volunteer therapy

I hate awkward silences. For that reason, I would do well in therapy. Today, we had a guest speaker come talk to our class about motivational interviewing which had been the latest intervention to excite me. During class, he asked for volunteers. There was this dead silence and after a few agonizing minutes, two of my classmates volunteered. They just had to mock a therapy session and he pointed out aspects that were or were not considered motivational interviewing. After they were done, he again called for two volunteers. Again, there was silence. The silence in the anticipation of someone speaking up pains me so I volunteered. This time, nobody else volunteered so I had to mock a therapy session with the guest speaker in which I stated that I was there because I have a problem drinking. I should have relayed a story I have heard from my clients but I found out today that motivational interviewing isn't proven to be effective when working with people with DD in a vocational setting. Bummer.

I've used this technique with a client and I think I got decent results. However, I can look at it objectively now since it's been a few months and see that it improved our relationship but it didn't necessarily improve the client's work skills. I've even taught this technique in a class at work and now I feel sort of foolish. I guess I can look at it as one technique that people can use and not THE answer to all of our problems.