Interpersonal skills training for experienced therapists
A waitlist-controlled trial found modest gains, largest in alliance skills, and smaller effects than in studies with trainees.
Bringing deliberate practice into university training
A German master's program built deliberate practice into its courses; students found it helpful and demanding.
Learning empathy: deliberate practice vs. didactic teaching
Novice students who trained empathy through deliberate practice improved; students taught didactically did not.
Practicing inner skills: a pilot with therapist trainees
A six-week deliberate practice program on inner skills showed mixed but encouraging results.
Does an eight-week practice course improve the alliance?
A pilot RCT with CBT therapists found no improvement in patient-rated alliance after a peer-feedback deliberate practice course.
Does time spent learning predict outcomes? A replication
In this replication, therapists' self-reported learning time was not related to their clients' outcomes.
Responding to resistance: deliberate practice vs. a traditional workshop
Community therapists who rehearsed responses to resistance, with feedback, outperformed peers from a didactic workshop.
Rolling with resistance: what clients said after the training
A follow-up analysis of client language found less resistant talk with therapists trained through deliberate practice.
Practicing immediacy with doctoral trainees
A multiple case study of deliberate practice for one of the hardest relational skills: talking about the here-and-now relationship.
Watch an expert, then practice: does it build interpersonal skill?
Seeing model responses and then rehearsing your own improved facilitative interpersonal skills with new simulated clients.
A brief workshop on alliance and interpersonal skills: RCT
Video simulations, role-play and deliberate practice improved the specific relational skills they targeted.
Can a whole agency help its therapists improve?
Seven years of data from an agency built around outcome monitoring and deliberate practice showed therapists improving over time.
What do the most effective therapists do differently?
Experience and credentials didn't predict client outcomes. Time spent deliberately working on skills did.
Can practice build in-session mindfulness and presence?
Inner-skills exercises increased trainees' in-session mindfulness; presence was harder to shift.
Facilitative interpersonal skills before and after training
Observer-rated interpersonal skills rose after deliberate practice training, and trainees noticed their own change.