Deliberate Practice in Interpersonal Psychotherapy

Deliberate practice exercises provide trainees and students an opportunity to build competence in essential interpersonal therapy skills while developing their own personal therapeutic style. These exercises present role-playing scenarios in which two trainees act as a client and a clinician, switching back and forth under the guidance of a supervisor. The clinician improvises appropriate and authentic responses to client statements organized into three difficulty levels-beginner, intermediate, and advanced-that reflect common client questions and concerns.