Mary Beth Abella, MSW, is a Motivational Interviewing Trainer and Co-Founder of MI for Change. In addition to her background in research and training, including managing the Motivational Interviewing condition of the NIH funded Towards No Drugs study at USC's Keck School of Medicine, she has also worked directly with a variety of clients, including youth, families, the homeless, the criminally involved, seniors, individuals with substance issues, and in healthcare settings. Her trainees include thousands of professionals across multiple fields, such as the Maternal Child Adolescent/Adult Center HIV Clinic at USC, the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health CalWORKs Program, Kaiser Permanente Center for Healthy Living, Volunteers of America, Phoenix House, Children’s Institute, North LA County and South Central Regional Centers, the District of Hawaii Federal Pretrial Services and many other large and small agencies. She provides introductory and advanced Motivational Interviewing training, coding, and one-on-one coaching and feedback. For more, please see www.miforchange.com and email me at marybeth @ miforchange. com.
Since Motivational Interviewing is a humanistic approach that is best learned through seeing it and experiencing it, many trainees will have their own "ah ha" moments during training or coaching. As a trainer, there is nothing more rewarding--I get to witness participants discover their own strengths and use them to improve their work and personal lives every time I train. Health and Human Services professionals are doing extremely challenging work. It is my greatest privilege to help them develop skills that will help them meet those challenges.
I also know that despite their best intentions, resources are tight and creating time for training is tough. My goal is to come up with creative ways for organizations and professionals to get the training and coaching they desire and also to build the internal capacity to support ongoing practice.
