The idea that improvement in a given skill or performance domain depends on practice is hardly new.  Indeed, references to enhancing a person’s abilities through focused concentration and effort date back more than two millennia (). Though the term, deliberate practice, includes the word, “practice,” it is altogether different.  The ...
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Therapists want to improve.   In the largest, most comprehensive survey conducted to date, 86% of clinicians reported being “highly motivated” to transcend their current level of performance (). No wonder the arrival of deliberate practice on the professional scene has attracted so much interest.   Always hungry for guidance and direction ...
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Type the words, "Old habits ..." into Google, and the search engine quickly adds, "die hard" and "are hard to break."  When I did it just now, these were followed by two song titles -- one by Hank Williams Jr., the other by Mick Jagger -- both dealing with letting go ...
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Being a mental health professional is a lot like being a parent. Please read that last statement carefully before drawing any conclusions! I did not say mental health services are similar to parenting.  Rather, despite their best efforts, therapists, like parents, routinely feel they fall short of their hopes and ...
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Deliberate Practice is hot.  Judging from the rising number of research studies, workshops, and social media posts, it hard to believe the term did not appear in the psychotherapy literature until . The interest is understandable.  Among the various approaches to professional development -- supervision, continuing education, personal therapy -- the ...
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"We don't do 'treatment,' can we use FIT?" It's a question that comes up with increasing frequency as use of the Outcome and Session Rating Scales in the helping professions spreads around the globe and across diverse service settings. When I answer an unequivocal, "yes," the asker often responds as ...
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When it comes to professional development, we therapists are remarkably consistent in opinion about what matters.  Regardless of experience level, theoretical preference, professional discipline, or gender identity, large, longitudinal studies show "learning from clients" is considered the most important and influential contributor (, ).  Said another way, we believe clinical ...
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Amateurs have goals.  Experts have a system. Bold statements to be sure, both supported by research on deliberate practice -- the one activity documented to improve clinicians' therapeutic effectiveness. Much is made in the self-improvement and therapy literature about the importance of setting goals.  Unless you've been hiding under a ...
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I have a guilty confession to make.  I really like Kitchen Nightmares.  Even though the show finished its run six L O N G years ago, I still watch it in re-runs.  The concept was simple.  Send one of the world's best known chefs to save a failing restaurant. Each week a ...
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Criticizing umpires is as much a part of watching baseball as eating hotdogs and wearing team jerseys on game day.  The insults are legion, whole websites are dedicated to cataloging them: "Open your eyes!" "Wake up, you are missing a great game!" "Your glasses fogged up?" "Have you tried eating ...
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Take a look at the graphic to the left.  It shows the use of the Outcome and Session Rating Scales (ORS & SRS) from the beginning of this year to the present by users of one of the three , authorized FIT software programs. What do you see? A couple of ...
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It's rarely good news when the phone rings in the wee hours of the morning.  This time, it was a colleague calling to let me know that Rich Simon -- the founder and editor of the Psychotherapy Networker and long time friend -- had died. To say the news came as ...
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Eighty three million, six hundred fifty thousand, thirty seven. Can you guess what this number represents? No, its not the net worth of the latest tech millionaire.  Neither is it the budget of a soon-to-be released Hollywood blockbuster. Guess again. Give up? It's the number of adults in the U.S ...
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Here's an interesting dilemma.   In December 1799, three physicians were summoned to the Mount Vernon estate to treat the former first president of the United States for a sore throat.  The accepted therapy of the day was administered skillfully and competently multiple times.  Several hours later, the president was dead.  Historians agree ...
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I remember exactly where I was on April 4th, 1968 -- in a pool doing laps.  I was a junior member of my hometown's swim team.   I'd barely started when the coach blew his whistle calling the practice to an abrupt halt.  As we toweled off, he told us something ...
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Bad therapy. Are you guilty of it?  A quick internet search turned up only 15 books on the subject.  It's strange, especially when you consider that between 5 and 10% of clients are actually worse off following treatment and an additional 35-40% experience no benefit whatsoever!  (Yep, that's nearly 50%) And what ...
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