Stephen Rollnick
Co-created a collaborative method for sparking change.
Co-founder of motivational interviewing, evoking a person’s own motivation through empathetic, non-confrontational conversation.
terms
techniques
MI is defined not by technique but by its spirit.
Who they were
Stephen Rollnick is a clinical psychologist raised in Cape Town who built his career in Wales. He worked in the UK National Health Service for sixteen years before turning to research and teaching on communication and behavior change. With William R. Miller he co-developed motivational interviewing, first published in 1991, and is an honorary distinguished professor at Cardiff University.
Terms they cared about
Ideas worth knowing
Their techniques
How the work was done
Their big idea
Motivational Interviewing Theory
People change when they voice their own reasons; the counselor evokes rather than persuades.
The approach they founded
Motivational Interviewing
A collaborative way to resolve mixed feelings and grow your own reasons for change.
Questions in their spirit
What they’d ask you
Sit with one. Answer online, or in the app.
Carry the idea forward
Rollnick — What they’d ask you
Psipas asks you one small, honest question at a time — and builds the picture from your answers.