement and helps people align their values with their behavior.

Some common goals of law enforcement are to reduce resistance (both verbally and physically), increase engagement to problem solve, and help the community they serve.  Which is why our data shows how beneficial training in Motivational Interviewing is for Law Enforcement.

If you take a look on our “Improved Outcomes” page, you will notice some of the outcomes of the Spokane Police department after training with IFIOC in Motivational Interviewing.  Some notable statistics are the 40% drop in use of force as a department.  That is HUGE!

Everyone feels different emotions when encountering law enforcement, but just imagine what an interaction with someone in law enforcement would feel like if they’ve gone through training in Motivational Interviewing.

Depending on the situation of course, but your encounter should leave you feeling heard and understood and hopefully help you get clear about where YOU want to go next.  And when I say “get clear on where you want to go”, I mean help you identify your own values and goals while creating your own plan.

When we work on our communication skills, we can intentionally start to craft our communication in a way that helps others to be more engaged with us while reducing any resistance they have.  It’s truly an altruistic way to communicate.