In general, the target population of Motivational Interviewing, in relation to substance abuse, is anyone that has a substance use disorder or even problematic behaviors with a substance no matter where they are on the stages of change. Though there are some variations Motivational Interviewing is very similar no matter what populations you are working with and is based on the same foundational ideas. As mentioned previously, this intervention has been found to work well with various populations on its own or in combination with other techniques. Motivational Interviewing is now even being combine with other interventions such as, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and providing feedback, to make the effects longer and work more effectively with specific populations. Motivational Interviewing plus Feedback is one of the interventions that had been found to have …show more content…
It is important to note that just with any style of counseling a client’s cultural background and values will affect rapport and other elements in the session. If a counselor is not of the same cultural background of the client there may need to be more discussion on the different values to make sure that the counselor is focusing on the client’s world view and what they think is important. Another barrier to Motivational Interviewing is its strong foundation in the use of language to facilitate change talk, because of this focus and importance on language, clients whose first language differs from the counselor’s may have different ways of expressing change and even resistance (Moyers, Houck, Glynn, Hallgren, & Manuel, 2017). Another aspect that could be seen by some as a limitation of Motivational Interviewing is the fact that it is a brief intervention that really focuses on reduction and going to additional or alternative treatment for Substance Use Disorder rather than actually being a standalone treatment