This deliberate practice exercises in this concise clinical training manual give trainees an effective method for building competence in the common factors all therapists must master, while also developing skills fundamental to emotion-focused therapy (EFT).
Each exercise consists of role-playing scenarios that reflect problems and concerns commonly encountered by EFT practitioners. They are flexibly designed so trainees at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels benefit from careful supervision and guidance, gain insight without actually being in front of clients, and hone their personal therapeutic style.
Each of the first 12 exercises focuses on a single skill, such as responding empathically to clients or building therapist self-awareness. Two comprehensive exercises follow in which trainees integrate these essential skills into a single EFT 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 to help trainers and trainees get the most out of training are also provided.
This book is accompanied by a companion website that features downloadable versions of the book's appendixes, including a deliberate practice reaction form, a guide for distinguishing between different types of empathic responses, and a sample syllabus: http://pubs.apa.org/books/supp/deliberate-practice.
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.
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 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.
