Practical Exercises for Mental Health Professionals

**Selected for 2026 Doody's Core Titles in Psychiatric**

While there are many books that describe the theories and research of clinical psychology and psychiatry, there are few resources that provide structured simulations for rehearsal and advancement of the critical skills mental health professionals need in the field. Advanced Therapeutics, Clinical and Interpersonal Skills series aims to fill that gap. Authored and edited by leading experts, each volume in the series focuses on one subfield within mental health, providing concise and practical exercises for professionals. Each volume is based on an empirically based pedagogy that is structured, incremental, and tightly focused on the essential skills mental health professionals must acquire to obtain licensure/registration and work effectively with mental health patients. Practical Exercises for Mental Health Professionals is volume one in the series, focusing on providing concise and practical exercises for clinicians of any theoretical orientation and clinical role. These exercises include repairing alliance ruptures, motivating patients to address barriers to change, suicidal behavior strategies and establishing boundaries and limits. Each of these exercises have been tested by leading experts and clinics in the field.

• Uses Deliberate Practice methodology to enhance clinical skill acquisition, which can be adapted for use by individuals, in supervision pairings, small peer learning groups, and/or in large group settings.
• Focuses on evidence based "common-factor" clinical communication skills that are proven to be related to improved therapeutic relationships and superior patient outcomes.
• Each skill exercise comes with multiple levels of difficulty to allow individuals to train at their unique growth edge based on their level of training and experience.

Jordan Bawks, MD, is a recent graduate of the University of Toronto Psychiatry Residency program, and now works as a general adult psychiatrist at Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington, Ontario. He is an Assistant Clinical Professor (Adjunct) at McMaster University in the department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, with a special interest in psychotherapy education and therapeutic communication. He is a post-academic Candidate at the Toronto Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis. During his psychiatric residency he was a core member of the PsychEd Podcast (psychedpodcast.org) and received several teaching awards, including the Resident Psychiatric Educator Award with the Association for Academic Psychiatry.

Shelley McMain, Ph.D., is the Head of the Borderline Personality Disorder Clinic and a Clinician Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Canada. She is the Director of the Psychotherapy, Humanities and Psychosocial Interventions Division and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto. She is the Past-President for the Society for Psychotherapy Research. She is currently the President of the transitional board of the World Federation of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. Dr. McMain has published more than 85 articles and book chapters in respected scientific journals including the American Journal of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic, Biological Psychiatry mainly on borderline personality disorder, dialectical behaviour therapy, emotion dysregulation, and predictors and mechanisms psychotherapy outcome. She has received several international awards for her psychotherapy research as well as various teaching awards.

Dr. Sonley MD is a lecturer and fulltime clinician teacher at the University of Toronto.

Tony Rousmaniere, PsyD, is President of Sentio University, which hosts the first online/hybrid MFT program in California approved by the BBS to integrate Deliberate Practice and AI methodology. Dr. Rousmaniere is a past president of APA Division 29 and the author/co-editor of numerous texts, including Elsevier’s Advanced Therapeutics series and the APA Essentials of Deliberate Practice series. Additionally, Dr. Rousmaniere is Executive Director at the Sentio Counseling Center, and leads Sentio’s BBS-approved supervisor training program for California clinicians.

Alexandre Vaz, PhD, is Chief Academic Officer of Sentio University, which provides an online/hybrid MFT program in California. This program is recognized as the first MFT training curriculum approved by the California BBS to systematically integrate Deliberate Practice and Artificial Intelligence into clinical education. Dr. Vaz is a leading expert in psychotherapy training and serves as the co-editor of Elsevier’s Advanced Therapeutics series and the APA Essentials of Deliberate Practice series. He provides academic oversight for university’s BBS-approved supervisor training program for licensed California clinicians.