About this Episode

Welcome to today’s episode of The Communication Solution podcast with Casey Jackson, John Gilbert and Danielle Cantin. We love talking about Motivational Interviewing, and about improving outcomes for individuals, organizations, and the communities that they serve. This episode provides a rich and insightful journey into the realms of communication and behavioral change, guided by the deep knowledge and experiences of John Gilbert. This episode, in particular, highlights the transformative power of empathetic and informed communication, showcasing how it can significantly impact personal growth and drive positive societal change. John’s unique blend of intellectual rigor and emotional empathy elevates the discussion, offering listeners a comprehensive understanding of the nuances and complexities of effective communication. The podcast stands as a testament to the pivotal role that thoughtful dialogue plays in our collective pursuit of a more connected and understanding world.

In this podcast, we discuss:

• Introduction to John Gilbert: Casey Jackson introduces his co-host, John Gilbert, and sets the stage for an in-depth exploration of John’s perspectives on behavior change and communication.


• John’s Academic Journey: John shares his academic background, focusing on his fascination with behavior change and how motivational interviewing became a crucial part of his professional growth.


• Self Determination Theory: John discusses the significance of self-determination theory adjacent to motivational interviewing and its influence on his approach to human behavior.


• Evolution of Professional Development: John reflects on the profound moments in his professional life, particularly how motivational interviewing reshaped his understanding of communication and behavior change.


• Lifestyle Medicine and Health Outcomes: The conversation shifts to the impact of lifestyle choices on health, emphasizing the potential of reversing or preventing major diseases through behavioral changes.


• Importance of Respecting Autonomy: A critical discussion on the importance of not taking away an individual’s autonomy, focusing on the respect and dignity in treatment and communication.


• Cultural and Environmental Influences: The hosts discuss how cultural and environmental factors shape behavior and the importance of understanding these influences in communication.


• The Role of Motivational Interviewing: Casey and John delve into the role of motivational interviewing in engaging individuals meaningfully, beyond the superficial layers of modern communication.


• Challenges in a Capitalistic Society: The podcast touches upon the difficulties of implementing these communication strategies in a heavily capitalistic society where everything, including human interactions, can be monetized.


• Fusing Empathy with Intellectualism: John concludes by expressing his aim to blend his intellectual knowledge with emotional empathy to make a more profound impact on people’s lives and society.

You don’t want to miss this one! Make sure to rate us or share this podcast. It would mean so much to us!

Thank you for listening to the communication solution. This podcast is all about you. If you have questions, thoughts, topic suggestions, or ideas, please send them our way at casey@ifioc.com. For more resources, feel free to check out ifioc.com. 

Transcribe

 Hello, and welcome to the communication solution podcast with Casey Jackson and John Gilbert. I’m your host, Danielle Canton here at the Institute for Individual and Organizational Change, otherwise known as IFIOC. We love to talk about communication. We love to talk about solutions, and we love to talk about providing measurable results for individuals, organizations, and the communities they serve. Welcome. To the communication solution that will change your world. 

Hey everyone. This is Casey Jackson and this is the communication solution. We’re missing our trusty sidekick Danielle today.  But it gives John and I a chance to kind of dive a little bit deeper.  So I was thinking about this.

There’s so many guests that I’ve had on.  You know, I get to talk about my perspective as well too, but I thought it’d be fun to.  Have a chance for people to get to know John a little bit better. So I’m going to dive in and, and,  start to pick his little brain apart and, and let you experience that wild, wacky, wonderful world that happens inside of John Gilbert’s brain.

And, um. I’m going to interrupt to say, as an out loud processor, I’m a little afraid of what’s about to happen since I didn’t know you were going to ask me about this, so I’m a little afraid of what’s going to be processed out loud and how long and how many words that’s going to take. But,  I am going to be conscientious of that and try to have some level of empathy for.

Anyone that actually cares to listen to this. Well, you know, the, the biggest thing for me, you know, John and I have known each other for well over 10 years now. And,  you know, he was a grad student, you know, In his master’s program, looking at, you know, healthcare and nutrition and all the things that he’s obsessed with.

And we crossed paths and there was kind of an immediate connection in terms of our desire to work with people,  and help to kind of help the world a better place. And I was coming from the mental health and emotional health side of the world. And John was coming from more of the healthcare side of the world.

So John, what. When you saw, you know, you saw the, the, the poster for me doing an MI training, you know, you kind of wandered down there, you and I connected, what was your fascination with behavior change at that point in your kind of academic side of your career? I mean, what, what, what triggered you that you became that obsessed?

You actually followed it into a training room to find out what’s going on,  seemingly logic, but it’s probably not that simple. That’s what I’ve learned from human behavior change and, and,  psychology.  But I want to give some credit where it’s due leading up to that, where,  Judy, Judith Knuth, who is an exercise clinical exercise physiologist,  and she with American College of Sports Medicine, she was one of my professors that introduced me to,  or instructors that introduced me to motivational interviewing in a course because the evidence was showing it seemed to be more effective, or at least As effective as other things,  as an approach.

So then that led me to doing a deep dive on it and writing this big long paper of how, wow, look at this evidence.  If this was a intervention for a pill or something like that, we would all be using it. And,  we would be using it at the dose that it has been shown to be used. And so it was very.

Logical to me that this is something that would be implemented if it’s efficient and effective at helping people. And we would lean into this. And so that’s what the paper essentially was about and integrating it into the program more and integrating it into health care more. And that is essentially what introduced me.

And then I saw signs literally on the campus that led. To you, and then there seemed to be a good vibe with you and we were getting along and whatever my name dropping conversation acting like I knew what I was talking about and my own credibility issues. I worked through and then from that,  you invited me to shadow you and so then I started to learn more and I started to realize how applicable and how much this can go deeper And be even more effective and how logical it can be.

And again, that flow of, of the diagram that you and I were talking about assessment intervention, when someone’s with this, there can be here. So all of it just stirred up a bunch of stuff in me of just how this could be so helpful in so many different situations to help people with long term change, which then to finally cap, this answer is that that is what’s at the heart.

If I wanted to answer this succinctly, I would have done that at the beginning. That’s at the heart of what this is all about in healthcare is addressing the underlying cause with lifestyle medicine factors where we could prevent up to, you know, 66 or so percent of cancers. We could prevent nearly all heart disease, nearly all diabetes of type two.

If we just did what we knew was healthy for us, and that’s the underlying cause. And that is behavior and behavior change and sustained behavior change. You know, as we, as we kind of almost retrace your decision tree to what’s put you right now, right here in this podcast with your personal and professional, let’s just stick with professional development,  personal development,  which is adding you here.

 If we trace some of that back. What do you think were some of the most profound shifts or evolutions in your thinking more purely based around motivational interviewing? I know there’s all sorts of supporting theories that you dove into and, you know, that I dive into and, but just from that motivation being path or your understanding of human behavior.

And communication and behavior change. What are a couple of probably the most profound moments in your professional development where it’s like, Whoa, whoa, like something unlocked and you have this whole cascade or flood of thoughts that are like, wow, this just takes motivation to another dimension.

What were a couple of those moments for you? Can, if you can recall? Gosh, yeah. It’s been like 15 years since we’ve known each other. So there’s a long amount of time. Well,  yeah, I, well, first and foremost, I know y