Deliberate Practice in Emotion-Focused Therapy

This book presents deliberate practice exercises to help students, trainees, and clinicians practice fundamental skills in emotion-focused therapy (EFT) so that they can be prepared for common clinical encounters.

Deliberate practice is a rigorous training method that involves repeated behavioral rehearsal and simulation-based learning therapy techniques.

The exercises in this book consist of a series 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. Instructions guide all three participants through the application of specific EFT techniques and interpersonal skills, such as responding empathically to clients, building therapist self-awareness, and repairing relationship ruptures.

Sample client statements and therapist responses, organized by difficulty from beginner to advanced levels, highlight common therapeutic interactions. They also provide the opportunity for creative and natural responses that allow therapists to hone their own style and ensure more optimal outcomes for clients.

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.

Acknowledgements
Series Preface

Part I: Introduction

• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: About Emotion-Focused Therapy
• Chapter 3: Deliberate Practice for Psychotherapy
• Chapter 4: How to Use This Book

Part II: Deliberate Practice Exercises

• Exercise 1: Empathic Understanding
• Exercise 2: Therapist Self-Awareness
• Exercise 3: Empathic Affirmation/Validation
• Exercise 4: Exploratory Questions
• Exercise 5: Empathic Explorations
• Exercise 6: Empathic Evocations
• Exercise 7: Empathic Conjectures
• Exercise 8: Providing the Treatment Rationale for EFT
• Exercise 9: Self-Disclosure
• Exercise 10: Marker Recognition and Task Setup
• Exercise 11: Staying in Contact in the Face of Intense Affect
• Exercise 12: Rupture and Repairs
• Exercise 13: Annotated Transcript Session
• Exercise 14: Psychotherapy Mock Sessions

Part III: Guidance for Training

• Chapter 5: Guidance for Trainers
• Chapter 6: Guidance for Trainees
• Chapter 7: Sample Syllabus

Appendix A: DP Reaction Form
Appendix B: Distinguishing Between Empathic Responses
References
About the Authors
Index

Rhonda N. Goldman, PhD, is a professor at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and president of Emotion-Focused Therapy, Chicago. She also conducts training workshops internationally throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. She has authored or edited multiple books, including Clinical Handbook of Emotion-Focused Therapy (2019), Case Formulation in Emotion-Focused Therapy (2015), and Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy (2008), the latter two having companion videos with the same titles. She received the 2011 Carmi Harari Early Career Award from APA Division 32 (Society of Humanistic Psychology). Dr. Goldman is a founding board member of the International Society for Emotion-Focused Therapy.

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.

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.

This book is part of the Essentials of Deliberate Practice series by Tony Rousmaniere and Alexandre Vaz. The materials on this site include a Deliberate Practice Reaction Form that can be used with every book in this series, as well as volume-specific materials.

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, which is the same across all books in the series, 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)

Volume-specific materials

The materials presented below are unique to Deliberate Practice in Emotion-Focused Therapy. They include a guide for understanding different types of empathic responses, with examples, and a sample syllabus that integrates the deliberate practice exercises into a standard clinical course.

• Appendix B: Distinguishing Between Empathic Responses (PDFopens in new window | Wordopens in new window)
• Appendix C: Sample Emotion-Focused Therapy Syllabus With Embedded Deliberate Practice Exercises (PDFopens in new window | Wordopens in new window)

Video demonstration

A YouTube series (Practice Time! with Amy DeSmidt and Jamie Manseropens in new window) highlights authentic deliberate practice sessions featuring exercises from this book and other releases in the Essentials of Deliberate Practice series.

Additional resources

Video resources are available to accompany this book.opens 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.