This technique acknowledges that people may come to a counseling session, an assessment, or a prevention program at different levels of readiness to change their drinking behavior. Some people may have never thought of making changes in their drinking, others may have thought about it but not taken steps to change it, some may be actively trying to cut down, and others may have already cut down, and succeeded in maintaining reduced consumption. Motivational Interviewing attempts to address the specific issues that people are facing at any particular stage.