Practicing inner skills: a pilot with therapist trainees

The study: A mixed-methods pilot with seven therapist trainees and a six-week deliberate practice intervention targeting intrapersonal skills, using weekly measures and interviews.

What they found: Three of the seven trainees showed a significant positive effect, and most changed in the expected direction on mindful attention, experiential avoidance, emotional processing and self-compassion. Trainees described more self-awareness, more tolerance of difficult feelings and a better ability to use their own experience to understand clients.

Why it matters for practice: Deliberate practice isn't only for what we say to clients. It may also help with what happens inside us during sessions. A small pilot, so results are preliminary.

Olsson, M., Gustafsson, M., Carlsson, J., Rousmaniere, T., Bergbom, S., & Norberg, J. (2025). A pilot study of a deliberate practice intervention for therapist trainees. Nordic Psychology, 77(2), 165–184. https://doi.org/10.1080/19012276.2024.2313532