What we think leads to how we act.  With this in mind, if we want to help people change the way they act, we will be most effective by helping them understand their thoughts and associated feelings, and intentionally change them. 

Often the iceberg is used as a metaphor to describe human behavior.  In a real iceberg, you can only see a small portion of the ice, because most of the ice is beneath the level of the water.  In fact, the only reason this small portion of ice is observable is because the unseen majority of the ice is supporting it.  The same is true for human behavior.  The only behaviors we can see are a person’s actions, like what they say or what they do.  And the only reason those overt behaviors are there is because there’s are lots of covert behaviors we cannot see the person doing, like their thoughts, feelings and core beliefs. 

Often in criminal justice we only look at a person’s actions, without exploring why those actions are present.  This would be like going to the doctor and having them recommend a treatment without diagnosing the problem. 

At CoRe Services, we develop and train a wide variety of cognitive-behavioral interventions focused on criminogenic need areas. 

“Motivational interviewing is a collaborative, goal-oriented style of communication with particular attention to the language of change.  It is designed to strengthen personal motivation for and commitment to a specific goal by eliciting and exploring the person’s own reasons for change within an atmosphere of acceptance and compassion.” (Miller and Rollnick, 2012)

We offer training in Motivational Interviewing (MI) tailored to the needs of the agency and focused on a variety of specific applications.  IN addition, we have standardized trainings, including:

Introductory Training

This training provides participants with an overview of Motivational Interviewing and how to use these skills to promote positive behavior change. The training introduces Motivational interviewing as a collaborative, person-centered form of guiding to elicit and strengthen motivation for change.  It covers the basics of MI, the practical guidelines in the applications of MI, and the specific skills related to MI. This introductory training is delivered in a two-day format and can be adapted for specific applications.

Intermediate Training

Building on the Introductory training, an Intermediate workshop is offered to integrate basic skills into practical application.  Depending on the needs and resources of the agency or organization, the length of the workshop can be tailored.  This workshop will allow for skill practice and understanding of the macro perspective related to specific micro skills. 

Prerequisite for Training: Training participants must have completed the Introductory training workshop.

Advanced Training

In order to support agencies in building internal capacity, we offer an advanced MI training delivered by a Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) member.   The workshop is intended to be delivered in a four- or five-day format, which includes administration of the Video Assessment Simulated Encounter instrument and individual teach-backs with feedback and coaching.  Participants should expect to be confident delivering introductory MI training subsequent to successful completion. 

Prerequisite for Training: Training participants must have completed the Introductory and Intermediate training workshops.

Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity Training

The Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity instrument (MITI) is a behavioral coding system measuring MI beginning competency and proficiency.  It can be used for research purposes or as a means of providing structured, formal feedback about ways to improve practice.  This instrument is a coding system which measures an interaction from two perspectives: globally and behaviorally.  As agencies, which have already implemented MI training and practice, move toward continual improvement and treatment fidelity, they will want to employ internal quality assurance measures to further support best practice among their staff and improved outcomes with their clients.  We offer MITI coding, training and implementation designed and tailored to the individual needs of each agency.  

Prerequisite for Training: Training participants must demonstrate proficiency in motivational interviewing practice.

Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (2012). Motivational interviewing: Helping people change. Guilford press.

Moyers, Martin, Manuel, Miller and Ernst (2009).  The MITI instrument was validated using twenty-minute, random segments of audio-taped interviews. 

Sometimes you just want to bounce your ideas off of someone with an external viewpoint or bring in an objective opinion from outside the agency.  These are times when it’s helpful to engage technical assistance.  We have more than 20 years of experience working with a variety of agencies in the US and abroad.

We provide program and agency level assessment, which can be used to evaluate adherence to best practices.   Once a clear picture of program strengths and areas for improvement are identified, recommendations can be generated and a strategic plan implemented.   

Our approach is based on research supporting the Correctional Program Assessment Inventory (CPAI) and the Correctional Program Checklist (CPC).