Deliberate Practice in Interpersonal Psychotherapy

Deliberate practice exercises provide trainees and students an opportunity to build competence in essential interpersonal therapy skills while developing their own personal therapeutic style.

These exercises present role-playing scenarios in which two trainees act as a client and a clinician, switching back and forth under the guidance of a supervisor. The clinician improvises appropriate and authentic responses to client statements organized into three difficulty levels--beginner, intermediate, and advanced--that reflect common client questions and concerns.

Each of the first 10 exercises focuses on a single skill, including developing an interpersonal inventory of patients’ relationships, building social skills, and helping patients connect with their own thoughts and emotions and empathize with others. Two comprehensive exercises follow 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 to help trainers and trainees get the most out of training are also provided.

Olga Belik, PhD, is chief psychologist and director of training at Child & Family Development Center in Providence Saint John’s Health Center. She is also the national trainer and supervisor with the Interpersonal Psychotherapy Institute with a private practice in forensic psychology. She was chair of the California Psychological Association’s Division II: Training and Education in Professional Psychology. She earned an award for Distinguished Contributions to the Education and Training of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Psychologists from the American Psychological Association’s Board of Educational Affairs.

Scott Fairhurst, PhD, is the vice president of Outcomes, Training, and Special Projects at Pacific Clinics, a community mental health center in Southern California. As a clinician and program director for over 25 years, his work primarily focuses on children and adolescents with explosive behavior. Dr. Fairhurst has worked with clients in hospitals, residential treatment, and clinics. He promotes value-based care and democratizing clinical data so that clients, executives, clinicians, and supervisors can measure and manage what they consider to be important. He also offers training in de-escalation of suicidal thoughts and behaviors and conflict resolution.

Jessica M. Schultz, PhD, is associate dean of enrichment and associate professor of psychology at Augustana College. She teaches courses such as child psychopathology, abnormal psychology, and childhood in the developing world. Dr. Schultz’s research focuses on posttraumatic growth; the processes by which people forgive others; and the effectiveness of training programs for empirically supported psychological treatments, including interpersonal psychotherapy. She is also cochair of the Faculty at Four-Year Colleges Special Interest Group and vice president of the River Bend Psychological Association.

Scott Stuart, MD, is emeritus professor of psychiatry and psychology in the Departments of Psychiatry, Psychology, Pediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Iowa. He is also director of the Interpersonal Psychotherapy Institute, an international training organization, and an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles. He has received several teaching awards, including the John Clancy Teacher of the Year Award from the University of Iowa. Dr. Stuart is also the author of the Interpersonal Psychotherapy: A Clinician’s Guide.

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.

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.