Highlights from the MINT Forum 2025: Advancing Motivational Interviewing in Practice and Training
Each year, the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) brings together MI professionals from across the world to deepen skills, share research, and strengthen community. The 2025 MINT Forum, held October 20–24 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, continued that mission—showcasing innovation, connection, and the enduring spirit of Motivational Interviewing (MI).
In this post, I’m sharing key highlights, emerging trends, and practical takeaways for MI practitioners, clinicians, and trainers..
The Spirit of the Forum
The MINT Forum is as much about connection as it is about content. This year’s gathering brought together hundreds of MI practitioners, researchers, and trainers representing diverse disciplines—from behavioral health to education, leadership, and coaching.
The event opened with the Training of New Trainers (TNT) workshop, held October 20–22. Designed to mentor the next generation of MI trainers, TNT reflected MINT’s core values: collaboration, compassion, and professional integrity. It set a strong foundation for the Forum’s focus on growth through guided practice—the belief that learning MI is an ongoing process of reflection and refinement.
Emerging Themes from the 2025 Forum
1. Motivational Interviewing is both technical AND relational.
A central focus that I heard over and over this year was on the balance of the relational and technical components of MI. The Spirit of MI is evident in the relational aspects, a way of being with people. But MI is more than being a good listener. It also utilizies a specific and unique set of techniques that help change grow in a conversation.
👉 Takeaway: Both the relational and technical components need to be present in order for MI to be effective. If you are struggling with implementing MI, start with exploring which area needs growth.
2. MI and AI
Like every other professional space, AI is being used in new and exciting ways when it comes to AI. The largest area is in MI coding. And it is accurate, or at least 80% as accurate as human MI coders. There were also discussions on how to use AI to help create new training exercises and MI practice. More exciting things to come!
👉 Implication: AI and MI is here to stay with regards to helping aid in training and coaching.
3. Implementation Science & Sustainability
Forum presenters reminded us that training alone isn’t enough to sustain MI in real-world settings. Long-term coaching, feedback, and supportive supervision structures make the difference between short-term enthusiasm and lasting integration.
👉 Key insight: Implementation works best when organizations adopt MI not just as a skill set, but as a culture.
Pre-forum Session Workshop
Myself and two colleagues had the amazing opportunity to present during the pre-forum. We represented a team of talented MI experts that have created a unique tool for evaluating MI implementation at the organizational level. Here is the summary of our session:
“What’s Next? Evaluating and Supporting Motivational Interviewing Fidelity at the Program Level.”
Heidi Wale Knizacky, Michelle Boudreaux, Vanessa Reading
About the Session
Now that your staff have been trained in Motivational Interviewing, you might be asking yourself if you have an MI program. How does MI become a way of providing services? Are your staff implementing MI when and how you hoped? Although toolkits exist for many evidence-based practices (EBPs) to measure organizational support and fidelity across programs, the authors could find no similar tool or measurement process for Motivational Interviewing (MI). With the support of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, experienced MI trainers were identified to form a workgroup and contracted to develop and pilot such a tool. The Michigan Motivational Interviewing Organizational and Fidelity Index (Mi-MI-OFI) was designed to evaluate and support public mental health organizations that want to use Motivational Interviewing effectively during service provision. Information for rating the Mi-MI-OFI is gathered through multiple sources, including interviews, chart reviews, client surveys, and clinician demonstrations with a standardized patient scenario. During this session, lead members of the Motivational Interviewing Michigan Fidelity Assistance and Support Team (MI MI-FAST) will introduce the Mi-MI-OFI, review the information-gathering process, share reliable rating strategies, and discuss considerations for providing program feedback.
Forum Session Highlights
Here is a summary and takeaways from some of my favorite workshops I participated in.
“Training, Supervising and Coaching with MI-4” with Bill Miller & Terri Moyers
This session unpacked the updates and refinements in the 4th edition of the Motivational Interviewing text and allowed opportunity to discuss, demonstrate, and practice these enhancements to incorporate into training. Why it matters: As MI continues to evolve, we as trainers must evolve as well, while maintaining the integrity of the foundations of MI.
“Let It Be: Exploring Deep and Practical Connections Between Mindfulness and Motivational Interviewing in Training and Coaching” with Molly Rath & Jennifer Kuhrt
This session explored the parallels between Motivational Interviewing and Mindfulness. In practice: Practical ways that mindfulness can be used in MI training and coaching as trainers as well as to help practitioners stay grounded during conversations.
“MI Learning is Messy: Training the “Hard” to Guide!” with Adrienne Allen, Laura Saunders & Sue EckMaahs
An experiential break out session with lots of discussion on the learner’s perspective, how not everyone may want to learn MI, and ways to react as the trainer/coach. Key insight: Using MI to train MI is not always easy, but essential. Learning MI is a behavior change that some may be ambivalent about, and that is where the use of MI with the learner may come in.
“Building Blocks of Change: Using Lego for Evocation.” with Mallori DeSalle
In this workshop, we experienced change talk evocative play using LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® and engaged in discovery of the application for our future work. In practice: A powerful tool for in-person training to aid in self-discovery as well as empathy regarding in the change process and communicating deeper thoughts.
Implications for Practitioners and Trainers
For clinicians: Keep practicing the MI spirit—curiosity, empathy, and collaboration—especially when client motivation feels low.
For trainers: Prioritize experiential learning, feedback loops, and community connection.
For tool developers and educators: Create clear, practical materials that support reflection, goal-setting, and self-assessment across diverse client populations.
Final Thoughts
If you couldn’t attend this year’s Forum, you can still access MINT’s online resources and regional communities to stay connected. The 2025 Forum made one thing clear: MI continues to evolve as a living, breathing practice that bridges relational connectedness with technical strategies.
