Bringing the Conversation to Your Organization

Most of us reach for the ultimatum, the intervention, or the tough-love speech. There is a large body of work behind why that so often makes things worse — and a different approach, called motivational interviewing, that works with someone’s own reasons for change rather than against them.

This session covers what to say, what not to say, and why the instinct to push almost always produces the opposite of what you want. It is built on the same principles I use in coaching: non-judgmental, focused on the person in front of you, and grounded in the belief that people change when the decision is genuinely theirs.

I didn’t spend ten years drinking and then get sober. I spent ten years in recovery — going to meetings, seeing counsellors, completing programs — and struggling the whole way through. This is the story of why none of it held for me, what finally changed, and what I wish someone had told me at the start.

It is an honest account of relapse, of the cost to the people around me, and of the three things — willingness, surrender, and open-mindedness — that eventually made the difference.

Substance use in a workplace rarely looks like the stereotype. More often it looks like a capable, well-regarded person whose performance is quietly slipping while everyone assumes they are fine — because they have become very good at appearing fine.

I spent thirty-five years in business, most of it in senior leadership, and I was that person. This session covers what the early signs actually look like in a professional setting, why colleagues and managers so consistently miss them, and how to raise a concern without turning it into a disciplinary event.