Deliberate practice exercises allow students and trainees to rehearse foundational schema therapy skills so that they can build competence and hone their own personal therapeutic styles.
Each book in the Essentials of Deliberate Practice series contains customized role-playing exercises in which two trainees act as a client and a therapist, switching back and forth under a supervisor's guidance. The trainee playing the therapist improvises appropriate and authentic responses to client statements organized into three difficulty levels—beginner, intermediate, and advanced—reflecting common issues encountered by schema therapists.
The first 12 exercises focus on skills derived from schema therapy’s three stages—bonding and emotional regulation, mode change, and autonomy—and include limited reparenting, psychoeducation about schema modes, and empathic confrontation. Following these are two comprehensive exercises—an annotated transcript and free-form mock therapy sessions—in which trainees integrate 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 to help trainers and trainees get the most out of training are also provided.
Wendy T. Behary, MSW, LCSW, is the founder and director of The Cognitive Therapy Center of New Jersey and The Schema Therapy Institutes of NJ-NYC-DC. She was also the President of the International Society of Schema Therapy (ISST) from 2010–2014. She is the author of Disarming the Narcissist: Surviving and Thriving with the Self-Absorbed (New Harbinger Publications). She has been treating narcissist clients, their partners and associates, and couples experiencing relationship problems; training professionals; and supervising psychotherapists for over 20 years. She lectures internationally to professional and general audiences on schema therapy and on narcissism and relationships.
Joan M. Farrell, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and Adjunct Professor of Psychology and Research Director of the Center for Borderline Personality Disorder Treatment and Research at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. She directs the Schema Therapy Institute Midwest―Indianapolis. She has been training psychologists and psychotherapists internationally for 40 years. She developed a group model of schema therapy with Ida Shaw, and they wrote two books on this model for borderline and other personality disorders (Wiley Blackwell). Their latest book is Experiencing Schema Therapy From the Inside-Out: A Self-Practice/Self-Reflection Workbook for Therapists (Guilford Press). Visit https://www.schematherapy-training.com/.
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.
