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Motivational Interviewing

Clarify Your Why. Overcome Ambivalence. Move Toward Change On Your Terms.

Are you feeling stuck between wanting change and being afraid of it? Do you know what you should do but struggle to follow through? Motivational Interviewing (MI) helps you explore your own motivations, values, and barriers to change in a way that’s respectful, empowering, and non-judgmental.

At Four Wings Psychology, we offer MI-informed therapy in Nepean and virtually across Ontario. Whether you're dealing with health goals, recovery, identity shifts, or life transitions, MI helps you find the clarity and confidence to move forward in a way that aligns with your truth.

What Is Motivational Interviewing?

Motivational Interviewing is a collaborative, goal-oriented therapy approach that focuses on resolving ambivalence and strengthening your internal motivation to change. Instead of giving advice or pushing you to act, MI helps you listen to yourself so that you can decide what comes next.

MI is grounded in:

  • Empathy and respect for your autonomy
  • Curiosity about your values, goals, and blocks
  • Collaboration, not confrontation
  • Confidence that you already have wisdom within you

MI is often used as a brief intervention, and can be integrated into other therapies, when clients are feeling uncertain, overwhelmed, or disconnected from their motivation.

What Can Motivational Interviewing Help With?

MI is very effective when you:

  • Know change is needed but feel stuck, ambivalent, or afraid
  • Feel internal conflict between what you want and what you’re doing
  • Have tried to change before, but keep falling back into old patterns
  • Feel overwhelmed by the first steps toward your goals

Motivational Interviewing is used to support:

  • Substance use and addiction recovery
  • Health-related behaviour change (e.g., sleep, exercise, nutrition)
  • Trauma recovery and readiness for deeper work
  • Depression, anxiety, and avoidance
  • Procrastination and perfectionism
  • Identity exploration or coming out
  • Parenting and relationship changes
  • Burnout, career transitions, and lifestyle shifts

If you’re not ready for action but want to explore what’s keeping you stuck, MI is a compassionate place to start.

What to Expect in Motivational Interviewing at Four Wings

MI therapy is usually brief, client-directed, and conversation-based. Your therapist will meet you where you are with no pressure, no lectures, and no assumptions about what’s “best” for you.

In MI sessions, you may:

  • Explore what you want to change and why it matters
  • Identify values, goals, and areas of dissonance
  • Acknowledge fears, doubts, or conflicting desires
  • Reflect on your past successes, strengths, and internal wisdom
  • Strengthen self-efficacy: your belief in your ability to follow through
  • Consider possible next steps that feel manageable, realistic, and self-led

Therapy is paced to match your readiness. You’ll never be pushed to change faster than you want and all insight comes from within yourself.

Why Choose Four Wings Psychology for Motivational Interviewing?

  • Therapists trained in MI and integrative, client-centered therapies
  • Trauma-informed, strengths-based, and culturally responsive care
  • LGBTQ2S+ affirming and non-judgmental space for all life paths
  • Integration with CBT, mindfulness, or solution-focused therapy if desired
  • In-person MI sessions in Nepean and virtual sessions across Ontario

We understand that readiness to change is deeply personal. Our role is to walk beside you, not push from behind.

Ready to Move From Ambivalence to Action?

You don’t have to feel 100% ready to take the first step. Motivational Interviewing offers a gentle, empowering way to explore your readiness, clarify your next moves, and reconnect with what truly matters to you.

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