Deliberate Practice Psych

Sometimes we can forget that we are not just Psychologists – we are also scientists. I have seen psychologists hold off from trying their own new ideas in therapy, because their idea is not part of the established tried and true – which is a hallmark of that natural human desire to stay in safety.…

In this post I’m going to talk about some reflections I’ve had on giving client’s more control of their therapy. I’ll also share 3 scenarios on how I have changed my therapy approach to better align with my client’s needs and wants. Lately I’ve been compelled by a realisation that giving clients control of their…

This post is going to be all about my reflections and ideas about how to get a DP system going without a coach. Yes I decided to switch it up, I’ll still write about the history of DP in therapy eventually, but it wasn’t tickling my passion bone for now. Before I start however, I…

I’m at the begin of a new transition. I’ve decided that my Deliberate Practice coaching session with Nathan Castle today will be my last, at least for the time being. I concluded that I want to spend more time to master unhooking from my ‘fix it mode’, as was the focus in my previous post.…

I have taken some time to reflect on my journey in tackling hesitation when it appears in my therapy room. I first thought back to how it all started – the lightbulb moment where I realised I respond to client’s feeling stuck by going into this over-reassuring fix it mode. I then reflected on my…

Pooh: What is love?Piglet: You don’t spell it. You feel it. Winnie-the-pooh Hello everyone – how are you? I am well. I’m here for another instalment of where I’m at in my deliberate practice (DP) journey. I’ve had a fairly encouraging sense of progress in my efforts to create more emotional engagement with clients. If…

We did it! My wife and I finally managed to get married on the 25th of March. Third time lucky! It was an amazing day and finally I get to be marred to the woman I love. I’m sure some of you are thinking of getting us a wedding gift, my wife and I like…

You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes. Winnie-the-pooh I want to start by sharing with you an “aha!” moment I had about a week ago. I’ve been doing Scott Miller and Daryl Chow’s online workshop in Deliberate Practice (DP). I…

“He was telling an interesting anecdote full of exciting words like ‘encyclopedia’ and ‘rhododendron.’” Winnie-the-pooh It’s been a really busy time with my partner and I tackling the final stages of our wedding preparations – with our wedding in late march. Most of my spare time has focused on the wedding and life in general…

“Let’s Play Ball!” Tigger What I’ve managed to do since my last post Before starting this post I ran through my previous blog entries. It looks like the last four posts have focused on over-explaining (OE) and intellectualisation (Intel) in my therapy. I’ll then call this Part 5 of the series looking at OE and…

“Aha!” said Pooh, practising. “Aha! Aha!…Of course,” he went on, “we could say ‘Aha!’ even if we hadn’t stolen Baby Roo.” WINNIE-THE-POOH What I’ve realised over the last couple of weeks A client had an ‘aha!’ moment this week! In fact, three clients had an ‘aha!’ moment in our sessions. I am over the moon…

“You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.” WINNIE-THE-POOH What I’ve realised over the last couple of weeks My partner and I had a great time away over the Christmas break – I didn’t think about work much at all and…

“Life is a journey to be experienced not a problem to be solved.” WINNIE-THE-POOH What I’ve realised over the last couple of weeks I don’t know about you, but Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) was the bedrock and focus of what I was taught at university in my training to become a Psychologist. I was taught that…

What I’ve realised over the last couple of weeks It’s funny – I’ve realised that when I’m working on something new to improve as a therapist, my initial attempts of improvement start out with a lot of structure and detail, then after experimenting and feedback from others (e.g. my partner, Nathan, colleagues or clients) my…