Reigniting Therapy

Reigniting Therapy

An interview with Dr. Daryl Chow regarding how to do effective therapy. Curt and Katie talk with Dr. Chow about the ways in which therapists can improve clinically – looking at the relationship, the expectations of clients, and what we each uniquely bring to the room. We also discuss deliberate practice, lifelong learning, and the difference between confidence and competence.

It’s time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age.

Interview with Daryl Chow, MA, PhD (Psych)

Daryl Chow, MA, PhD (Psych) is a practicing psychologist and trainer. He is a senior associate of the International Center for Clinical Excellence (ICCE). He devotes his time to workshops, consultations and researches the development of expertise and highly effective psychotherapists, helping practitioners to achieve better results.

Daryl is the author of The First Kiss: Undoing the Intake Model and Igniting First Sessions in Psychotherapy. His work has also appeared in edited books, peer-reviewed journal articles, and he is a co-editor of The Write to Recovery: Personal Stories & Lessons about Recovery from Mental Health Concerns.

Daryl’s blog, Frontiers of Psychotherapist Development is aimed at inspiring and sustaining practitioners’ individualized professional development. His highly personalized in-depth online course for supervisors, Reigniting Clinical Supervision, serves as a leading light to help raise the bar of effectiveness in psychotherapy.

Currently, Daryl maintains a private practice with a vibrant team at Henry Street Centre, Fremantle, and continues to serve as a senior psychologist at the Institute of Mental Health, Singapore.

In this episode we talk about:

• Chow describing himself as a slow learner
• The value of deep learning
• The problems with therapist education
• Banking versus kindling model of education
• Learning conversation versus theory
• The importance of practical learning
• How we get in the way as therapists
• How to manage first sessions (what you are gifting, versus what you are taking)
• Undoing the intake perspective
• We are not in the business of fast food
• Trajectory of change, continuity of services
• 20-30% of people come only for one session
• “Sufficing” our information rather than deep probing
• “Information is not transformation” – Dr. Daryl Chow
• First principles and the hero’s journey
• Evidence-based therapy versus developing good therapists
• Deliberate practice as a verb
• “It is so much easier to buy tools than to get good”
• What is NOT deliberate practice
• “Confidence is not competence”
• We get worse as therapists over time if we don’t practice deliberately
• The importance of lifelong learning
• The systemic challenges to maintaining skills and getting better
• What to work on that has leverage for you – finding your own growth edges
• Measuring growth versus measuring performance