Presented by Deirdra Frum-Vassallo, Psy.D.

“Change talk” is a Motivational Interviewing expression that refers to language a client uses that favors change. Simply spotting a patient’s change talk is not MI. Rather recognizing the type of change talk a client is using can help a clinician chose how to respond intentionally. Recognizing, responding to, and eliciting change talk are three crucial skills practitioners must develop and apply to help steer a conversation towards increasingly action oriented change talk. Whether in the context of a brief intervention or in an ongoing counseling relationship, when people use change talk to voice their intrinsic motivations, they are more likely to make a change. This training will zero in on the technical aspects of recognizing, responding to, and eliciting change talk. Experiential exercises and case examples are built in throughout, offering an opportunity to practice skills.

Deirdra Frum-Vassallo completed her doctorate of Psychology at La Salle University in Philadelphia, PA with a concentration in health psychology. She completed her clinical internship with the Hudson Valley VA healthcare system and completed her postdoctoral training with an emphasis on primary care and health psychology with the VA New York Harbor. Dr. Frum-Vassallo has been working in health psychology at the Northport VA medical center for nearly a decade. She is currently in the role of Health Behavior Coordinator working developing and implementing preventative medicine programming such as smoking cessation, various chronic illness support groups and stress reduction. Dr. Frum-Vassallo is the director of clinical training for a postdoctoral fellowship with an emphasis on health promotion disease prevention and primary care interprofessional work. She has been trained extensively by VA and National Center of Prevention (NCP) in Motivational Interviewing and currently is the Regional Trainor for Motivational Interviewing for the Veterans Integrated Service Network 2 spanning northern and southern New York State as well as New Jersey Veteran Administrations. She is also a member of Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) and international organization committed to promoting high-quality motivational Interviewing (MI) practices.

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