To avoid the possible perception of ‘filtering’ only positive remarks from participants, testimonials are offered from commissioners rather than participants.Please click on any of the names below.
From: Stephen Rollnick
Professor of Healthcare Communication
Department of General Practice
Cardiff University
Llanedeyrn Health Centre
Cardiff CF3 7PN
Wales, UK
From: Nicola Stuckey
Head of Clinical Psychology
Astley Ainslie Hospital
Edinburgh
Scotland
From: Carl Åke Farbring
Programinspektör
Kriminalvårdsstyrelsen (Swedish Prison & Probation Service)
Box 4505, 183 04 Täby
Sweden
From: Kakia Nicolaou
Consultant Psychiatrist
Psychiatric Hospital of Thessaloniki
Greece
From: Gill Murray
Inclusiveness Co-ordinator
Careers Scotland
Shetland Islands
From: Barry Hansford
Assistant Director
Learner Support
Northampton College
Northamptonshire, UK
From: Jane Wittenoom
Market Development Team
Working Links
UK
From: Karen Twiselton
Trainee Forensic Psychologist
Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder Unit
HMP Frankland
Co. Durham, UK
From: Stephen Rollnick
Professor of Healthcare Communication
Department of General Practice
Cardiff University
Llanedeyrn Health Centre
Cardiff CF3 7PN
Wales, UK
I recently invited Jeff Allison to run a 2-day workshop in Cardiff, with a co-trainer from the USA with whom he had never worked before, and with participants from many countries and settings. It was an advanced level workshop. The ratings were very high, and I observed much of the workshop. It was of the highest standard that I have seen in a motivational interviewing workshop. Jeff Allison's exercises, slides and explanations were not just clear and useful; it was quite obvious that he knew his subject inside out. For example, he produced one session that required participants just to listen to an audio recording of an actual consultation, with the aid of a transcript. This was a truly moving and stimulating demonstration of how and why motivational interviewing works, and his management of the preparation and ensuing discussion clearly lifted the participants' sense of clinical and professional responsibility for the well-being of their clients.
I have trained with Jeff Allison before, yet much of teaching materials were new. He is not dogmatic in any way, but merely encourages people to think carefully about what they say to clients, and why. He is one of the most skilled trainers in this field worldwide, and has been chosen by his colleagues in the international Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) to co-lead their annual Training New Trainers event this year. He has run courses in diverse countries and cultures, and is also involved in a number of research projects attempting to deliver and measure high-quality motivational interviewing.
Jeff has an ability to turn any dry subject into an interesting one. His personal style in training is both engaging and authoritative, and he never loses sight of the needs of those with whom he works. His integrity and commitment to quality practice make his contribution to any course something that is hard to improve upon. I am more than happy to recommend Jeff Allison to anyone considering organising a training event.
From: Nicola Stuckey
Head of Clinical Psychology
Astley Ainslie Hospital
Edinburgh
Scotland
Cardiac Rehabilitation Lothian: training in methods of health behaviour change for all multi-disciplinary staff in pathway of care (2004-2006)
Cardiac Rehabilitation in Lothian, Scotland, is currently undergoing a process of redesign. Part of this redesign involves training all staff involved in the care pathway for cardiac patients (in-patient, community and rehabilitation), in a theoretical method which supports health behaviour change as recommended in SIGN guideline 57 on Cardiac Rehabilitation (2001). I am the lead psychologist responsible for this component of the redesign process and approached Jeff Allison to help me in designing this training package. This built on earlier work to establish support from relevant managers and clinicians and development work to establish the most appropriate format. Jeff was extremely helpful in our joint efforts to put together a structured 2-day training event which is now being rolled out to all staff within this pathway. He took the lead in designing the content of the training days with my collaboration, to tailor it to the cardiac staff groups. This required several meetings to determine the way in which these days would be delivered and to fine tune the content. He then delivered the first 2 training courses, which have formed the basis of all subsequent training. These training days are linked to other ways of supporting and delivering learning.
I found Jeff to be very professional and knowledgeable and with a true collaborative style in designing the training to fit the requirements. I learnt a lot from him in the process and we now have a very sound structure for delivering the body of our training. The investment represented good value for money and the partnership had a positive outcome for all. I strongly recommend Jeff's services.
From: Carl Åke Farbring
Programinspektör
Kriminalvårdsstyrelsen (Swedish Prison & Probation Service)
Box 4505, 183 04 Täby
Sweden
I have commissioned Jeff Allison four times to train new trainers in motivational interviewing in prison and probation in Sweden. These events have been extremely constructive and successful, and much appreciated by the participants and myself. What has struck me about him is his dedication to listen to the needs of the organisation, and the many hours that he must have spent in preparation for the events. These are in my experience rare qualities and Jeff Allison performs them with the utmost professionalism and sensitivity.
From: Kakia Nicolaou
Consultant Psychiatrist
Psychiatric Hospital of Thessaloniki
Greece
In December 2004 the Addiction Services of the two largest psychiatric hospitals in Greece organised an ambitious 3-day training event ‘Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Motivational Interviewing’, first in Thessaloniki and then in Athens. The first day of the presentation was open to a larger audience and the consequent two days were a workshop for the staff of the programmes.
During the hard and long preparations there has been no doubt in my mind about the trainers. I have had my first official MI training with Jeff Allison and Rik Bes some years ago and my personal opinion was about to be confirmed yet again. The seminars (first day) were a huge success at all levels. The feedback I received from people attending and from the evaluation sheets of the participants at the workshop all pointed out the trainers’ professionalism, competency, expertise, teaching methodology and skills on combining theory and practice. Their ability to convey and adapt the material to the participants' everyday routine so that it made sense to them, required outstanding communication skills on behalf of the trainers. All this was reflected in the participants’ accurate comments on the understanding of the method and on applying some of its skills to their work. The trainers managed to keep the trainees' interest and attention going in spite of the language barrier which didn't seem to bother anyone.
The workshop structure, the tools and means used, the exercises, the balance between theory and practice, and the demonstrations but most of all the trainers’ friendly manner - their easy-going and easy-to-reach attitude, the satisfaction they seemed to get out of teaching, their patience with and respect for every participant - all contributed to the whole atmosphere which is, in fact, the spirit of MI, and no words can describe it better. That was the most effective way of conveying the MI way of being together. As a consequence the majority is already asking for more!
All of us taking part in organising and delivering these six days found all these results very rewarding. Speaking for myself as the Consultant Psychiatrist of the Detoxification Unit, I can already sense the change in the attitude and style of my staff. They may not be yet applying the specific skills, or they may be doing it partly, sometimes without even being aware of it, but there is definitely a new sense that, "We have to treat our patients differently!"
From: Gill Murray
Inclusiveness Co-ordinator
Careers Scotland
Shetland Islands
Jeff has delivered six courses to multi-agency groups on Shetland since 2003. The training has had an impact on a number of levels. Firstly, the training itself has enabled practitioners to develop their skills with and attitudes towards clients. It means that agencies work together more effectively because we can share a common set of principles and language for supporting individuals. However, there has been another more significant change which has emerged more slowly. This relates to practitioners from different agencies valuing each other more as colleagues. I believe this can be attributed to Jeff’s delivery style and way of being during the training (mirroring the spirit of MI). He is very validating of participants’ contributions and abilities. I think we have been able to hang onto this sense of feeling valued.
From: Barry Hansford
Assistant Director
Learner Support
Northampton College
Northamptonshire, UK
Northampton College first heard about MI through a workshop on tutorials delivered by Paul Lalgee, then at Knowsley Community College. It was decided to see if the implementation of the MI techniques in 1:1 tutorials could benefit both learners and the institution. After a lot of telephone calls we ended up being put in touch with Jeff Allison, who we employed to carry out our first workshops. Since that time Jeff has now carried out 4 workshops developing over 60 people at the college in MI. A comment from a colleague following a recent workshop sums up why we will be using Jeff again, “A thoughtful communicator of a complex subject – he creates an atmosphere in which you take the issues seriously.”
Mi has helped a number of colleagues to develop their ability to listen to and steer the learner to changing their behaviour in a much more efficient and successful way than previously used. Northampton College would not hesitate in recommending Jeff for similar work in Further Education and other educational institutions.
From: Jane Wittenoom
Market Development Team
Working Links
UK
As part of an evaluation process of different interviewing approaches, I attended ‘Start Learning’ and ‘Develop Competence’ Motivational Interviewing courses for Working Links Employment Consultants, conducted by Jeff Allison Training Ltd.
Comments from Consultants during the training indicated that MI was directly relevant to their work and suggested they were reflecting on their own practice, questioning the effectiveness of their current style. In some cases Consultants acknowledged they had been doing the opposite of what MI suggests and had developed an awareness of how unhelpful and ineffective this actually was to elicit change in a jobseeker.
My observation around this is that Consultants were having ‘Ah ha’ moments in which they realised what they said to a jobseeker often determined the response and why. They understood the power of their words.
From: Karen Twiselton
Trainee Forensic Psychologist
Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder Unit
HMP Frankland
Co. Durham, UK
This training was commissioned for the Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder Unit at Frankland prison. The intention was to provide staff with an introduction to motivational techniques, which they could then develop further in their interactions with personality disordered prisoners on the unit. Those who attended this training came from a range of professional backgrounds including Psychologists, Mental Health Nurses, Prison Officers and Occupational Therapists. Their experience was therefore wide-ranging, participants having different initial levels of understanding of motivational techniques and engagement.
The training itself took account of the range of experience of attendees by avoiding the use of jargon and ensuring time was given to developing understanding of the goals of this method, which might have initially appeared counter-intuitive in attempting to be motivational. The training was delivered over a four-day period, divided into two, two-day blocks. This structure enabled participants to familiarise themselves with the ideas discussed in the first sessions and undertake a couple of exercises designed to give first hand experience of some of the techniques involved. This was particularly helpful as it gave all involved the chance to practice some of the skills that had been discussed before looking at specific motivational techniques in greater detail.
Throughout the course, Jeff worked on motivating us to be motivational using the techniques that he was teaching the group. This style increased the accessibility of the training to a group which was initially partly reluctant to recognise the potential benefits of the course. Practising the techniques in the training was really valuable as it gave an opportunity to use them in the relatively safe environment of the group, before trying them out in a work setting. In addition, the group discussed how skills that were learned, would be maintained over a period of time, and how they could be developed further. This was helpful as the skills developed were not implemented fully, immediately following the completion of the course and it was useful to consider how the learning would not be lost in the interim period. It was also helpful that Jeff offered to provide on-going support of staff who were interested in developing their skills in motivational interviewing further.
Following the course, participants commented on how useful the training had been and there was interest in developing skills to a greater extent. In addition, it was evident that they had considered the many ways that motivational techniques could be used in a prison setting and there was interest in pursuing this training within specific remits within the prison setting itself, such as by the drugs team. Overall, a very motivating training package and an excellent resource in developing staff skills in the use of motivational techniques. The non-specific nature of this package would make it an asset to anyone looking to motivate others and is flexible enough to work in a range of environments.