Listening for Change Talk, Sustain Talk, and Neutral Talk

Hello Everyone!
Here is the on-demand discussion prompts for this week due on Tuesday at 11:59pm EST.
Subgoal for this week: To move from engaging to focusing to now the evoking stage of MI.
Activity #1: Listening for Change Talk, Sustain Talk, and Neutral Talk
Take a minute to think about something you want to change in your life (something you feel comfortable sharing with the group). Jot it down on a piece of paper or think about it in your mind. Write a few lines about it. Remember: a client’s balance of change talk and sustain talk predicts change, and this is substantially influenced by the motivational interviewer. You have to notice change talk to be able to evoke it. Now, read over your statement and pick out the 1) Change Talk, 2) Sustain Talk, and 3) Neutral Talk.
Example: "For me, I would like to stop eating desserts after 8pm. I know it is unhealthy to eat sweets late at night but it feels so good to have something sweet at the end of the day. I am not sure if this is something worth caring about or not."
For this week, please answer the prompt below:
1) Use the example above or the the one you wrote down:
What is the: 1) Change Talk, 2) Sustain Talk, and 3) Neutral Talk?
Activity #2: Evoking Change Through Questions
Forming good questions is fundamental in motivational interviewing. Although we are talking about evoking today, oftentimes the work can move back and forth between the different stages of MI - from engaging, to focusing to evoking. Let’s practice asking good questions to help elicit change talk.
Using the earlier example:
“For me, I would like to stop eating desserts after 8pm. I know it is unhealthy to eat sweets late at night but it feels so good to have something sweet at the end of the day. I am not sure if this is something worth caring about or not (or use your own example).”
Ask open-ended questions to elicit change talk. Then, ask is that question an Engaging Question, a Focusing Question, or an Evoking Question?
For this week, please write an open-ended question for engaging, focusing, and evoking using your own example or the one given:
■ Engaging Question: What does your nighttime dessert eating habits look like for you? (engaging questions are when you invite the person to share more about their experience)
■ Focusing Question: When you are feeling the best about your eating, what does that look like for you? (focusing questions are when you invite the person to share more about their goals and what they are aiming for)
■ Evoking Question: What do you think needs to happen for you to eat this way? (evoking questions are when you invite the person to share more about what they can/need to change to accomplish those goals)