MI, Motivational Interviewing skills are useful in treatment for drug court clients. So is knowing ‘tells’ and baseline cues.
You might use a MI question like, “if you could picture yourself successfully completing drug court, what would that look like?”
You might notice that your right-handed client looks ‘up to the right’. This is a visual construct. It’s a normal response for a right-handed person.
A leftie would be the opposite, usually.
Some say you can tell if a person is telling the truth or lying by watching their eye movements, skin tone and body language. These are called sensory acuity skills. They are next level skills.
There will be no long-term behavior changes for criminal offenders unless you first address and change permission-granting core beliefs and values. This is part of that change process.
That means there will be no reduction in relapse or costs of crime and treatment if you don’t change the clients’ belief systems first.
This is another skill level regarding meeting your clients where they are. You are establishing a baseline for how clients respond.
These concepts are covered in detail in the “Criminal Justice and Addictions Counseling” CEU/CLE classes at standokmanus.com.
You can take the class on Udemy also. “Criminal Justice and Addictions Counseling.”
The CBT map image below helps to explain the criminal-addict behavior cycle to clients. You can visually show them and discuss where they got tripped up in the cognitive behavior cycle.
Beliefs lead to behavior according to Albert Ellis, ABC-DE Theory. This is true for us too. The map image is from Drug Court Treatment: The Verdict. Amazon.com
If you would like to discuss your problems with alcohol and other drugs you can call me now at 808 385 4550.