Latest Episode:
Episode 114 - Patreon Selects: An Actor, a Sommelier, and a Poker Player Walk Into a Bar
Carrie and Ben are joined by friend of the podcast Rachel Bennett to talk about how their past careers have shaped their identities as therapists. Topics include:
How working in fine dining informs the importance of being of service and providing experiences to therapy clients
How very few people in therapy and acting know what they're doing and how this helps with impostor syndrome
The humility required to be a successful poker player and therapist, as well as the need to separate short-term results from long-term process
The importance of learning how to self-regulate in the presence of others
How all of this (as always) relates to feedback-informed treatment
Episode 110 - Patreon Selects: The VBT Guide to Grad School (Part II)
We’re back with Dr. Ben Caldwell to conclude our thoughts on grad school and the surprising reality that it isn’t meant to make you a good therapist. We talk about starting supervision, avoiding moral injury, and most importantly, all the things that graduate education does very well in supporting early-career clinicians. Plus, we share our best advice for anyone getting started in their career in mental health.
Episode 109 - Patreon Selects: The VBT Guide to Grad School (Part I)
Dr. Ben Caldwell joins us to discuss everything you need to know about going to school to become a therapist. His most important message? Treat grad school like a convenience store – get in and get out. We explore how to choose a school, how to get the most out of the experience, and where to focus your energy along the way. This episode is for anyone interested in becoming a therapist or for those already in grad school – especially if some of your experiences don’t seem to make sense.
Episode 78 - Very Bad Couples Therapy (with Dr. Bonnie Kennan)
Building a good therapeutic alliance in couples therapy can be tricky with multiple people in the counseling room. This is especially challenging when the therapist is consistently late or not present at all. Today’s guest Maria shares her frustrating experience with an absentee therapist, and Dr. Bonnie Kennan joins us to talk about using feedback-informed treatment to provide very good couples therapy.
Episode 61 - What Heals Trauma? (with Chrissy Gillmore, MCoun)
An interview with Chrissy Gillmore about the primacy of client strengths, resilience, and culture in healing trauma, and how a pathology-focused approach can result in bad therapy. Plus, Carrie and Ben explore the controversy behind the APA Clinical Practice Guidelines for PTSD and discuss whether being trauma-informed is an ethical requirement, clever marketing, or both.
Episode 54 - How Much Therapy is Necessary?
This week’s guest Adam shares his experience of seeing a therapist for five years without any noticeable benefit. When should clients – or therapists – start to wonder if it’s time to end the therapeutic relationship? As it turns out, there’s a lot of research suggesting that therapists need to do much more than simply wait for their approach to start working…including accepting the likelihood of treatment failure.
Episode 53 - VBT in Focus: How to Do Deliberate Practice (with Dr. Tony Rousmaniere and Dr. Alexandre Vaz)
Deliberate practice is an emerging (and sometimes abstract) concept of psychotherapist development. Tony Rousmaniere and Alex Vaz are working to transform these ideas into concrete practices. This episode is an exploration of the theory, adaptability, and future of deliberate practice. Plus, Alex leads Carrie in a live demonstration of a deliberate practice exercise with Ben playing the role of a challenging client.
Episode 49 - Radical Acceptance of Clients (with Dr. Nathan Castle)
Therapist defensiveness is a recurring theme in stories of bad therapy. In this week’s episode, Suzanne shares her experience with a therapist whose defensiveness was expressed in gratuitous displays of power and dismissive remarks. Plus, Dr. Nathan Castle rejoins the show to explore the topics of defensiveness, radical acceptance of clients, and the importance of transparency.
Episode 45 - VBT in Focus: Dr. Scott Miller and Dr. Daryl Chow on Deliberate Practice
Scott Miller and Daryl Chow return to the podcast to discuss their new book, Better Results: Using Deliberate Practice to Improve Therapeutic Effectiveness. Topics include the importance of targeting individual strengths and deficits in a system of learning, how to get out of the performance zone, the significance of a coach, and ideas for changing the ways in which psychotherapy is taught.
Episode 27 - The Negative Effects of Therapy (with Jørgen A. Flor)
A small percentage of clients experience negative effects from therapy. Why is it so difficult for therapists to identify this phenomenon when reflecting on past or present work? Norwegian psychologist and author Jørgen A. Flor joins us to explore the myth of side-effect free therapy and discuss a moving story from today's guest Jamie about unambiguously harmful treatment.
Episode 24 - Misadventure Therapy (with Will Dobud, MSW)
Adventure therapy: nature, healing, strength, and camaraderie. And sometimes emotional abuse, strip searches, forced compliance, and more. What is happening in this niche of psychotherapy where our guest Will's story is simultaneously shocking to us and not at all surprising to those within the field? Join us and our expert guest Will Dobud on a truly compelling trek through the wilderness of adventure therapy.
Episode 18 - VBT in Focus: Dr. Scott Miller on Better Results
What is at the root of very bad therapy? The common feeling that something is lacking in the education, training, development, and services provided by psychotherapists is backed by a wealth of research supporting the notion that a paradigm shift is sorely needed. Dr. Scott Miller is leading this movement with his work in the areas of routine outcome monitoring and deliberate practice.
Episode 11 - The Intake Process is a Mess (with Dr. Daryl Chow)
Gathering client information: good. Transcribing client responses into a computer while facing a wall: not good. It is estimated that 34% of clients don’t return after their first session, a strong indication that the traditional intake model is in need of repair. Dr. Daryl Chow joins us to discuss our guest Bryan’s bad intake experience, the importance of focusing intakes on giving rather than taking, and we explore how psychotherapists can achieve better outcomes over the long-term future.