Deliberate Practice in Multicultural Therapy

Deliberate practice exercises provide trainees and students opportunities to develop a more multicultural, intersectional approach to psychotherapy and hone their own personal therapeutic style. These exercises present role-playing scenarios in which two trainees actas a client and a clinician, switching back and forth under the guidance of a supervisor. The clinician improvises appropriate and authentic responsesto client statements organized into three difficulty levels-beginner, intermediate, and advanced-that reflect common client questions and concerns. Each of the first 2 exercises focuses on a single skill, such as developing cultural self-awareness and cultural humility, exploring cultural implications and explanations of clients amp rsquo concerns, responding to resistance, and repairing culturally based ruptures in the working alliance. A comprehensive mock therapy exercise follows in which these essential skills are brought together into a single multiculturaltherapy session. Step-by-step instructionsguide participants through the exercises, identify criteria for mastering each skill, andexplain how to monitorand adjust difficulty. Guidelines to helptrainers and trainees get the most out of training are also provided.