Motivational Counseling Techniques

Motivational counseling provides a targeted intervention to help people overcome obstacles, according to Psychcentral.com. This counseling technique, also referred to as Motivational Interviewing, helps clients make individual decisions and become more independent. Motivational counseling contains several specific techniques to further the effectiveness of the counseling process.

Empathy

• Empathy allows the counselor to connect with the client. A therapist who provides empathy shows that he understands the enormity of his client's problems. Empathy means providing an informed understanding of the predicament that the client describes, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

Asking Permission

• This technique shows respect for the client, according to Nova Southeastern University's Counseling Department. Clients may respond better if asked to discuss something rather than getting lectured. Ask the client if you can talk about certain behaviors or problems before doing so.

Open-Ended Questions

• Open-ended questions help keep the client talking throughout the session. Rather than feeling like she's listening to a lecture, the client begins to feel listened to. Make sure your questions require more than a yes or no response.

Develop Discrepancy

• Allow the client to set goals for himself. Then point out the discrepancy between current behavior and the goal. The National Center for Biotechnology Information states that when the client begins to accept the discrepancies between what he wants and the current situation, he begins to change.

Reflective Listening

• This technique involves repeating statements back to the client. This validates the client's feelings but also helps the therapist understand what the client says. If the therapist struggled with understanding something, the client can point that out when reflective listening occurs.

Normalizing

• Normalizing helps the client see that many people struggle with similar troubles. This allows the client to feel more comfortable making changes because she begins to understand that many people experience difficulty with changing, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Normalize the problem by stating that a lot of people have concerns regarding a similar struggle.