THURS-051 - Motivational Interviewing: A Practical Skill for Mentoring and Training the Next Workforce

Brief Abstract Summary: Learn how Motivational Interviewing (MI) can be applied beyond clinical settings to strengthen mentoring and leadership in health education and public health. Participants will explore how MI’s core principles: empathy, collaboration, and evoking intrinsic motivation—can enhance coaching relationships, build workforce readiness, and create a culture of continuous learning and well-being. This roundtable will highlight evidence-based strategies for integrating MI into mentoring programs to support emerging professionals, increase confidence and self-efficacy, and promote workforce diversity and retention. Attendees will gain practical tools to apply MI techniques in guiding the next generation of public health leaders.

Detailed abstract description: Attendees will gain valuable insight into how Motivational Interviewing (MI), a widely recognized, evidence-based approach for facilitating health behavior change, can be applied to leadership, mentorship, and workforce development in public health. While MI is most often used in clinical and community health settings, its foundational principles of empathy, collaboration, and evoking intrinsic motivation are equally powerful tools for coaching and mentoring the next generation of health education professionals.

This roundtable offers a unique opportunity for attendees to explore, discuss, and practice ways to use MI as a practical framework for developing emerging professionals. Participants will learn how MI-based mentoring techniques can:

- Strengthen relationships between mentors and mentees through empathy and reflective listening.

- Encourage mentees to articulate their own goals, values, and motivations, fostering autonomy and confidence.

- Enhance workforce readiness and self-efficacy by helping students and early-career professionals navigate challenges and identify their personal sources of motivation.

- Promote a culture of support, continuous learning, and well-being within organizations and academic programs.

- Contribute to workforce diversity, recruitment, and retention by creating inclusive, strengths-based mentoring environments.

Through interactive discussion and reflection, attendees will discover practical ways to integrate MI into their leadership and training practices. Whether they supervise interns, coordinate graduate programs, or lead teams in health education settings. Participants will leave the session equipped with concrete strategies and conversation techniques that can transform everyday mentoring moments into opportunities for empowerment and professional growth.

This session is ideal for faculty, health educators, and public health professionals who mentor students, interns, or early-career colleagues and want to strengthen their approach through evidence-informed communication techniques. Attendees will not only learn from the facilitator’s experiences using MI to coach Graduate Assistants and practicum students but will also share their own mentoring successes and challenges, fostering peer learning across professional contexts.

Ultimately, this roundtable invites participants to reimagine mentorship as a collaborative and motivational process. One that prioritizes listening, evokes self-direction, and builds confidence in the next generation of the public health workforce.