MI for Change: Motivational Interviewing in ABA & Mental Health

Have you ever finished a CEU training thinking it was genuinely good — took notes, highlighted the slides, told yourself you'd use it with your families — and then three months later couldn't remember what the presenter actually taught?
Most continuing education doesn't fail because the information is bad. It fails because information alone rarely changes behavior. And as behavior analysts, we already know this. We know our clients need practice, feedback, repetition, and reinforcement before new skills generalize. We just somehow expect ourselves to learn differently.
In this episode Dr. Monica Gilbert gets honest about the gap between attending a training and actually changing how you practice — including a two-day workshop she was genuinely excited about, bought the book for, and then quietly stopped using when life became life. She also shares why Motivational Interviewing has stayed with her in a way that most other trainings haven't — not because it's inspiring, but because it's structured. It gives you a roadmap, decision points, specific questions, and techniques you can use in your very next session.
One of those techniques — the AOA approach — is demonstrated live in this episode through a real session with a skeptical ABA parent who came in having heard everything negative about the field on social media.
Free AOA guide . Grab it and use it this week.
Learn more about Motivational Interviewing and explore on-demand courses at www.drmonicagilbert.com
Join the MI Academy for practical training and resources — and enjoy an exclusive 15% off with code MIFORCHANGE at checkout.
📲 Connect with me on Instagram: @drmonicagilbert

Why do parents keep agreeing with you in session — and doing nothing at home?
If you've ever asked yourself that, this episode is for you. Dr. Monica Gilbert sits down with Jany Bello, M.Ed, BCBA, LBA — founder of Exceptional Minds ABA — to talk about the real reasons behind parent follow-through, why the fix-it reflex BCBAs are trained to use is often the thing killing rapport, and what motivational interviewing actually looks like in a parent coaching session versus what most of us were taught.
They also get into the BCBA-RBT relationship — the breakdown, the burnout, and the three questions every supervisor should be asking before giving any feedback at all.
Whether you're a BCBA struggling with parent buy-in, an RBT trying to find your voice, or a supervisor who wants a team that actually trusts you — this conversation is going to hit.
Don't try to impress. Try to connect. That's the episode in one line.
Find Jany at Exceptional Minds ABA for RBT and BCBA exam prep, ABA education content, and straight-talk advocacy for the field.
Learn more about Motivational Interviewing and explore on-demand courses at www.drmonicagilbert.com
Join the MI Academy for practical training and resources — and enjoy an exclusive 15% off with code MIFORCHANGE at checkout.
📲 Connect with me on Instagram: @drmonicagilbert

If someone walked up to you and said your hair is green -- and it isn't -- you'd laugh it off. You wouldn't lose sleep. You wouldn't question your worth. You'd just know it wasn't true. So why is it that certain things people say can stick for days?
In this episode, Dr. Monica Gilbert unpacks the difference between information and interpretation -- and why the comments that sting us most often say more about us than they do about the person who said them. She shares the story of a business owner who lost three nights of sleep over something that was actually half true, introduces the three questions that redirect your brain from defensiveness to curiosity, and explains why 1 in 10 people won't like you no matter what -- and why chasing that approval is the thing that actually costs you.
Learn more about Motivational Interviewing and explore on-demand courses at www.drmonicagilbert.com
Join the MI Academy for practical training and resources — and enjoy an exclusive 15% off with code MIFORCHANGE at checkout.
📲 Connect with me on Instagram: @drmonicagilbert

A parent said something to Dr. Monica Gilbert after a session that she's never forgotten. She wasn't criticizing. She wasn't feeling sorry. She simply looked at Monica and said: "When you're a BCBA, you're all alone."
In this episode, Monica talks about the part of clinical work no graduate program prepares you for -- the emotional weight of being the person everyone runs to, the isolation that hides behind productivity, and the cost of carrying uncertainty without anyone to process it with. She shares what finally changed her thinking, the story of a BCBA-D colleague who burned out and left the field entirely, and four concrete things you can do to build the support structure the profession doesn't build for you. Plus: a free resource in the show notes that makes some of your hardest conversations with parents and staff feel lighter immediately.
Remember how lonely your first year felt. Sometimes the most valuable supervision isn't an answer -- it's helping someone realize they're asking completely normal questions.
"Great clinicians aren't the ones who never need support. They're the ones wise enough to build it."
That parent was only half right. The role can feel lonely. But it doesn't have to stay that way. The moment we start talking about it, the isolation loses some of its power.
Free resource: grab the AOA guide -- a small, practical communication tool that can immediately make some of your conversations with parents and staff feel lighter and more collaborative. Download it and use it this week.
Learn more about Motivational Interviewing and explore on-demand courses at www.drmonicagilbert.com
Join the MI Academy for practical training and resources — and enjoy an exclusive 15% off with code MIFORCHANGE at checkout.
📲 Connect with me on Instagram: @drmonicagilbert

"I've explained it five different times. They keep agreeing with me but nothing changes. I don't know how to get them to buy in." If you've sent that message to a colleague, said it out loud in supervision, or thought it at 10pm on a Tuesday -- this episode is for you.
Dr. Monica Gilbert makes a case that might be uncomfortable: buy-in isn't the problem. The phrase itself is. In this episode, she walks through what actually keeps parents stuck (hint: it's rarely lack of understanding), shares the story of a mom of twins whose silence was fear, not resistance, and offers three concrete shifts that change the entire dynamic of a parent coaching session -- starting with stopping what most clinicians do instinctively: explaining more.
Learn more about Motivational Interviewing and explore on-demand courses at www.drmonicagilbert.com
Join the MI Academy for practical training and resources — and enjoy an exclusive 15% off with code MIFORCHANGE at checkout.
📲 Connect with me on Instagram: @drmonicagilbert