Can you tell me what I’m supposed to do? A free deliberate practice resource

May 17, 2017 By scottdm 4 Comments

You’ve read the studies. Maybe you’ve even attended a training.

Deliberate practice is the key to improving your effectiveness as a psychotherapist. Top performing therapists devote twice as much time to the process. More, when employed purposefully and mindfully, the outcomes of average practitioners steadily rise over time.

But what exactly is a therapist supposed to practice in order to improve? It’s a question that comes up within minutes of introducing the subject at my workshops–one my colleagues, Daryl Chow, Sharon Lu, Geoffrey Tan, and I have been working on answering.

Just over three years ago, we published preliminary results of a study documenting the impact of individualized feedback and rehearsal on mastering difficult conversations in psychotherapy. Therapists not only improved their ability to respond empathically under especially challenging circumstances, but were able to generalize what they learned to new and different situations.

Now, the entire deliberate practice program has gone online. In light of the research, it’s been both expanded and refined. There’s no need to leave the comfort of your home or office and, best of all, it’s free.

Sign up to participate and you will learn what to practice as well as receive feedback specifically tailored to your professional development. You will also be helping the field as the program is part of a research study on deliberate practice.

****UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!****

Response to the above post has been overwhelming! Despite the size of the study, all of the available spots filled within 45 minutes. I’ve been corresponding with the chief researcher, Daryl Chow, Ph.D.. He tells me 15 more spots have just been added. If you want to participate, click here. The password is: DCT. If all of the spots are taken, please add your name to the wait list.

One more opportunity: join me in Chicago for the upcoming two-day intensive on deliberate practice. For more information or to register, click on the icon below my name. As with the online program, we are nearly full, so register today.

Until next time,

Scott

Scott D. Miller, Ph.D.
Director, International Center for Clinical Excellence

Would you rather . . . be approved or improved?

February 5, 2017 By scottdm 6 Comments

Some time ago, my son had a minor obsession. Whether at the dinner table, in the car, or out for a walk, he was constantly peppering us with, “would you rather” questions? You know the ones I mean, where you are forced to choose between two equally bizarre or unpleasant alternatives?

“Would you rather always have to say everything that is on your mind or never be able to speak again?”

“Would you rather have the hiccoughs the rest of your life or always feel like you have to sneeze but not be able to?”

And finally:

“Would you rather smell like poop and not know it or know you smell like poop but others can’t smell it?”

Fast forward to today.

I was re-reading some recent research on the use of deliberate practice (DP) for improving individual clinician effectiveness. As I’ve blogged about previously, one of the four crucial components of DP is feedback. Not just any kind of mind you, but negative feedback–in particular, immediate, ongoing information regarding one’s errors and mistakes.

Put bluntly, receiving negative feedback is hard on the ego. Despite what we may say or believe, a mountain of literature documents we all possess a strong need for social approval as well as a bias toward attributing positive traits to ourselves.

The same research shows that, beyond selective recall and well-known biases associated with self-assessment, we actively work to limit information that conflicts with how we prefer to see ourselves (e.g., capable versus incompetent, perceptive versus obtuse, intuitive versus plodding, effective versus ineffective, etc.).

As a brief example of just how insidious ours efforts can be, consider an email sent out by the customer service department at a Honda dealership in Richmond, Virginia.

“As you may know,” it began, “we have a wide range of services performed here at our location and strive to do the best we can to accomodate each and everyone of our customers.” A request for feedback followed, “There may be times we can not meet the needs and we would appreciate any feedback . . . for our company.”

So far so good. The company was on the way to showing its customers that it cared. It had sent a follow-up email. It thanked its customers. Most importantly, it invited them to provide the type of feedback necessary for improving service in the future.

The correspondence then ended, telling the recipient they would soon receive a survey which, “If you enjoyed or were satisfied with your recent visit and provide a 100% score you will receive a FREE oil change.”

Amazing, eh? Thanks to my long-time colleague and friend, Arnold Woodruff, for noticing the irony in the email and passing it on to me.

For whatever reason, on reading it, one of those “would you rather” questions immediately came to my mind:

“Would you rather be approved or improved?”

No waffling now. There is no in-between. I can hear my son saying, “you have to choose!”

Why not join me and colleagues from around the world who are “choosing to improve” for our two-day intensive on deliberate practice. Together with Dr. Tony Rousmaniere–the author of the new book Deliberate Practice for Psychotherapists—you’ll learn the latest, evidence-based strategies for improving your effectiveness. Register today, by clicking here, or on the image below.

Until next time,

Scott D. Miller, Ph.D.
International Center for Clinical Effectiveness

“I can’t let others know…”: Shame as a Barrier to Professional Development

January 21, 2017 By scottdm 12 Comments

Shame (noun \ˈshām\): Consciousness of shortcoming, guilt, or impropriety.

Turns out, for many therapists, this powerful and painful emotion is a significant barrier to professional development.

Doing psychotherapy is challenging in the best of circumstances. As many as 25% of clients drop out before experiencing a measureable improvement in their functioning. Of those who do continue, between 40 to 50% will end no different than when they started. And finally, 8 to 10% deteriorate while in care.

Faced with the realities of clinical practice, it’s easy for practitioners to feel they are forever falling short of their own and others hopes and expectations. Some respond with self-serving resignation: “It’s just not possible to help some people.” Others, research indicates, deceive themselves, either seeing progress where there is none or overestimating their effectiveness. Most, it is clear, struggle with the deep sense of responsibility they have assumed for relieving mental and emotional suffering.

As just one example, consider psychologist Tony Rousmaniere. Early on in his career, Tony started using a couple of simple tools to track the quality and outcome of his work. The data he gathered shook him to the core, “I was helping far fewer people than I’d thought–50% fewer!” And while his results were no different than the outcome of most, he recalls instantly thinking, “I can’t let anyone know this!”

“If you want to improve,” Tony says, “You have to embrace the facts. It’s not about humiliation, but rather humility. Simply put, we are not as effective as we think we are. Even the most effective among us, fail about a third of the time. But, in those failures lies the key to success.”

In his new book, Deliberate Practice for Therapists, Tony describes, in deeply personal and moving terms, his efforts to become a more effective therapist. He draws on the latest research on expertise and expert performance, providing a blueprint all clinicians can use to improve and fine-tune their performance via deliberate practice.

Earlier this month, I interviewed Tony about his journey and the new book. His honesty, transparency, and sage advice are inspiring. You’ll find the video below.

In the meantime, get hands on experience with deliberate practice this summer by signing up for the FIT Professional Development Intensive. For more information or to register, simply click the icon under my name. Hope to see you there!

Until then, best wishes,

Scott

Director, The International Center for Clinical Excellence