Deliberate Practice in Career Counseling

by Taylor, Jennifer M.; Vaz, Alexandre; Rousmaniere, Tony

• ISBN13: 9781433842887
• ISBN10: 1433842882
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2025-03-27
• Publisher: American Psychological Association

Summary

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.

Author Biography

Jennifer Taylor, PhD, a professor in educational psychology and training director of clinical mental health counseling at the University of Utah. including Career Counseling, Group Counseling, Ethics, and Core Practicum. Her clinical experience includes individual, couples, family, and group counseling. Her program at an underserved high school was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Taylor’s research focuses on professional competence and development; mentoring; continuous education; and related variables such as stress, self-care, multiculturalism, and social justice. She also teaches a distance learning course on eating disorders for the University of Florida.
 
Tony Rousmaniere, PsyD, is cofounder and program director of Sentio University. He provides workshops, webinars, and clinical training and supervision around the world. He is the author/coeditor of six books on deliberate practice and psychotherapy training and two book series: The Essentials of Deliberate Practice (APA Books) and Advanced Therapeutics, Clinical and Interpersonal Skills (Elsevier). In 2017, he 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 was awarded the Early Career Award by the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy.
 
Alexandre Vaz, PhD, is cofounder and chief academic officer of Sentio University. He provides deliberate practice workshops and clinical training and supervision around the world. Dr. Vaz is the author/coeditor of four books on deliberate practice and psychotherapy training and two book series: The Essentials of Deliberate Practice (APA Books) and Advanced Therapeutics, Clinical and Interpersonal Skills (Elsevier). He has held multiple committee roles for the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI) and the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR). Dr. Vaz is founder and host of “Psychotherapy Expert Talks,” an acclaimed interview series with distinguished psychotherapists and researchers.

Table of Contents

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
Exercise 2
Exercise 3
Exercise 4
Exercises for Intermediate Career Counseling Skills
Exercise 5
Exercise 6
Exercise 7
Exercise 8
Exercises for Advanced Career Counseling Skills
Exercise 9
Exercise 10
Exercise 11
Exercise 12
Comprehensive Exercises
Exercise 13. Annotated Career Counseling Session Transcripts
Exercise 14. Mock Career Counseling Sessions

Part III. Strategies for Enhancing the Deliberate Practice Exercises
Chapter 3. How to Get the Most Out of Deliberate Practice for Career Counseling: 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