Greetings one and all,
I recently completed two days Motivational Interviewing training with Staffordshire County Council. The group comprised various members of staff from across the council. They all work with children, young people and families. The course was created bespoke for their learning needs and reflected some of the challenges that they meet day to day when working with resistant or ‘sustain talk’ people.
I had the pleasure of creating some new films for the training, all of which were received wonderfully well. Time and again we hear horror stories and anecdotes about poor services or non-empathic members of staff. It was heartening to hear from the learners how much they engaged with the voices of people with lived experience. It’s working alongside people who want and indeed NEED to share their stories that really inspires me. All of my interviewees spoke highly of the support that they received. Most, if not all remarked on how they felt empowered by their worker, to do more, to make positive life choices and CHANGE for the better.
A huge thank you to Stoke on Trent's very own, Expert Citizens for helping me in making contact with so many wonderful interviewees.
Below, you will find some of the learner comments, 100% positive – would you expect anything less?
“If I am honest, this has been the best training course that I have attended. Steven is a very knowledgeable person who displays a genuine passion for his work. I would highly recommend this course to anyone. I look forward putting into practice what I have learnt to make a genuine difference. The level of interaction was pitched correctly, and I enjoyed the mix of videos and information. I look forward to attending another course through Steven Talbot Consultancy.”
“A really worthy course to attend. Steven’s expert guidance, experience and great sense of humour made this course so interesting and fun. The interaction with other course members was useful and I personally was able to take advantage of their experience and approaches in the group tasks. A really useful and memorable course. Thank you Steven.”
“Many thanks for making the last two days interesting and fun, and I really hope to be able to take advantage of your other subject training sessions at some point.”
“I really enjoyed the training, Steve was incredibly engaging throughout the two day course. The way that Steven talked about the people who he had helped over the years and how he still remembered conversations and how he still keeps in touch is really lovely to hear and see. It really shows his ability to interact on a deeper level and as a learner I found it bring the training to life. I have learnt so much from this course and I will certainly recommend this course to colleagues and look forward to booking onto anything further delivered by Steven.”
“I just wanted to thank you for providing such an engaging, entertaining and knowledgeable course, I have learnt so much from you and have thoroughly enjoyed myself in the process.”
“The course was extremely interesting and there were lots of ideas/skills that are relevant to my role, particularly when dealing with resistance talk or sustained talk which I often come across in my job. Thank you for an enjoyable and informative 2 days.”
“I just wanted to thank you for a wonderful couple of days of training. This has been the best training course that I have attended. Your genuine passion and the care shown to all who you have worked with clearly shines.”
“I would highly recommend this course to anyone. I look forward putting into practice what I have learnt to make a genuine difference.”
“Steve was excellent, as always. The training was engaging, interactive without the dreaded role play. The breakout sessions were a great way of practicing skills and the handouts were useful and informative. I will look forward to being trained by Steven again and I will definitely be practicing my skills and building my confidence of motivational interviewing with my families.”