Our Therapists are Always Improving

IN SHORT:

  • Some therapists get better outcomes than other therapists.

  • Experience doesn’t make therapists better; deliberate practice does (for example, 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.

MORE DETAILS:

Let’s say you want to learn to make a free throw. You will quickly know if you’re doing things right or wrong based on whether the ball goes in the hoop or not. By paying attention to what you do when it goes in, you will slowly get better. You’ll get better even faster if a coach is watching and can give you feedback about how to adjust your shot. 

Now, imagine that you want to learn to make a free throw, but you always keep your eyes shut so that you don’t even know if the ball goes into the hoop or not. And, there is no one watching to give you feedback about how to improve. In these conditions it is virtually impossible to get better at making free throws.

Unfortunately, doing therapy can be much like shooting free throws with your eyes shut. Typically, therapists do not get direct feedback about whether they have “made the shot” or not. Additionally, they don’t usually have a coach watching to give them feedback about how to improve. As a result, many therapists actually get worse outcomes as they get more experienced (and removed from their coaching and drilling they did in school). 

There is, however, a solution to this: deliberate practice. 

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:

Focus on Building One Skill at a Time

x

Get Expert Coaching and/or Feedback From Clients

=

Increased Clinical Expertise

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 Coaching” is to record our sessions for scoring and review by our supervisors. If you are comfortable consenting to let your therapist record your sessions, that helps your therapist improve. To authorize recording of your sessions, please complete the Consent to Record form.

Additionally, your therapist will always be asking for your feedback. Providing honest feedback to your therapist about how 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.