Deliberate Practice in Systemic Family Therapy

Deliberate practice exercises allow students and trainees to rehearse  systemic family therapy (SFT) skills to develop basic competence and  hone their own personal therapeutic style.

In these exercises,  two or more trainees role-play couples or family therapy sessions with  one trainee acting as the therapist and the others acting as clients,  rotating through these roles under a supervisor’s guidance. The trainee  playing the therapist improvises appropriate and authentic responses to  client statements organized into three difficulty levels—beginner,  intermediate, and advanced—that reflect common problems and concerns  encountered by SFT practitioners.
 
The first 12 exercises each  focus on a single skill, such as building a therapeutic alliance,  deescalating conflicts, establishing rules and boundaries, and  addressing diversity issues. 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 SFT  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.