Motivational Interviewing With Older Adults
Live Event

Motivational Interviewing With Older Adults

Tue, Mar 9th, 2027
11:00am – 2:15pm US Eastern Time
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About the Event

Motivational Interviewing (MI) offers clinicians a collaborative, person-centered approach for helping older adults explore ambivalence and strengthen motivation for meaningful change while respecting autonomy, values, and lived experience. This course introduces the spirit of MI, including partnership, acceptance, compassion, and empowerment, and examines how these principles can support engagement with older adult clients.

Participants will explore core MI skills and practices—including open-ended questions, affirmations, reflective listening, summaries, and strategies for eliciting change talk—and consider how these approaches can be adapted to the needs and circumstances of older adults. Clinical applications will address common areas of ambivalence, including health-related behavior change, medication and treatment adherence, substance use, maintaining independence, and adjustment to changing health and functioning.

The course will also examine the thoughtful application of MI when working with older adults experiencing suicidal thoughts or ambivalence about living, while maintaining appropriate suicide risk assessment and safety interventions. Through clinical examples and practical application, participants will identify MI skills they can incorporate into conversations without becoming overly directive or engaging in the “righting reflex.” Participants will leave with practical strategies for using MI to strengthen collaboration, evoke clients’ own motivations and values, and support autonomy and change in later life.

Live Event
This live online event will be held as a Zoom Webinar. Attendees will have the option to interact through features such as the Chat and Q&A, but cameras and microphones will not be enabled.

Live Event Instructor

Diane Bigler

Diane Bigler

Diane Bigler, LCSW, LSCSW has over 25 years of experience in social work and mental health practice. She is a frequent national continuing education speaker and former Professor of Social Work at The University of Kansas, School of Social Welfare. Diane has been involved in the provision of clinical supervision for over 15 years and has trained hundreds of clinicians on succeeding at supervision.

Target Audience

This live interactive is intended for Behavioral Health professionals, including psychologists, social workers, counselors, marriage & family therapists, art therapists, school psychologists, psychoanalysts, music therapists, behavior analysts, and school counselors. It is appropriate for beginner levels of knowledge.

Learning Objectives

After taking this activity, you should be able to:

  1. 1 Identify at least five core tenets of Motivational Interviewing.
  2. 2 Explain the rationale for utilizing Motivational Interviewing approaches with older adults.
  3. 3 Describe methods of applying Motivational Interviewing techniques to older adults’ medical concerns, suicidal thoughts, and substance use.

Albanesi, B., Piredda, M., Dimonte, V., De Marinis, M. G., & Matarese, M. (2023). Use of motivational interviewing in older patients with multiple chronic conditions and their informal caregivers: A scoping review. Healthcare, 11(12), Article 1681. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11121681

Janssen, W., van Raak, J., van der Lucht, Y., van Ballegooijen, W., & Mérelle, S. (2022). Can outcomes of a chat-based suicide prevention helpline be improved by training counselors in motivational interviewing? A non-randomized controlled trial. Frontiers in Digital Health, 4, Article 871841. https://doi.org/10.3389/fdgth.2022.871841

Kiyoshi-Teo, H., Eckstrom, E., Cohen, D. J., De Lima, B., Northrup-Snyder, K., Dieckman, N. F., & Winters-Stone, K. (2025). Motivational interviewing for fall prevention (MI-FP) pilot study: Randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 73(4), 1210–1218. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.19304

Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (2023). Motivational interviewing: Helping people change and grow (4th ed.). The Guilford Press.

van den Bulck, F. A. E., Knijff, R., Crutzen, R., van de Mheen, D., Bovens, R. J. L. M., Stutterheim, S. E., van de Goor, I., & Rozema, A. D. (2024). Professionals’ perspectives on interventions to reduce problematic alcohol use in older adults: A realist evaluation of working elements. BMJ Open, 14(4), Article e077851. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-077851

Disclosure to Learners

CE Learning Systems adheres to the ACCME's Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Medical Education. Any individuals in a position to control the content of a CE activity – including faculty, planners, reviewers, or others ― are required to disclose all relevant financial relationships with ineligible entities (formerly known as commercial interests).

The following relevant financial relationships have been disclosed by this activity's planners, faculty, and the reviewer:

Planners and Reviewers

The planners of this activity have reported that they have no relevant financial relationships.

Faculty

There are no known relevant financial relationships to disclose.

Commercial support

There is no commercial support for this distance-learning course.

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Joint Accreditation (JA)

Eligible until Mar 9th, 2027
In support of improving patient care, CE Learning Systems, LLC, is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
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3 CE credit hours
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CE Learning Systems has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 5951. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. CE Learning Systems is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. 3 NBCC hour(s) awarded.
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NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals (NAADAC)

3 CE credit hours
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Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling (FL CSW, MFT, MHC)

3 CE credit hours CE Broker logo 20-1423125
Eligible until Mar 10th, 2027
Impact CE, a service of CE Learning Systems, is approved by the Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling (Provider # 50-315).
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3 CE credit hours
Eligible until Mar 9th, 2027
Impact CE, a service of CE learning Systems, is approved by the Florida Certification Board (FCB) to offer continuing education programs (Provider # 5069A).
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Florida Board of Psychology

3 CE credit hours CE Broker logo 20-1423125
Eligible until Mar 10th, 2027
Impact CE, a service of CE Learning Systems, is approved by the Florida Board of Psychology (Provider # 50-315).
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Missouri Credentialing Board (MCB)

3 CE credit hours
Eligible until Dec 30th, 2026
AddictionCounselorCE is an approved provider of the Missouri Substance Abuse Professional Credentialing Board (Provider #101). AddictionCounselorCE maintains responsibility for this course and its contents.
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New York Education Department Board of Social Work

3 contact hours
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CE Learning Systems, LLC, (d/b/a impactce.com) is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers. Provider #0060.
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New York Education Department Board of Creative Arts Therapy (NYSEDCAT)

3 CE credit hours
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CE Learning Systems (d/b/a impactce.com) is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed creative arts therapists. #CAT-0008
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New York Education Department Board of Mental Health Counseling

3 CE credit hours
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CE Learning Systems, LLC (d/b/a impactce.com) is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0072.
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New York Education Department Board of Psychologists

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CE Learning Systems, LLC, (d/b/a impactce.com) is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for psychologists, # PSY-0016.
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New York Education Department Board of Marriage and Family Therapy

3 CE credit hours
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CE Learning Systems, LLC (d/b/a impactce.com) is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0045.
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Virginia Certification Board (VCB)

3 CE credit hours
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Virginia Certification Board educational provider # 106
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Event Agenda

Agenda times are listed in US Eastern Time. That is 3 hours later than US Pacific Time. The event starts at 8:00am US Pacific Time.

11:00 AM–12:30 PM: Part 1 — Foundations of Motivational Interviewing

Understanding MI & the Older Adult Context

Typical steps in provider interactions

Directive vs. collaborative approaches

The “righting reflex”

Common sources of ambivalence in later life

Why MI can be particularly useful with older adults

 

What Is Motivational Interviewing?

Definition, purpose, and principles of MI

The spirit of MI: PACE

Autonomy and self-determination

Respecting lived experience and avoiding age-based assumptions

Understanding and normalizing ambivalence

Change talk and sustain talk

 

Core MI Skills: OARS

Simple and complex reflections

Video demonstration and skill identification

 

Exploring Ambivalence & Evoking Motivation

Eliciting rather than persuading

Recognizing change talk and sustain talk

Importance, confidence, and readiness rulers

Videos: exploring ambivalence and confidence ruler

Brief case application

 

12:30–12:45 PM: Break

 

12:45–2:15 PM: Part 2 — Applying Motivational Interviewing with Older Adults

Adapting MI for Older Adults

Communication, pacing, sensory, cognitive, and health-literacy considerations

Family and caregiver involvement while preserving client autonomy

Strengths, values, independence, dignity, and quality of life

 

MI for Medical & Health-Related Concerns

Chronic health conditions and treatment recommendations

Medication adherence

Activity, rehabilitation, and fall prevention

Video: MI and fall risk

Case application involving ambivalence about health recommendations

MI & Substance Use in Older Adults

Reducing stigma and defensiveness

Exploring perceived benefits and consequences of substance use

Connecting behavior with personally meaningful goals and values

Supporting motivation for change and harm reduction

Brief case application

 

MI & Suicide-Related Conversations

Exploring ambivalence about living

Eliciting reasons for living, values, connection, and willingness to accept help

Responding without arguing, persuading, or reinforcing hopelessness

Integrating MI principles with suicide risk assessment, safety planning, and indicated intervention

 

Integration & Practice Application

Applied geriatric case studies

Selecting MI-consistent responses

Identifying opportunities to use PACE and OARS

Identifying at least two MI skills participants can incorporate into clinical practice

Closing reflection and practice application

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