This post was originally published on August 2, 2016 and was updated May 21, 2019.

Building therapy skills is an ever-present need that requires ongoing effort, for most therapists. The problem is, there is an unlimited amount of things to learn and a very limited amount of time. This means that you must be proactive and specific about building your therapy skills, in order to get the most from your investment.

Below, I review five quick and easy ways to build your therapy skills without having to buy products, attend trainings, or spend a ton of time or money.

1 | Videotape a therapy session, and view it

There are a host of reasons why we therapists avoid videotaping our sessions: Watching ourselves is awkward, we don’t want to be judged by our colleagues or supervisors (or ourselves!), and we’re afraid we’ll offend our clients by asking for consent, among others. But the truth is, the benefits of videotaping far outway the risks, and they are worth our discomfort.

Why Videotape?

Videotaping helps you identify how you work; it is a simple way to notice your therapeutic tendencies, approaches, language (verbal and nonverbal), strengths, and growth areas. As a result, it will help you set specific goals for improvement.

2 | Transcribe a portion of a therapy session

Transcription has the function of stripping the session to only the verbal communication. This is helpful, because it allows you to evaluate the interactional process of the therapeutic conversation. In other words, it helps you pinpoint how a thought led to a response, and/or how a client’s comment influenced your subsequent engagement.

With a transcript, you are able to target therapeutic content for the purpose of analysis. Useful content to analyze includes: a) the theoretical foundation of an intervention, b) your clinical reasoning, c) how effective your language was in eliciting the desired information, and d) your success at implementing a new skill. Additionally, transcripts will naturally invite you to reflect on your clinical work--to consider what went well and what you would do differently.

3 | Set a skills goal for a therapy session, or a period of time

Skills do not develop with client contact. They develop with intentional practice. Setting a simple goal for a session will allow for this type of practice and lead to significant skills-building over time. Some examples of simple skills goals include to:

deliver a traditional Solution-Focused miracle question in every session, for one week
complete a genogram assessment interview with a new client
practice interrupting a talkative client or arguing couple
offer a paradoxical intervention (for more information on paradoxical interventions, see the references at the end of this post)

Of course, your goals will be based on what you’d like to master, or begin attempting, at your stage of therapy development.

4 | Work with a clinical supervisor, even if you’re licensed

There is likely someone who knows more than you about the topic in which you seek expertise. Your goal may be to develop skills in private practice building, a specific theory, crisis intervention, clinical supervision, or others. Clinical supervisors are invaluable for nurturing continued professional development.

If you’re licensed, a formal or informal agreement with a supervisor that you admire and trust is a strong motivator for seeking consultation regularly, or when needed. This type of agreement will also prevent you from isolation during an unexpected ethical dilemma, or therapy crisis. (If you’re not yet licensed, see these tips for choosing a clinical supervisor.)

5 | Choose one learning goal at a time

Because there are so many wonderful learning opportunities in the therapy field, it’s common for therapists to complete several post-graduate certifications and consistently add to their “books to read” list. Continued learning is great! In fact, it is required. However, in order for learning to serve you and your skills, rather than detract from skills-building, it must be specific and goal-oriented. Otherwise, the valuable information contained in trainings and books will offer a way for you to spend your time and money, but it will not transfer to skills-building. In order for information to transfer, you need a structured plan for implementing specific information.

How Do I Choose One Goal At a Time?

Option 1: Make a list of the main trainings, certifications, and books (or other learning opportunities) you’d like to consume; prioritize them by the year you will complete each, then by order within that year. Start by completing #1 from the current year’s list. Detail the skills and information that you’d like to assimilate from #1, and move on to #2 only when you’ve begun implementing these skills and they have become a habit. Continue adding to your overall list and prioritizing as an ongoing process.

Option 2: Do some soul-searching + work dreaming + purpose casting, and set three main objectives for your “therapy life” right now. Commit time only to resources that will help you accomplish your objectives. Follow the prioritization steps in option 1. This process uses your overarching professional objectives for deciding how to spend your time, money, and energy.

Best wishes as you build your skills, intentionally!

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Let me know, in the comments below:

What certifications or trainings are at the top of your list?
Grab your free summary of this post, with references, below.

References

Patterson, J., Williams, L., Grauf-Grounds, C., & Chamow, L. (1998). Essential skills in family therapy: From the first interview to termination. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Todd, T. C., & Storm, C. L. (2002). The complete systemic supervisor: Context, philosophy, and pragmatics. Lincoln, NE: Authors Choice Press.

More on paradoxical interventions:

Haley, J. (1993). Uncommon therapy: The psychiatric techniques of Milton H. Erickson, MD. New York, NY: WW Norton & Company.

Boscolo, L., & Cecchin, G. (1987). Milan systemic family therapy: Conversations in theory and practice. New York, NY: Basic Books.

How to Get Back to the Business of Family Therapy, And What to consider

What helps us survive this complicated life? Systems. As humans, we thrive when part of a network of support, inclusion, and collaboration. And family is the ultimate system, making family therapy an invaluable addition to any program. Right?

Yet, when we therapists talk about working with families in therapy, our collective anxieties rise. As much as we may talk the talk, we don’t walk the walk. The truth is, families are not seen very often in therapy. Even less frequently do we bring the whole family into the room.

How to Use The Systemic Therapy MicroSkills: The Joining Skills, with Dr. AnnaLynn Schooley

This post is the first of several articles in which I discuss the systemic therapy microskills, with Dr. AnnaLynn Schooley.

Dr. Schooley and her co-author, fellow professor and family therapist, Jim Hibel, are writing a book on the small systemic skills that therapists can intentionally practice in order to increase their effectiveness.

7 Approaches to Getting Unstuck with Therapy Clients

“Stuckness” is part of our work as therapists. It can be frustrating and confusing to suddenly reach this experience when previously, the client was showing progress. In this post, I’ll cover several approaches to helping therapists, and clients, get “unstuck.”

The Art and Science of Therapy as Craft, Part 2: Crafting Questions

For this week's video chat, Dr. AnnaLynn Schooley returns to discuss therapy questions as an intentional craft, and she covers four basic question types: single answer, open, closed, relational, and circular.

The Art and Science of Therapy as Craft

Dr. Anna Lynn Schooley, professor and family therapist, joined me recently for a conversation about therapy as a craft. AnnaLynn is a professor, clinical supervisor, licensed therapist in mental health and marriage and family therapy. She identifies as a family therapist; as a result, our chat leans toward a systemic view of therapy and clients.

Recently, I have been hearing more and more that master therapists view therapy as a conversational craft. Bill Doherty mentioned it in a talk he gave in November of 2016, and Elliott Connie also emphasizes this point. I invited AnnaLynn to discuss this topic, because she is a master therapist and teacher.

7 Questions for Opening Your Therapy Sessions

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It's easy to get stuck in a rut with specific elements of therapy structure.

I have a professor that sees every interaction with a client as part of the therapeutic relationship, and therefore, he interacts intentionally with his clients always, choosing his language and messages carefully based on their therapeutic value.

We don't all view our relationships with our clients in the same way, which means this type of scrutiny may not seem necessary to all of us; however, there is merit in evaluating the details of our sessions in order to become aware of habits that may not be yielding the results we desire.

For example, it’s common for opening questions to become casual greetings rather than relationally impactful interactions between therapist and client. Purposeful opening questions are the topic of this post.

Making Sense of a "Failed" Therapy Session

We all have them--sessions that are a struggle all the way through and that leave us feeling defeated. Even as a seasoned therapist, I’ve been caught off-guard by the unexpected failed session. The truth is, no matter our level of experience, we will have these sessions here and there, and I suppose my point in writing this post is to remind you (and myself) that we shouldn’t be surprised by them. After all, we are fallible.

That's the reason the word failed is in quotation marks throughout this post. There are no failed sessions, if we learn from them.

When we take lessons from these sessions

Two Simple Questions That Will Transform Your Therapy Work

As therapists, we often work with clients that are connected to a variety of systems, and those systems also become our extended working environments (or additional “customers”). The consideration of these extended environments set systemic practice apart from individually-oriented practice. It also contributes to the possibility of therapists losing track of what’s most important for clients, due to external systems representing varied, and sometimes competing, interests. Furthermore, all the information (a.k.a. “content”) that comes with working from an inclusive, systemic lens can obscure a clear clinical focus.

5 Essential Skills for Beginning Marriage and Family Therapists

When you’re starting your work as a therapist, whether during graduate training or as a brand-new master’s-level therapist, it’s natural to feel anxious and unprepared at times (or all the time!). You’ve spent several years learning a ton of information, and now you, naturally, want it to all make sense, so that you can do effective therapy.

Well, there’s good news: You've learned and assimilated a lot more than you think, and it will "show up" when you need it.

There are a few simple verbal skills that can guide your initial work as a beginning therapist; mastering these is a much better use of your time than worrying about using a theory perfectly or finding the right intervention.

5 Step Plan for De-escalating an In-Session couple Argument

Most of us, therapists, have been there: A simple disagreement turns into an all-out screaming match in the middle of a therapy session. This is, thankfully, not a common scenario for most therapists, but it’s also not rare--especially for therapists who specialize in couple therapy.

In this post, I cover steps for disrupting an argument occurring in a couple therapy session. Intervention on the part of the therapist is necessary during some conflicts, because the arguments can cause further damage in the couple relationship. And, if therapists allow arguments to continue for too long, they can affect the couple’s sense of safety when in therapy.

The main goals of intervention in this case are to:

5 Quick + Easy Ways to Build Your Therapy Skills

Below, I review five quick and easy ways to build your therapy skills without having to buy products, attend trainings, or spend a ton of time or money.

10 Therapist (and Child)-Approved Activities to Support Kids with Anxiety

If you’re a mental health professional working with children, you will probably agree that many of the calls you receive from parents have something to do with anxiety or stress. Child therapists have the amazingly important yet challenging task of educating and supporting kids in a therapeutic setting that is both productive and fun. When working with children as young as preschool age, it can be a very daunting task to keep things fresh and exciting week after week! So, how do we help children develop the coping skills they need while keeping them engaged (and not glancing at their watch)? Here are ten therapist (and child!)-approved, fun activities that address anxiety-based disorders and promote relaxation and stress reduction in children:

Therapist Self-Disclosure Simplified

Self-disclosure is a touchy subject among therapists. Some therapists never self-disclose, while others feel stifled by having a rigid boundary around self-disclosure. As I consider self-disclosure in therapy, I ask myself, “When is self-disclosure appropriate?” “How does self-disclosure deepen the therapist-client connection?"

Solution Focused Brief Couples Therapy Tips, with Elliott Connie

Elliott Connie is a Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) practitioner, author, and speaker. He developed an approach to couples work that distills the essence of SFBT into guiding principles for working with couples.

As a therapist who loves working with couples, I am always interested in ways to enhance my couples therapy skills. For this reason, I invited Elliott to explain the reasons why SFBT is his choice for working with clients, as well as how it creates a contrasting experience for couples that have a history in therapy.

Family of Origin Exploration for the Therapist: How to Create Your Genogram

In article three of the Family of Origin for the Therapist series, you learned 3 simple steps for how to begin family of origin (FOO) exploration: 1) read Bowen’s chapter, 2) observe your FOO experience, and 3) reflect on what you learned. Hopefully, your curiosity has led to significant understanding.

Understanding is the foundation of Bowen Family Systems Theory (BFST). Bowen (1985) believed that if clients could understand themselves as members of their FOOs and as created by their histories, they could begin and continue significant change.

In today’s post, I offer the next step in developing understanding: Creating your genogram. I explain how to create a basic genogram that you can expand as you continue your exploration.

5 Tips for Keeping Up with Therapy Paperwork

In my interaction with therapists as a mentor and supervisor, I’ve learned that one of the main struggles therapists face is having too much work and not enough time. Many therapists find themselves overwhelmed by documentation responsibilities, in particular; this includes completing client notes, referrals, billing, treatment plans, etc.

In today’s post, I offer several strategies for keeping up with paperwork, so that you can stay on track and avoid the stress of falling behind.

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy Client Types, and Their Relevance To Every Session

In her 1989 article, Of Visitors, Complainants, and Customers, Insoo Kim Berg details three types of “client-therapist relationships” (p. 21). Her wording is significant, because she is not labeling clients; she is describing them in terms of their relationship to the therapist, the process of therapy, and the problem. These three relationships have undergirded Solution-Focused Brief Therapy theory and interventions over the years, although they are not consistently discussed in newer works. The client relationship types are widely applicable to therapy, regardless of theoretical orientation, making them one of the most useful concepts in marriage and family therapy.

In this post, I present a review of these client types, and I explain their relevance to and usefulness for all therapeutic sessions.

How to Ethically Offer Coaching as a Licensed Therapist: A Step-By-Step Guide

One of the most common professional goals for my clients is expanding their private practice to include life coaching services. As professionals with a depth of knowledge in personal development and goal achievement strategies, therapists are ideal candidates for the coaching profession. Despite this near perfect fit, there are some important ethical consideration for therapists when offering coaching services alongside therapy, or when choosing to become professional coaches. In this post, I focus on offering solutions for these complications, in an effort to help you ethically practice coaching.