This course initially defines what exactly is meant by a ‘difficult’ service user, and seeks to enable workers to go beyond this sort of thinking. We then look at what skills a worker needs in order to communicate with people who have various levels of complex need, and at how a worker could influence the service user’s behaviour without realising it. Attention is paid to the Cycle of Change theory, and to Carl Rogers. We then define the purpose of motivational interviewing, and describe its main principles and their uses without referring to jargon. A comparison is drawn up between motivational interviewing techniques, and more traditional approaches. A video presentation helps to bring these theories to life, and the course finishes with a role-play session, in which participants are invited to put the theories into practice.