Wow! eBook
Deliberate Practice in Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy
Author(s): Hanna Levenson PhD (Author), Sam Jinich (Author), Alexandre Vaz (Author), Tony Rousmaniere PhD (Author)
- Publisher: American Psychological Association
- Publication Date: February 25, 2025
- Edition: 1st
- Language: English
- Print length: 292 pages
- ISBN-10: 1433842963
- ISBN-13: 9781433842962
Book Description
Deliberate practice exercises provide trainees and students an opportunity to build competence in essential emotionally focused couple therapy (EFCT) 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 12 exercises focuses on a single skill, such as offering evocative inquiries and reflections, deepening the client’s emotional experience of self and other, and choreographing interactions that promote positive emotional engagement. 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.
To demonstrate how deliberate practice can be fully integrated into a professional curriculum, this series features exercises developed and refined within the clinical training curriculum at the Sentio online/hybrid marriage and family therapy (MFT) therapist training program in California, which is where we started developing this series. These exercises, which have been tested at clinical training sites around the world, are used to enhance clinical outcomes within the first hybrid MFT program approved by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences to fully integrate deliberate practice into its entire curriculum. By integrating these models into its hybrid MFT program in California, Sentio University demonstrates that therapist training graduate programs can use deliberate practice to bridge the gap between theory and clinical mastery through repetitive, feedback-informed practice to support the development of modern, outcome-focused clinicians.
Editorial Reviews
Review
A highlight in this groundbreaking series,
Deliberate Practice in Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy is sure to become essential reading for those learning about or active in the practice of this therapy. Brilliantly structured around well-chosen exercises, the reader is helped not only to understand this approach but also with very specific ways on how to build competence with each of its fundamental methods. — Jay Lebow, PhD, Clinical Professor and Senior Scholar, The Family Institute at Northwestern and Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States Deliberate Practice in Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy powerfully illustrates and wisely guides a reader through the challenges and opportunities awaiting clinicians seeking to master this time-tested model of relationship change. The authors transform learning into practical confidence and curiosity into clinical competence. — James L. Furrow, PhD, Couples and Family Therapy Program, Seattle University, Seattle, WA, United StatesThe focused specificity of the exercises in this book breaks down the therapeutic process into manageable micro moves and in the process empowers therapists to progress from confusion to competency and confidence. — George Faller, MS, LMFT, EFT Trainer, Founder of New York Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy, New York, NY, United States
Whether you are new to the emotionally focused therapy approach to working with distressed dyads or an experienced clinician or mentor, this book is an excellent resource! An evidence-based approach to learning and mastery, this volume offers both a theoretical and scientific overview of the model and a step-by-step approach to not only skill development but also, as the authors aptly describe, the sweet spot for deliberate practice, the balance between procedural and declarative knowledge—art and science, method and map, fluidity and clarity. This book will sharpen the skills of any therapist and is a brilliant companion to anyone teaching the model! — T. Leanne Campbell, PhD, ICEEFT Certified Trainer in EFT; coauthor with Dr. Sue Johnson of “A Primer for Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT): Cultivating Fitness and Growth in Every Client”; and coauthor of “Becoming an Emotionally Focused Therapist: The Workbook”
About the Author
Hanna Levenson, PhD, is professor emerita at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, California. She also maintains a private practice in Oakland where she sees individuals and couples for therapy and professionals for consultation/supervision. Dr. Levenson has specialized in brief dynamic therapy and supervision for over 40 years. She has authored over 85 professional papers and multiple books, including Deliberate Practice in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and Deliberate Practice in Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy, and has released five professional videos with APA illustrating her approaches. Dr. Levenson received the Distinguished Contribution to Psychology as a Profession Award given by the California Psychological Association.
Sam Jinich, PhD, is a certified trainer in emotionally focused couples therapy (EFCT). He specializes in clinical practice with couples from diverse backgrounds. He is founder and director of the San Francisco Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy and cofounder of EFT Academia in Argentina. As a bilingual and bicultural trainer, Dr. Jinich has been responsible for establishing EFCT in Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Brazil, Chile, and Spain through mentoring and supervising practitioners, supervisors, and trainers. He was involved in the first-ever multinational randomized clinical-trial research study in Spanish on the effectiveness of general couples therapy and EFCT.
Alexandre Vaz, PhD, is chief academic officer of Sentio University marriage and family therapy (MFT) program in California. This innovative online/hybrid California MFT degree was the first approved by the California Board of Behavioral Science for MFT licensure to fully integrate deliberate practice into its curriculum to ensure superior clinical outcomes. He is also director of clinical training for the Sentio Counseling Center, which is Sentio MFT program’s guaranteed practicum site where students provide low-cost online couples therapy in California. Dr. Vaz is the author/coeditor of many books on deliberate practice and psychotherapy training.
Tony Rousmaniere, PsyD, is president of Sentio University marriage and family therapy (MFT) program in California. He led the development of the online/hybrid MFT program, which is the first MFT therapist training program approved by the California Board of Behavioral Science for MFT licensure that fully integrates deliberate practice. Dr. Rousmaniere is the author/coeditor of many books on psychotherapy training. He is also the executive director of the Sentio Counseling Center, which is Sentio MFT program’s guaranteed practicum site where students provide sliding-scale online therapy in California, and past president of the American Psychological Association’s Division 29.
