Deliberate Practice in Career Counseling

Deliberate practice exercises help trainees achieve competence in essential career counseling skills and apply them in a range of situations while honing their own personal style and language.

These exercises present role-playing scenarios in which two trainees act as a client and a counselor, switching back and forth under the guidance of a supervisor. The counselor improvises appropriate and authentic responses to client statements organized into three difficulty levels—beginner, intermediate, and advanced—that reflect common questions and concerns.

Each of the first 10 exercises focuses on a single skill, which include exploring your client's skills, values, decision-making style, and cultural influences; setting goals; and providing feedback on career assessments and analyzing their underlying themes. 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.

Series Preface
Tony Rousmaniere and Alexandre Vaz

Acknowledgments

Part I. Overview and Instructions

• Chapter 1. Introduction and Overview of Deliberate Practice and Career Counseling
• Chapter 2. Instructions for the Career Counseling Deliberate Practice Exercises

Part II. Deliberate Practice Exercises for Career Counseling Skills

Exercises for Beginner Career Counseling Skills

• Exercise 1. Exploring Your Client’s Skills
• Exercise 2. Exploring Your Client’s Values
• Exercise 3. Exploring Decision-Making Styles

Exercises for Intermediate Career Counseling Skills

• Exercise 4. Exploring Cultural and Familial Influences
• Exercise 5. Discussing the Benefits of Career Counseling
• Exercise 6. Setting Session Goals

Exercises for Advanced Career Counseling Skills

• Exercise 7. Feedback on Career Assessments
• Exercise 8. Exploring Underlying Themes in Assessments
• Exercise 9. Addressing Client Ambivalence and Skepticism
• Exercise 10. Assigning Homework in Career Counseling

Comprehensive Exercises

• Exercise 11. Annotated Career Counseling Practice Session Transcript
• Exercise 12. Mock Career Counseling Sessions

Part III. Strategies for Enhancing the Deliberate Practice Exercises

• Chapter 3. How to Get the Most Out of Deliberate Practice: Additional Guidance for Trainers and Trainees

Appendix A. Difficulty Assessments and Adjustments

Appendix B. Deliberate Practice Diary Form

Appendix C. Sample Career Counseling Syllabus With Embedded Deliberate Practice Exercises

References

Index

About the Authors

Jennifer M. Taylor, PhD, is senior director of the American Psychological Association’s Office of Continuing Education Sponsor Approval, former associate professor of counseling psychology at the University of Utah, and former assistant professor at West Virginia University. She has written and presented widely on education best practices and lifelong learning for professional psychologists. Her clinical work spans multiple university career counseling centers, a psychiatric hospital, and a counseling center for low-income women and children. Dr. Taylor received several teaching awards, including the University of Utah College of Education Early Career Teaching Award. She is passionate about social justice and advocacy.

Alexandre Vaz, PhD, is director of training at the Sentio Marriage and Family Therapy graduate program and Sentio Counseling Center. He has authored many books on deliberate practice and psychotherapy training and is coeditor of the book series The Essentials of Deliberate Practice (APA Books). Dr. Vaz has held multiple committee roles for the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI) and the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR). He is founder and host of “Psychotherapy Expert Talks,” an acclaimed interview series with distinguished psychotherapists and researchers.

Tony Rousmaniere, PsyD, is program director of the Sentio Marriage and Family Therapy graduate program, and executive director of the Sentio Counseling Center. He has authored many books on deliberate practice and psychotherapy training and is coeditor of the book series The Essentials of Deliberate Practice (APA Books). In 2017, Dr. Rousmaniere published the widely cited article in The Atlantic Monthly, “What Your Therapist Doesn’t Know.” Dr. Rousmaniere supports the open-data movement and publishes clinical outcome data at drtonyr.com. He is president of Division 29 of APA.