Encouraging Change Talk

When you are trying to help someone decide to make a behavioral change, it’s more common than not to experience a back and forth process of openness and resistance to the change being considered. Change is hard and ambivalence is normal. As family members, friends, and treatment providers we can contribute to the change process moving along (and maybe even speed it up) or we can contribute to it grinding to a halt. If you know what to look for in conversations, you can help build up a person’s motivation to change.

“Change talk” refers to statements that suggest there is a window of opportunity for change to take place. They happen all the time and often spontaneously. They aren’t usually declarations of change (“that’s it, I’m done drinking forever!”), although they can be. Often they are much more subtle statements that suggest that the person you are working with or care for is contemplating making a change. How you react to statements like “ugh, I hate feeling hungover” can open or close the door to a larger discussion about the possibility of making a change in behavior.

Let’s start by looking at a typical exchange where change talk is noticed, but not necessarily encouraged.
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