Deliberate practice exercises help students and trainees rehearse fundamental child and adolescent psychotherapy skills to develop basic competence and hone their own personal therapeutic style.
Each book in the Essentials of Deliberate Practice series contains customized exercises consisting 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. The trainee playing the therapist improvises appropriate and authentic responses to a series of client statements organized into three difficulty levels--beginner, intermediate, and advanced--that reflect common problems and concerns encountered by practitioners who work with children and adolescents.
The first 12 exercises each focus on a single skill, such as observing and elaborating on play, exploring identity through a multicultural orientation, and addressing difficult issues like safety concerns and sex. These are followed by two comprehensive exercises--an annotated transcript and free-form mock therapy sessions--in which trainees integrate these 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 and forms to help trainers and trainees get the most out of training are also provided.
Jordan Bate, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Psychology at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University. She teaches family and child psychotherapy courses, coleads the psychodynamic psychotherapy practicum, and runs the Attachment & Psychotherapy Process Research Lab. Her research centers on understanding therapeutic processes through attachment theory and on the effectiveness of clinical training, including deliberate practice. Dr. Bate is a trainer and supervisor in mentalization-based treatment for children (MBT-C) and President of Section 2 (Childhood and Adolescence) of APA Division 39 (Psychoanalysis). She maintains a private practice in Manhattan, New York working with patients across the lifespan.
Tracy A. Prout, PhD, is Associate Professor of Psychology at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University. She teaches evidence-based psychodynamic psychotherapy in the School-Clinical Child Combined Doctoral Program, supervises advanced graduate students in the psychodynamic psychotherapy practicum, and leads the psychodynamic psychotherapy lab at Ferkauf. Dr. Prout is principal investigator for several studies related to Regulation Focused Psychotherapy for Children (RFP-C) and supervises all graduate research assistants who work on these projects. Dr. Prout coleads IMPACT Psychological Services, an integrative, group private practice, with locations in Beacon and Mamaroneck, New York serving children, teens, families and adults.
Tony Rousmaniere, PsyD, is program director of the Sentio Marriage and Family Therapy graduate program, and executive director of the Sentio Counseling Center. He has authored many books on deliberate practice and psychotherapy training and is coeditor of the book series
The Essentials of Deliberate Practice(APA Books). In 2017, Dr. Rousmaniere published the widely cited article in
The Atlantic Monthly, "What Your Therapist Doesn't Know." Dr. Rousmaniere supports the open-data movement and publishes clinical outcome data at drtonyr.com. He is president of Division 29 of APA.
Alexandre Vaz, PhD, is director of training at the Sentio Marriage and Family Therapy graduate program and Sentio Counseling Center. He has authored many books on deliberate practice and psychotherapy training and is coeditor of the book series
The Essentials of Deliberate Practice (APA Books). Dr. Vaz has held multiple committee roles for the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI) and the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR). He is founder and host of "Psychotherapy Expert Talks," an acclaimed interview series with distinguished psychotherapists and researchers.
