KEY POINTS:

• Some therapists get better outcomes than others

• Experience doesn’t make therapists better; deliberate practice does (an intern who does deliberate practice can have better outcomes than a veteran who does not)

• OCC therapists all engage in deliberate practice

• You can help by allowing us to record your sessions and/or filling out post session surveys

DETAILED DESCRIPTION:

At Oregon City Counseling one of our values is being amazing therapists who are always improving and becoming more amazing. This is critical. Experience does not necessarily make someone a better therapist. In fact, research shows that new therapists can be as likely as experienced therapists to get desired treatment outcomes. (The good news of this is that you can expect good outcomes from interns and associate therapists at OCC; keep reading to find out why.) 

An experienced basketball player will get better outcomes because they get immediate feedback about whether what they did was successful or not (i.e. did the ball go in the hoop). And, if they have a good coach, they’ll get even better more quickly as the coach can provide feedback about what to change so that the ball goes into the hoop more often. 

Therapists do not normally get this level of feedback. A coach isn’t watching the therapy session to give feedback and therapists don’t often know if what they’re doing is making a difference or not. But, they can get this feedback! And, there is research that shows how to do it. 

In their book, Effective Psychotherapists, William Miller (co-creator of Motivational Interviewing) and Theresa Moyers detail the traits that science shows the best therapists have. They then tell therapists what to do to build these traits in themselves. Therapists who do deliberate practice, in the way they describe, “distinguishes clinicians with the best client outcomes from those with the worst.” (p. 127). 

They have a simple formula for this deliberate practice:

At Oregon City Counseling, all of our clinicians (from the newest students to the most seasoned veterans) continually do this form of deliberate practice. Every week we are working on building specific therapeutic skills. And, we always seek feedback on these efforts. 

And, this is where you can help. One of the best ways for us to “Get Expert Feedback” is to record our sessions for scoring and review by our supervisor. If you are comfortable consenting to let your therapist record your sessions, that helps your therapist improve. 

Additionally, your therapist will always be asking for your feedback. Providing honest feedback to your therapist about what they are doing will help them know what they need to improve. And, be honest about whether your work with your therapist is improving your symptoms or not. Essentially, tell them if the ball is going in the hoop or not. If you don’t tell us, we don’t know. 

One quick and easy way to give your therapist feedback is by filling out the Session Rating Scale.