COE Readiness for Change & Recovery - JHF

December 3, 2025

Participants will learn about reasons for change and personal growth in the context of substance misuse with strategies and tactics to strengthen relationship dynamics and to support clients in developing readiness to change.

Agenda:

  1. Introduction
  2. Reasons for Change:
    1. Personal growth, life experiences, emotional reactions, goal alignment, external influences, and intentional motivations all drive change.
  3. Addressing Substance Misuse:
    1. Defensiveness is typical in discussions about drug use, often rooted in moral judgments.
  4. Understanding Change:
    1. Change can cause ambivalence; it's important to begin where individuals currently are rather than imposing goals on them.
  5. What to Avoid:
    1. Do not threaten, moralize, prescribe solutions, judge, or give unsolicited advice; these can hinder change.
  6. Resistance:
    1. Resistance may reflect the interviewer's agenda and occurs when change is pushed prematurely.
  7. The Science of Behavior Change:
    1. Understanding change mechanisms is complex, focusing on self-regulation and interpersonal processes.
  8. Our Role as Change Agents:
    1. How we interact, including body language and supportive methods, can significantly influence a person's ability to change.
  9. Stages of Change Model:
    1. Developed for addiction treatment, it includes six stages: Pre-contemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, Maintenance, and Re-occurrence.
  10. Motivational Interviewing (MI):
    1. MI helps individuals articulate their reasons for change and is grounded in a therapeutic alliance with principles of partnership, acceptance, compassion, and evocation.
  11. Engagement for Change:
    1. Effective engagement requires active listening, openness to information, optimism about recovery, empathy, and inquisitiveness.

Target Audience

  • Nurse
  • Physician
  • Social Worker

Learning Objectives

  • Gain insight into how and why people change and associated foundational concepts. 
  • Consider how to strengthen relational dynamics to support people in developing the readiness to change.
  • Utilize the therapeutic alliance and formal tools like the BARC 10, strength-based assessment processes, and recovery planning to support change meaningful to the persons they are serving.
 

 

Additional Information

AttachmentSize
File Audience Disclosure slides (1.25).pptx50.71 KB
File Readiness for Change & Recovery_Agenda.docx43.65 KB
PDF icon PROA Reducing Resistance Worksheet.pdf275.75 KB
PDF icon COE Readiness For Change 2025.pdf4.87 MB
Course summary
Available credit: 
  • 1.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
    The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
  • 1.25 ANCC
    UPMC Provider Unit is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation
  • 1.25 ASWB
  • 1.25 Attendance
Course opens: 
12/03/2025
Course expires: 
02/28/2026
Event starts: 
12/03/2025 - 12:00pm EST
Event ends: 
12/03/2025 - 1:30pm EST
Add to calendar: 

Participants will learn about reasons for change and personal growth in the context of substance misuse with strategies and tactics to strengthen relationship dynamics and to support clients in developing readiness to change.

Agenda:

  1. Introduction
  2. Reasons for Change:
    1. Personal growth, life experiences, emotional reactions, goal alignment, external influences, and intentional motivations all drive change.
  3. Addressing Substance Misuse:
    1. Defensiveness is typical in discussions about drug use, often rooted in moral judgments.
  4. Understanding Change:
    1. Change can cause ambivalence; it's important to begin where individuals currently are rather than imposing goals on them.
  5. What to Avoid:
    1. Do not threaten, moralize, prescribe solutions, judge, or give unsolicited advice; these can hinder change.
  6. Resistance:
    1. Resistance may reflect the interviewer's agenda and occurs when change is pushed prematurely.
  7. The Science of Behavior Change:
    1. Understanding change mechanisms is complex, focusing on self-regulation and interpersonal processes.
  8. Our Role as Change Agents:
    1. How we interact, including body language and supportive methods, can significantly influence a person's ability to change.
  9. Stages of Change Model:
    1. Developed for addiction treatment, it includes six stages: Pre-contemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, Maintenance, and Re-occurrence.
  10. Motivational Interviewing (MI):
    1. MI helps individuals articulate their reasons for change and is grounded in a therapeutic alliance with principles of partnership, acceptance, compassion, and evocation.
  11. Engagement for Change:
    1. Effective engagement requires active listening, openness to information, optimism about recovery, empathy, and inquisitiveness.

 

Zoom Meeting
Pittsburgh, PA
United States

Bill Stauffer LSW, PMAC, PECS

 

In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by the University of Pittsburgh and The Jewish Healthcare Foundation. The University of Pittsburgh is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
As a Jointly Accredited Organization, University of Pittsburgh is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. University of Pittsburgh maintains responsibility for this course. Social workers completing this course receive 1.25 continuing education credits.

Physician (CME)
The University of Pittsburgh designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Nursing (CNE)
The maximum number of hours awarded for this Continuing Nursing Education activity is 1.25 contact hours.

Social Work (ASWB)
The maximum number of hours awarded for this Continuing Social Work Education activity is 1.25 contact hours.

Other health care professionals will receive a certificate of attendance confirming the number of contact hours commensurate with the extent of participation in this activity.

Available Credit

  • 1.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
    The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
  • 1.25 ANCC
    UPMC Provider Unit is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation
  • 1.25 ASWB
  • 1.25 Attendance
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