Motivational Interviewing with Metaphorical Cards

Metaphorical cards fit motivational interviewing because they help clients voice their own reasons for change without being pushed. A client picks an image for where they are now and where they might want to be, and the gap between the two cards becomes a natural, client-owned source of change talk that the practitioner can reflect and strengthen.

Why MI and picture cards work well together

Motivational interviewing rests on a simple idea: people are more persuaded by what they hear themselves say than by what an expert tells them. The practitioner's job is to evoke, not install. That is exactly where metaphorical cards shine. An image has no agenda. It does not argue for sobriety, exercise or a new job. It simply offers a surface onto which the client can project something they have not yet put into words.

Ambivalence is often stuck because it lives in abstract language — "I know I should, but…". A picture of a bridge half hidden in fog, or a backpack left by a door, gives that ambivalence a shape. Once it has a shape, it can be explored from both sides with curiosity rather than defensiveness.

As with any metaphorical card work, the cards predict nothing and carry no fixed meaning. The meaning belongs to the client, and in MI that is the whole point.

Mapping cards onto the MI processes

MI describes four overlapping processes: engaging, focusing, evoking and planning. Cards can support each one:

• Engaging. Ask the client to pick a card for "how coming here today feels". It lowers the stakes of the first minutes and tells you a lot about the relationship.
• Focusing. Lay out several cards and ask which one points to what matters most to talk about. The choice itself is an agenda-setting conversation.
• Evoking. Use paired cards (now / later, staying / changing) to draw out desire, ability, reasons and need.
• Planning. A card for "the first small step" anchors commitment language in a concrete image the client can remember.

Three exercises to try

1. Two sides of the scale

Invite the client to choose one card for "what keeps things as they are" and one for "what pulls toward something different". Explore the first card fully and respectfully before turning to the second — sustain talk deserves to be heard, and rushing past it tends to provoke resistance. Then reflect both sides in a double-sided reflection: "Part of you values the comfort in this first image, and part of you is drawn to the open road in the second."

2. The importance and confidence rulers, illustrated

Ask the classic MI ruler questions — "On a scale from 0 to 10, how important is this change?" — and then ask the client to pick a card that shows their number. Follow with "Why this card and not one that shows a lower number?" The image often brings out reasons the client would not have listed in words, and those reasons are pure change talk.

3. Looking forward, looking back

Have the client choose a card for "life five years from now if nothing changes" and another for "life five years from now if the change happens". Many clients find it easier to describe a picture than to imagine a future cold. Let them notice the difference between the two cards on their own; resist the urge to point it out.

Choosing the right decks

Open, landscape-like imagery works best for ambivalence because it leaves room for both directions. Doors & Thresholds is a natural fit for moments of choice. Resources helps with the confidence side — what strengths and supports the client already has. For clients who struggle to name what they feel about the change, Faces & Expressions can help them find the emotional words first.

Practical notes for sessions

• Keep the spirit of MI: partnership, acceptance, compassion and evocation. The cards are a tool for that spirit, not a replacement for it.
• Reflect more than you ask. A good card exercise generates a lot of material; your reflections decide which parts grow.
• Do not interpret the image for the client. "What do you notice in it?" beats "That looks like freedom" every time.
• Fewer cards are better. Two to four options keep the choice meaningful; a full spread can overwhelm someone who is already ambivalent.
• Online sessions work just as well. A shared board in collaborative mode lets both of you see and move the cards in real time — see our guide to remote coaching with cards.

Limits worth knowing

Cards do not make MI more directive, and they should not be used to steer a client toward the "right" image. If you catch yourself hoping the client picks a particular card, that is the righting reflex in disguise. Some clients also find picture work childish at first; offer it as an option, not a requirement, and go back to plain conversation if it does not land. Finally, cards are not an assessment instrument — what a client picks tells you what is alive for them today, not a diagnosis.

Used lightly, though, a single well-chosen image can turn "I don't know why I'd bother" into "Actually, I want to get back to that." For more on reflective use of cards in professional practice, read about supervision and reflective practice with metaphorical cards.

Ready to try it in your next session? Browse the MindTrays decks and pick two images that could hold both sides of a client's ambivalence.

— MindTrays Team