Learners must request a MNCWTA Training Portal Profile in order to register for any MI Pathway. If you are not sure if you already have a profile or not, contact us at info@mnchildwelfaretraining.com.

Required Prerequisites

Both pathways must meet the prerequisite requirement of completing the ICWA/MIFPA 2-Day Training delivered by Tribal Training and Certification Partnership (TTCP) as of January 2020. As of February 2025, Foundations Training is no longer a prerequisite. If you’re unsure if the ICWA/MIFPA course you took meets the prerequisite requirements, please reach out to mitraining@mnchildwelfaretraining.com.

• Introduction to Motivational Interviewing (MI) Skills for Child Welfare Professionals: Self-Paced (CWTA X405)
  • This self paced course (approximately 3-4 hours) must be completed before you register for the instructor-led course.
  • Learners should allot time for practice recordings and submission.
• Motivational interviewing (MI) Skills for Child Welfare Professionals: Instructor-Led Workshops (CWTA X406)
  • Learners will meet weekly for 3.5 hours over four weeks for this virtual course and must be complete before you can register for the Coaching Circles.
• Motivational Interviewing (MI) Skills for Child Welfare Professionals: Coaching Circles 1-4 (CWTA X407.1, CWTA X407.2, CWTA X407.3, and CWTA X407.4)
  • The 1.5-hour Coaching Circles are designed to help you foster a realistic self-appraisal, hone your MI skills (with practice and feedback), and increase your confidence in the approach. The topics in each Circle have some similarity to help prepare you for the Final Skills Demonstration course.
  • Circles do not need to be completed in order
  • To meet certification requirements, participants must complete Coaching Circles 1-4. Once you complete all 4 coaching circles, you will be eligible to register for the Final Skills Demonstration course.
• Motivational Interviewing (MI) Skills for Child Welfare Professionals: Skills Demonstration (CWTA X408)
  • In the final course, you will be asked to demonstrate your MI skills through a series of simulated encounters.
  • Upon completion of the course, learners' agencies will receive an email from DCYF Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) about the final MI phase/fidelity monitoring requirements under the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) policy.

Original Submissions

The purpose of the skills demonstration is to provide feedback on what you are doing well and where some additional support might be needed. Perfection is not the goal of the skills demonstration. The ultimate goal of FFPSA and choosing Motivational Interviewing as a service is to build skills to engage with families in an authentic and meaningful way, to provide the best possible outcomes to children, youth, and families in Minnesota. Your responses to the skills demonstrations should be wholly your own work/creation, and not created as a group or from a content generating tool.

Fidelity Monitoring

DCYF is in the process of contracting with Lyssn, an artificial intelligence (AI) data analysis software tool, for ongoing fidelity monitoring and working to establish a roll out process with agencies as staff become trained. Ongoing fidelity monitoring intends to provide workers and supervisors support as they implement motivational interviewing and is a requirement under the FFPSA prevention services plan.

If you have questions about anything above, contact mitraining@mnchildwelfaretraining.com.