Deliberate Practice in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy
ISBN: 978-1-4338-3748-7Deliberate practice exercises help students and trainees rehearse fundamental child and adolescent psychotherapy skills to develop basic competence and hone their own personal therapeutic style.
Each book in the Essentials of Deliberate Practice series contains customized exercises consisting of role-playing scenarios in which two trainees act as a client and a therapist, switching back and forth under the guidance of a supervisor. The trainee playing the therapist improvises appropriate and authentic responses to a series of client statements organized into three difficulty levels—beginner, intermediate, and advanced—that reflect common problems and concerns encountered by practitioners who work with children and adolescents.
The first 12 exercises each focus on a single skill, such as observing and elaborating on play, exploring identity through a multicultural orientation, and addressing difficult issues like safety concerns and sex. These are followed by two comprehensive exercises—an annotated transcript and free-form mock therapy sessions—in which trainees integrate these essential skills into a single session.
Step-by-step instructions guide participants through the exercises, identify criteria for mastering each skill, and explain how to monitor and adjust difficulty. Guidelines and forms to help trainers and trainees get the most out of training are also provided.
To demonstrate how deliberate practiceopens in new window can be fully integrated into a professional curriculum, this series features exercises developed and refined within the clinical training curriculum at the Sentio online marriage and family therapy (MFT) therapist training programopens in new window in California, which is where we started developing this series. These exercises, which have been tested at clinical training sites around the world, are used to enhance clinical outcomes within the first hybrid MFT program approved by the California Board of Behavioral Sciencesopens in new window (BBS) to fully integrate deliberate practice into its entire curriculum. By integrating these models into its hybrid MFT program in California, Sentio University demonstrates that therapist training graduate programs can use deliberate practice to bridge the gap between theory and clinical mastery through repetitive, feedback-informed practice to support the development of modern, outcome-focused clinicians.
Series Preface
Tony Rousmaniere and Alexandre Vaz
Acknowledgments
Part I: Overview and Instructions
- Chapter 1: Introduction and Overview of Deliberate Practice and Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy
- Chapter 2: Instructions for the Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Deliberate Practice Exercises
Part II: Deliberate Practice Exercises for Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Skills
Exercises for Beginner Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Skills
- Exercise 1: Communicating Interest and Curiosity
- Exercise 2: Naming Feelings
- Exercise 3: Praise and Encouragement
- Exercise 4: Observing and Describing Play
Exercises for Intermediate Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Skills
- Exercise 5: Empathic Validation
- Exercise 6: Elaborating Play
- Exercise 7: Exploring Identity—Multicultural Orientation
- Exercise 8: Self-Disclosure
Exercises for Advanced Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Skills
- Exercise 9: Gathering Information About Safety Concerns
- Exercise 10: Setting Limits
- Exercise 11: Talking About Sex
- Exercise 12: Responding to Resistance and Ruptures
Comprehensive Exercises
- Exercise 13: Annotated Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Practice Session Transcript
- Exercise 14: Mock Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Sessions
Part III: Strategies for Enhancing the Deliberate Practice Exercises
- Chapter 3: Additional Guidance for Trainers and Trainees: How to Get the Most Out of Deliberate Practice
Jordan Bate, PhD, is assistant professor of psychology at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University. She teaches family and child psychotherapy courses, coleads the psychodynamic psychotherapy practicum, and runs the Attachment & Psychotherapy Process Research Lab. Her research centers on understanding therapeutic processes through attachment theory and on the effectiveness of clinical training, including deliberate practice. Dr. Bate is a trainer and supervisor in mentalization-based treatment for children (MBT-C) and President of Section 2 (Childhood and Adolescence) of APA Division 39 (Psychoanalysis). She maintains a private practice in Manhattan, New York working with patients across the lifespan.
Tracy A. Prout, PhD, is associate professor of psychology at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University. She teaches evidence-based psychodynamic psychotherapy in the School-Clinical Child Combined Doctoral Program, supervises advanced graduate students in the psychodynamic psychotherapy practicum, and leads the psychodynamic psychotherapy lab at Ferkauf. Dr. Prout is principal investigator for several studies related to Regulation Focused Psychotherapy for Children (RFP-C) and supervises all graduate research assistants who work on these projects. Dr. Prout coleads IMPACT Psychological Services, an integrative, group private practice, with locations in Beacon and Mamaroneck, New York serving children, teens, families and adults.
Tony Rousmaniere, PsyD, is president of Sentio University marriage and family therapy (MFT) program in Californiaopens in new window. He led the development of online/hybrid MFT programopens in new window, which is the first MFT therapist training program approved by the California Board of Behavioral Science for MFT licensure that fully integrates deliberate practiceopens in new window. Dr. Rousmaniere is the author/coeditor of many books on psychotherapy training. He is also the executive director of the Sentio Counseling Centeropens in new window, which is Sentio MFT program’s guaranteed practicumopens in new window site where students provide sliding-scale online therapy in Californiaopens in new window, and past president of the APA’s Division 29.
Alexandre Vaz, PhD, is chief academic officer of Sentio University marriage and family therapy (MFT) program in Californiaopens in new window. This innovative online/hybrid MFT programopens in new window was the first approved by the California Board of Behavioral Science for MFT licensure to fully integrate deliberate practiceopens in new window into its curriculum to ensure superior clinical outcomes. He is also director of clinical training for the Sentio Counseling Centeropens in new window which is Sentio MFT program’s guaranteed practicumopens in new window site where students provide low-cost online couples therapy in Californiaopens in new window. Dr. Vaz is the author/coeditor of many books on deliberate practice and psychotherapy training.
The book includes practice exercises for beginner, intermediate, and advanced skill levels…includes hundreds of examples of what to say when working with children and adolescents…those new to therapy—either interns or practitioners—will benefit from the repetition and review of what to say when working with K–12 students.
—Communiqué, National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)
Essential and exceptional. This book addresses head on the perplexing predicament in child and adolescent psychotherapy: even the best schooling does not adequately prepare you to be a skilled psychotherapist. Presenting a persuasive remedy, these experts lead us through exercises in experiential learning, demonstrating how deliberate practice develops skilled, compassionate clinicians. Full of useful examples and exercises that psychotherapists at all skill levels can directly apply in their practice, this book is a field manual for effective child and adolescent psychotherapy.
—Danielle Magaldi, PhD, Associate Professor, City University of New York, Bronx, NY, and Supervising Psychologist, Prospect Psychology, New York, NY, United States
This is the book that I wish had existed when I was training as a child therapist! By breaking our work down into 12 core domains, it shows how we can use deliberate practice to improve the way we work with children. If this sounds reductionist, then what the authors offer is no simple “how to do therapy” cookbook. Instead, they see therapy like a complex jazz improvisation, where intense practice creates the foundation for creativity and flexibility, allowing each therapist to discover their own personal style.
—Nick Midgley, PhD, Professor of Psychological Therapies With Children and Young People, University College London and the Anna Freud Centre, London, United Kingdom
A must-read that fills a void in the training of child therapists. Bate, Prout, and colleagues deliver an impressive, evidence-based model by which student therapists develop “their own voice” in the real-life treatment of children. The supervisor’s roles are clearly integrated throughout the process.
—Abraham Givner, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Yeshiva University, New York, NY, United States
This book represents a valuable contribution to the field of clinical practice as it operationalizes a clinical endeavor often misunderstood and undervalued. It is timely and extremely necessary as we face a crisis in child and adolescent mental health. By providing a clear structure informed by rigorous research and clinical findings, this book is suitable for both beginners and advanced professionals.
—Norka T. Malberg, PsyD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT, United States; coauthor of Mentalization-Based Treatment for Children: A Time-Limited Approach
This book is part of the Essentials of Deliberate Practice series by Tony Rousmaniere and Alexandre Vaz. The clinician and practitioner resources on this page include a Deliberate Practice Reaction Form and a Deliberate Practice Diary Form that can be used with every book in this series, as well as volume-specific content.
These documents are offered for your personal use in clinical training or teaching courses. If you reprint or adapt them for publication, permission is required from the publisher.
Deliberate Practice Reaction Form
The Deliberate Practice Reaction Form can be used with any of the deliberate practice exercises throughout the series to measure how challenging it was for the trainees and to adjust the difficulty as needed. Appendix A includes a black-and-white version of the form with instructions for assessing and modifying an exercise’s difficulty. A color version of the Deliberate Practice Reaction Form is also available for individual download.
- Appendix A: Difficulty Assessments and Adjustmentsopens in new window (PDF)
- Deliberate Practice Reaction Formopens in new window (PDF)
Deliberate Practice Diary Form
The Deliberate Practice Diary Form is an optional form that trainees can complete during a training session’s final evaluation or between sessions to process their experiences with the activity, including what was and was not helpful and what they learned. Appendix B, which is the same across all books in the series, presents this form.
Volume-specific materials
The following content is unique to Deliberate Practice in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy and includes a sample syllabus that integrates the deliberate practice exercises into a standard clinical course.
- Appendix C: Sample Child Therapy Syllabus With Embedded Deliberate Practice Exercises (PDFopens in new window | Wordopens in new window)
Supplemental resources for therapist training
Designed for faculty at graduate institutions, these supplemental resources provide a framework and clear examples for implementing deliberate practice within existing therapist training curricula. Sentio University is where we started to develop what would become the APA Essentials of Deliberate Practice series. We provide a comprehensive suite of free psychotherapy training resources based on the deliberate practice methodologyopens in new window. These materials are designed to supplement modern hybrid and online therapist training curricula and are used extensively within our own clinical programs.
- California MFT program integration: These materials are a core component of the Sentio hybrid MFT program in Californiaopens in new window, the first in the state to fully integrate DP into its entire curriculum and receive California Board of Behavioral Sciences approval for licensure.
- Free deliberate practice exercises: Access our library of therapist skill-building worksheetsopens in new window used to enhance the online California MFT degree through repetitive, feedback-informed practice.
- Deliberate practice video demonstrations: Visit our YouTube channel for free therapist training videosopens in new window to view clinical demonstrations from the APA Essentials of Deliberate Practice book series. These videos illustrate key skills used to enhance the online California MFT degree through repetitive, feedback-informed practice.
- AI and emerging therapy resources: Learn how deliberate practice can be used to safely and ethically integrate AI for therapist trainingopens in new window. Review our AI research programopens in new window and our clinical guidelines on using AIopens in new window to prepare for the modern landscape of digital mental health.
