This course examines motivational interviewing (MI) as a person-centered counseling style for helping clients who misuse substances or have substance use disorders strengthen their motivation and commitment to change. Drawing on Chapter 3 of SAMHSA’s TIP 35, Enhancing Motivation for Change in Substance Use Disorder Treatment, the course explores the spirit of MI, the role of ambivalence in the change process, the four core counseling skills (OARS), and the four processes of MI: engaging, focusing, evoking, and planning. Particular attention is given to the updated MI framework’s conceptualization of sustain talk and discord, the strategies counselors use to evoke change talk and respond to sustain talk, and the evidence supporting MI’s effectiveness across diverse clinical populations and settings.

Upon completing this course, participants will be able to describe the spirit of MI and its underlying principles, differentiate change talk from sustain talk, apply the core MI skills (OARS) and the four MI processes in clinical practice, and select appropriate counselor responses when clients express ambivalence about changing substance use behaviors.

NAADAC Online CE Completion limits: There is a limit of 8 hours (8 CE) of credit for online courses within a 24-hour period.

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The course will be available in your account immediately after purchase. The Course Completion Certificate and Letter of Completion will be immediately available in your account upon successful completion of the course post-test (a score of 80% or higher) and completion of the course evaluation. You will have unlimited attempts to pass the post-test.

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American Psychological Association (APA)

At Health, LLC is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. At Health, LLC maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC)

At Health, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6949. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. At Health, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

NAADAC – The Association for Addiction Professionals

Athealth.com is approved as a continuing education provider by the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors, the Association for Addiction Professionals. #148460.

Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)

At Health, LLC, Provider #1707, is approved as an ACE provider 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: 5/3/2023–5/3/2026.

Page last modified or reviewed by athealth.com on May 12, 2026.

Elinore F. McCance-Katz is an American physician, academic, and government official who served as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Mental Health and Substance Use from 2017 to 2021. Prior to assuming her current role, she was the chief medical officer for the Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities, and Hospitals and a professor at the Alpert Medical School at Brown University. Her nomination was supported by the American Psychiatric Association, which released a statement saying "Dr. McCance-Katz has a wealth of experience in academic and public sector settings in addressing mental health and substance use disorders.

McCance-Katz earned a B.A. in biology from Eastern Connecticut State University in 1978. She went on to attend Yale University, where she received an MPhil and Ph.D. She attended medical school at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, where she earned her M.D. in 1987. She completed her residency in psychiatry at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut.

McCance-Katz was on the faculty of Yale University from 1991 to 1998 and later taught at the University of Texas, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the University of California San Francisco. McCance-Katz was medical director for the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs before serving as the first chief medical officer for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a position which she held from 2013 to 2015. She is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry. McCance-Katz and her husband hold a patent for a method used to prevent urine specimen substitution in substance use screening.  She has conducted substantial research into addiction, specifically opioid addiction.

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