Mini Course: What is MI? The Spirit of MI/The Four Processes

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  • Register
    • Non-Member - $55
    • Regular Member - $40
    • Retired - $40
    • Early Career Physician - $40
    • Resident - $25
    • Student - $25
    • Associate - $25
    • ASAM Staff - Free!
    • International Member - $40
    • Emeritus Member - $40
    • Provisional Member - $40
    • Fellow Member - $40
    • Honorary Member - $40
    • CRT Member - $40

Mini Course: What is MI? The Spirit of MI/The Four Processes

Online Course

Overview

This 1.5 hour, online course is designed for clinicians to practice skills that are consistent with motivational interviewer behaviors and to reflect on how to employ these skills in their clinical settings.

The ASAM Motivational Interviewing (MI) Mini-Courses are fully online courses designed for clinicians to practice skills that are consistent with motivational interviewer behaviors and to reflect on how to employ these skills in their clinical settings. These courses address barriers/gaps identified by participants who have attended the ASAM Motivational Interviewing Workshop and Skill Building Labs with being able to use/apply MI within their professional practice settings.

The target audience for this introductory level activity includes: physicians, clinicians, social workers, counselors, and all those speaking with patients with addiction wanting to expand their skillset towards helping their patients/clients change. 

This activity addresses the following ACGME Competencies: Patient Care and Procedural Skills, Practice-Based Learning and Improvement, Interpersonal and Communication Skills, Professionalism, Systems-based Practice

Learning Objectives

Upon completion, learners will be able to:

  1. Articulate and enact the spirit of Motivational Interviewing 
  2. Identify the core features of MI congruent interactions
  3. Organize clinical communications attending to the four foundational processes of MI (engaging, focusing, evoking, and planning)

Registration Rates

ASAM Learner TypeRate
ASAM Member$40
Non-Member$55
Associate Member$25
Resident Member*$25
Student Member*$25

*Residents, Fellows-in-training, Interns, and Students must join ASAM to receive a discounted registration rate. Click here to become an ASAM member. National and Chapter membership dues apply. There is no charge for Students to become a Member, but verification of student status is required.

Membership Question?  Call ASAM at 1.301.656.3920, email us, or view the ASAM website for more information.

Refunds & Cancellations

All ASAM eLearning Center refund requests must be made in writing to Education@ASAM.org within 90 days of purchase. Those requesting refunds for courses that are in progress will receive partial refunds or eLearning Center credit. Automatic full refunds will be made for any course with a live-course component that has been cancelled.

Registration Deadline: 10/27/2025

Instructions

  1. Click on the Contents tab to begin this activity. 
  2. Click Complete Post Test to answer multiple choice questions. Participants will have 10 attempts to pass and must answer 4 out of 5 questions correctly.
  3. Click Complete Evaluation to provide valuable activity feedback. Scroll down on all questions as there may be answer options that expand past the size of the window. 
  4. Click the button Claim Medical Credits in the box titled Claim Credits & Certificate. Choose the type of credit and click submit. Click the button View/Print Certificate to save or print your certificate. You can view/print your certificate at any time by visiting the ASAM eLearning Center, clicking Dashboard, and clicking Transcript/Achievements.

Need Assistance?

For assistance logging in, accessing activities, claiming credit, or for other questions or concerns, please check the FAQ page or e-mail Education@ASAM.org

ASAM is proud to offer eSSENTIAL Accessibility to ensure our website is accessible and functional for all our learners while providing free assistive technology for people with the widest possible range of abilities.

Brian Hurley

MD, MBA, DFASAM

Brian Hurley, MD, MBA, DFASAM is an addiction medicine physician and the Director of Addiction Medicine for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. Brian is currently a Director at Large for the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and will assume the position of President-Elect this April 2021. He co-chairs the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services’ Substance Use Disorders Workgroup and the SafeMedLA Medications for Addiction Treatment Action Team, and is the Clinical Director of the Addiction Treatment Starts Here programs through the Center for Care Innovations, focused on increasing the delivery of Medications for Addiction Treatment in California’s community health centers. He is the PI of two MAT Access Points projects funded by the Sierra Health Foundation, a co-PI of a TRDRP funded smoking cessation implementation project, and a co-investigator on NIDA, NIAAA, and PCORI funded addiction related implementation science grants managed through RAND. He is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers and regularly conducts motivational interviewing trainings throughout the United States. He is a Volunteer Assistant Clinical Professor of Addiction Medicine in the Department of Family Medicine at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. He additionally serves on the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology’s Addiction Psychiatry examination writing committee. 

Brian completed the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and was previously a UCLA - Veterans Administration National Quality Scholar at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. He completed a fellowship program in addiction psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine. He completed residency training at the Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital, where he was Chief Resident in Addiction Psychiatry. Brian is a former National President of the American Medical Student Association.

No relevant financial disclosures

Carla Marienfeld

MD, DFAPA, FASAM

Carla Marienfeld, MD, is a board-certified addiction psychiatrist and Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Diego who supports recovery in an evidence based, harm-reduction approach through therapy, motivational interviewing, and medication treatment. Her research involves analysis of electronic medical record data for individuals with substance use disorders. She has authored or co-authored over 35 peer reviewed articles, book chapters, practice guidelines, and invited commentaries, and she edited two books: Motivational Interviewing for Clinical Practice and Absolute Addiction Psychiatry Review: An essential board exam study guide. She has been highly involved in education of colleagues and trainees about addiction psychiatry and effective interventions including buprenorphine treatment and motivational interviewing, and she is the fellowship director for the UCSD Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship. Dr. Marienfeld completed a fellowship in addiction psychiatry and residency training in psychiatry at Yale. During her residency, she was chief resident of psychiatry and founded (and later led) the Yale Global Mental Health Program. She earned a medical degree with honors from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Disclosures - Does Disclose:

  • Consultant and stock options: CARI Therapeutics

CME, CE, CEU and Other Credit Types


ACCME Accredited with Commendation

ACCME Accreditation Statement
The American Society of Addiction Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

AMA Credit Designation Statement
The American Society of Addiction Medicine designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals
This activity has been approved by the American Society of Addiction Medicine, as a NAADAC Approved Education Provider, for educational credits. NAADAC Provider #295, ASAM is responsible for all aspects of the programming.

California Association for Drug/Alcohol Educators (CAADE)
This educational program is approved by CAADE: #CP40 999 1222.

California Association of DUI Treatment Centers (CADTP)
This educational program is approved by CADTP: #205.

California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals (CCAPP)
This educational program is approved by CCAPP: #OS-20-330-1222.

Continuing Education Credits (CEUs)
Non-physician participants will receive a certificate of attendance upon completion of the activity and an online evaluation confirming their participation. Participants should submit his/her certificate of attendance to their professional organization/institute.

Maintenance of Certification (MOC) or Continuing Certification Programs (CCP)


American Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM)
The American Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM) has approved this activity for a maximum of 1.5 credit towards ABPM MOC Part II requirements.

American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA)
This activity contributes to the CME component of the American Board of Anesthesiology’s redesigned Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology TM (MOCA®) program, known as MOCA 2.0®.

American Board of Pediatrics (ABP)
Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the activity, with individual assessments of the participant and feedback to the participant, enables the participant to earn a maximum of 1.5 MOC point in the American Board of Pediatrics’ (ABP) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABP MOC credit.

American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM)
Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 1.5 Medical Knowledge MOC point in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. Participants will earn MOC points equivalent to the amount of CME credits claimed for the activity. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credits.

American Board of Surgery (ABS)
Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the learner to earn credit toward the CME and/or Self-Assessment requirements of the American Board of Surgery’s Continuous Certification program. It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit learner completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABS credit.

American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN)
Successful completion of this CME activity can be used to satisfy the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology’s (ABPN) CME requirement for Maintenance of Certification program. 

American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM)
Successful completion of this activity can be used to satisfy the American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM) Tmoc credit requirements.

Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC)
Royal College Fellows can use participation in Accredited Continuing Medical Education to earn Section 3 Credits.

Disclosure Information


In accordance with disclosure policies of ASAM and the ACCME, the effort is made to ensure balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor in all CME/CE activities. These policies include mitigating all possible relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies for the Planning Committees and Presenters. All activity Planning Committee members and Faculty have disclosed relevant financial relationship information. The ASAM CE Committee has reviewed these disclosures and determined that the relationships are not inappropriate in the context of their respective presentations and are not inconsistent with the educational goals and integrity of the activity.

Key:

Complete
Failed
Available
Locked
Complete Course
Begin self-paced component package.
Begin self-paced component package. This activity will take 1.5 hours to complete. This activity was last reviewed and updated in October 2022.
Complete Post Test
5 Questions  |  10 attempts  |  4/5 points to pass
5 Questions  |  10 attempts  |  4/5 points to pass This post-test has 5 questions and requires 4 out of 5 questions to pass the test.
Complete Evaluation
18 Questions
18 Questions Scroll down on evaluation, there may be questions that expand past the size of the window.
Claim Credit & Certificate
Up to 1.50 medical credits available  |  Certificate available
Up to 1.50 medical credits available  |  Certificate available Attendees should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.