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School counselors can use motivational interviewing to support students with anxiety or depression about school by listening deeply to their experience, validating their feelings, and gently helping them explore what matters to them and what small changes feel possible. Motivational interviewing in schools does not replace therapy, but it gives counselors and other educators a collaborative way to talk about change that supports both mental health and school success.

Open‑ended questions are a core skill in motivational interviewing in schools because they invite students to tell their story in their own words rather than answering with a yes or no. The right questions help teachers, counselors, and other educators understand what is really going on and gently draw out students’ own reasons to change.

In motivational interviewing in schools, “stage‑matching” means adjusting how you talk with a student based on how ready they are to change a specific behavior, like attendance, engagement, working with AI or a specific behavior.

The stages of change describe how ready a person is to change a specific behavior, and motivational interviewing is a way of talking that meets them where they are and helps them move forward.

In motivational interviewing, “sustain talk” is any language that leans toward staying the same – their own reasons, needs, or intentions to keep things as they are around a specific behavior.

In motivational interviewing, “change talk” is any language that leans towards change and is backed by the person's own desire, ability, reasons, need, commitment, or steps to do something differently.

Motivational interviewing isn’t only for long, sit‑down meetings. You can use MI in quick hallway check‑ins, after‑class conversations, and short office drop‑ins by focusing on a few core skills and the spirit of partnership.