Groups that Welcome and Engage: Integrating Motivational Interviewing into Effective Group Facilitation
In almost every aspect of community behavioral health, residential treatment, education, and corrections, professionals are encouraged to lead group therapy and simila
r sessions. These settings offer many ways for clients to learn and grow, yet many helpers might not always feel comfortable with this modality. “Groups that Welcome and Engage” provides a basis for understanding the purpose of groups and helps participants build the skills necessary to create and sustain effective sessions that meet the needs of their specific settings, including community, clinical, and justice-based contexts.
In this training, Ali Hall and Kristin Dempsey review many of the basic philosophies and dynamics of group treatment. This includes:
- Choosing what type of group to facilitate
- Understanding the therapeutic factors of effective groups
- Identifying the stages and phases of group treatment
A key focus of this training is the integration of Motivational Interviewing theory as a means for structuring groups. Each phase of the group work, from initial engagement through sustained behavior change, is reviewed. Participants learn strategies for engaging clients, staying on task, delving deeper into challenges, and determining how best to start the change process.
Hall and Dempsey also address common concerns for group therapists, including but not limited to:
- Managing conflict within the group
- Engaging members who are ambivalent or resistant
- Building meaningful interventions that meet the diverse needs, backgrounds, and goals of the individuals in the group
This workshop leaves participants with many confidence-building skills and resources that can be put into practice right away. Professionals of all types and levels of experience are encouraged to attend.
1) Identify phases of group development
2) Explain methods for helping clients to stay on task in group
3) Determine how best to start the change process
4) Describe motivational interviewing’s use in structuring group therapy
Audience
This training is for mental health professionals such as psychologists, therapists, and counselors who use group therapy in their practice. Although useful to all audiences, this training focuses on clients who are justice-involved or reside in inpatient programs. Additionally, correctional staff and social workers engaged in the rehabilitation and reintegration of individuals who have sexually offended will benefit from the insights provided.
Content Level
Disclosure
Cancellations
Continuing Education Approval
American Psychological Association (APA)
Safer Society Foundation, Inc. is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Safer Society Foundation, Inc. maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)
Safer Society Foundation, Inc., provider #233, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 06/06/2025—06/06/2026. Social workers completing this course receive 2.5 clinical continuing education credits.
Who's Presenting
Kristin Dempsey
Kristin Dempsey is a Bay Area psychotherapist, counselor educator and trainer. Kristin has over three decades of experience working in community mental health settings and public K-12 schools providing mental health and substance use education and treatment services. She currently supports individuals and families in her San Francisco and Burlingame private practice offices as well as through telehealth. Kristin is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT), and she currently teaches motivational interviewing to behavioral health and other allied human services professionals. She is an adjunct professor at the Wright Institute’s Counseling Psychology Program and lecturing faculty at San Francisco State University. Kristin is the author of The Harm Reduction Workbook for Addiction (New Harbinger, 2024), co-author of Advancing Motivational Interviewing: An Experiential Skills Guide for Mental Health Professionals (PESI, April 2026), and a writer for The Mental Health and Substance Use Recovery Workbook (New Harbinger, May 2027).
Ali Hall
Ali Hall is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT), a MINT Certified Trainer, and an independent consultant and trainer. Ali currently serves as a Director Emeritus from the MINT Board of Directors, focusing on professional skill development for MI practitioners and trainers. Ali served as a Lead Trainer and in supporting training teams for several MINT Trainings for New Trainers (TNTs). Ali is the co-developer of the Motivational Interviewing Competency Assessment (MICA), a coding and coaching tool for MI skill improvement, co-author of the book Motivational Interviewing for Mental Health Clinicians: A Toolkit for Skill Development (2021), developer of the Cultivating Hope activity deck (2025) and co-author of Advancing Motivational Interviewing: An Experiential Skills Guide for Mental Health Professionals (PESI, April 2026).