Therapists and other professionals often use a style of communication with their patients, called motivational interviewing. The method uses open-ended questions and reflective listening to help people find their inner motivation for change. It was originally developed back in the 1980s to help patients who were ambivalent about addressing their substance use disorders. Since then, it has been used in many different professional settings.

Dr. Emily Kline, a professor at Boston University School of Medicine felt motivational interviewing could be used in the family setting and through her research with hundreds of parents has shown that indeed it can be extremely beneficial.

Join me as I talk to Dr. Kline about these conversational tools that can be used with your adolescent (whether a teen or young adult), to discuss any issue and encourages them to solve their own problems. She outlines her 5-step guide for parents in her new book, The School of Hard Talks, with a simplified version contained in her free online e-course at The School of Hard Talks Online.

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