Deliberate Practice in Counseling Psychology

Deliberate practice exercises help counselors develop competence with fundamental skills through repeated rehearsal.

These exercises present role-playing scenarios in which two trainees act as a client and a counselor, switching back and forth under the guidance of a supervisor. The counselor improvises appropriate and authentic responses to client statements organized into three difficulty levels-beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

The first 10 exercises review broadly applicable clinical skills, such as reflecting and validating client emotions and experiences, advanced empathy, exploring both sides of a client's internal conflict, deepening their emotional awareness and expression, and managing the counseling relationship by inviting client feedback and repairing ruptures. Two comprehensive exercises follow in which trainees integrate these skills into a transcribed session and mock counseling sessions.

Step-by-step instructions guide participants through the exercises, identify criteria for mastering the skills, and explain how to monitor and adjust difficulty. Guidelines to help trainers and trainees get the most out of training are also provided.

To demonstrate how deliberate practice can be fully integrated into a professional curriculum, this series features exercises developed and refined within the clinical training curriculum at the Sentio online/hybrid marriage and family therapy (MFT) therapist training program 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 Sciences 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 Counseling Skills
• Chapter 2. Instructions for the Counseling Skills Deliberate Practice Exercises

Part II. Deliberate Practice Exercises for Counseling Skills

Exercises for Beginner Counseling Skills

• Exercise 1. Reflecting Feelings and Meaning
• Exercise 2. Advanced Empathy
• Exercise 3. Open Questions
• Exercise 4. Validating Client Experiences

Exercises for Intermediate Counseling Skills

• Exercise 5. Exploring Ambivalence About Change
• Exercise 6. Deepening Emotional Awareness and Expression
• Exercise 7. Exploring Emotional Avoidance and Coping Strategies
• Exercise 8. Exploring Goals and Options for Change

Exercises for Advanced Counseling Skills

• Exercise 9. Inviting and Using Client Feedback
• Exercise 10. Repairing Ruptures in the Counseling Relationship

Comprehensive Exercises

• Exercise 11. Annotated Counseling Skills Practice Session Transcript
• Exercise 12. Mock Counseling Skills Sessions

Part III. Strategies for Enhancing the Deliberate Practice Exercises 

• Chapter 3. How to Get the Most Out of Deliberate Practice: Additional Guidance for Trainers and Trainees

Appendix A. Difficulty Assessments and Adjustments

Appendix B. Deliberate Practice Diary Form

Appendix C. Sample Counseling Skills Syllabus With Embedded Deliberate Practice Exercises

References

Index

About the Authors

Alexandre Vaz, PhD, is chief academic officer of Sentio University marriage and family therapy (MFT) program in California. This innovative online/hybrid California MFT degree was the first approved by the California Board of Behavioral Science for MFT licensure to fully integrate deliberate practice into its curriculum to ensure superior clinical outcomes. He is also director of clinical training for the Sentio Counseling Center, which is Sentio MFT program's guaranteed practicum site where students provide low-cost online couples therapy in California. Dr. Vaz is the author/coeditor of many books on deliberate practice and psychotherapy training.

Tony Rousmaniere, PsyD, is president of Sentio University marriage and family therapy (MFT) program in California. He led the development of the online/hybrid MFT program, which is the first MFT therapist training program approved by the California Board of Behavioral Science for MFT licensure that fully integrates deliberate practice. Dr. Rousmaniere is the author/coeditor of many books on psychotherapy training. He is also the executive director of the Sentio Counseling Center, which is Sentio MFT program's guaranteed practicum site where students provide sliding-scale online therapy in California, and past president of the American Psychological Association's Division 29.