Frontiers Newsletter June'17: Get Uncomfortable
Why Should You Get Uncomfortable?
Hey ,
Whatever happened to the month of April and May? I must confess. I have been lost in the thick of the woods. I succumbed to busy-ness. I am hard pressed to get as much done before the arrival of our second child in August. I wanna be present when she (yes, it's a girl!) arrives into this world.
To catch a glimpse, this is what I've been up to:
With my colleagues in Singapore and Chicago, we have officially launched the Difficult Conversations in Therapy (DCT) RCT study. Within the first 3 days of our publising the study, we were FULLY SUBSCRIBED! Then we created a waitlist cap. That blew off the roof in one day!
We are deeply grateful for the overwhelming response. And we are now at the close of the first batch of super dedicated practitioners who have completed the trial.
It has been painstaking and rewarding for us. For every participant's response time invested in this trial, Dr Sharon Lu (a brilliant clinician) and I have been devoted the following amount of time to score and provide individualised feedback to each participant:
"Amount of time spent by each participant" x 1.5
Here's some participant's comments: "This is really hard work..."Un-nerving..." "Really useful..." "I'm beginning to piece this together..."
Honestly, what has been most impressive is not what they said, but what they did. The initial results are very encouraging, and it's showing deep learning and improvement across the trials!
Ok... It's too early to make conclusions. But I'm super stoked.
Here's what we found in our initial pilot study. See our article Beyond Measures (Miller, Hubble, Chow, Seidel, 2015; see the last few pages where we discussed the DCT project)
“A person's success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have."
~ Tim Ferriss
Handpicked Resources
Here's some recent blogposts, websites, and podcasts that will pique your interest:
1. Where Should We Begin? by Esther Perel
If you know me, I'm a hoarder of therapy videos and recordings.
Here's one that you must check-out. Relationship therapist, Esther Perel new release featured in an audible original release, Where Should We Begin.
In these episodes, you'd hear couples share their struggles and working it through with Esther. (Quick: it's free access at the moment)
Her voice in therapy reminds me of Chloe Mandanes, and Salvador Minuchin.
I first learned about here work on a tim ferriss podcast https://www.google.com.au/url… (can't believe I wasn't familiar with her work before this)
Esther Perel goes into the ranks of one of those people who has challenged my conventional thinking and changed my mind about the issues faced in couple-hood, sexuality, intimacy and family life.
She has a new book coming out (10Oct 17, I think. World Mental Health Day), called The State of Affairs.
2. The Little-Known Statistician Who Taught Us to Measure Teachers
A colleague and friend, Jim Reynolds just shared this brilliant article with me.
I had no idea who this Mr Sanders was before. I really love this article. It reminded me of a documentary i saw a few years called Waiting for Superman. It featured Michellle Rhee in DC trying to improve education policy in US, and how she was kicked off (eventually).
All you parallel processing therapists, do you spot any similarities with our field?
NEW RELEASE
We've got two books coming up, and it's ready for pre-order!
The two chapters we've got in there:
Chow, D. (2017). The practice and the practical: Pushing your clinical effectiveness to the next level. In D. Prescott, C. Maeschalck, & S. D. Miller (Eds.), Reaching for Excellence: Feedback-Informed Treatment in Practice: APA.
Miller, S. D., Hubble, M., & Chow, D. (2017). Professional development: An Oxymoron? In T. Rousmaniere, R. K. Goodyear, S. D. Miller, & B. Wampold (Eds.), The Cycle of Excellence: Using Deliberate Practice in Supervision, Training, and Independent Practice Wiley Press.
You are in for a treat with the rest of the chapters!
Another Upcoming Book, The First Kiss: Undoing the Traditional Model of How We Conduct Our First Sessions
For the past two years, I've been working at finishing this book. I'm making the first round of edits currently. I'm making a case why the way we conduct our initial clinical assessments is not helping our clients, and I attempt to offer an alternate view of what it takes to engage our clients from the word go. It's an unabashingly "How-To" book.
~
“What am I unwilling to feel?" ~ Tara Brach
EVENTS
1. Igniting Deliberate Practice: The Practice and The Practical of Taking Your Clinical Effectiveness to the Next Level 1-Day Workshop in Brisbane, QLD.
Dr Aaron Frost from Benchmark Psychology has kindly invited me run a workshop the topic of deliberate practice on the 10th of June, 2016, Brisbane QLD. This is specifically for practitioners who are already using some form of routine outcome measures, and are keen to take their professional development to the next level.
If you are interested, reach out to Aaron's team for more details.
2. Feedback Informed Treatment (FIT): 3 Steps (Jun'17)
Anglicare has invited me to work with their team this June. Really excited about that.
3. Australian Psychological Society (APS), Victorian College (Nov'17)
- I just got an invite to speak at their AGM in Melbourne, and run a one-day training, on Beyond Measures
- If you are interested to find out more, please contact Dr RaeLynn Alvarez Wicklein.
4. Womens Health, AOD, Australia
- 1/2 day intro training on FIT.
- Very engaging and nurturing individuals.
- It's humbling to learn what these practitioners are doing for their clients, especially for those living in the margins of society, and those who are in prisons.
- Big thanks to Natalie Raymond for sowing the seeds, and making sure things grow.
5. 360 Health, Australia
- We've just finished a day-long training with their team of practitioners. Brilliant minds there, and they lift the workshop with really good questions.
- Now, we are developing an initial pilot to train a group of them.
- Big thanks to Melissa Brooker and Tristan Mitsopoulos for making things happen.
6. Achieving Clinical Excellence Conference'18 in Sweden:
I just got a note from the good folks in Sweden that I've been invited to as one of the keynote speakers in the ACE 2018 Conference.
Since 2010, this is the third ACE conference, and I'm really excited. Big names like K Anders Ericsson, Bruce Wampold, Scott Miller are going to present.
I'm particularly keen to listen to Birgit Villa, a super clinical manager at an agency in Oslo Norway. We have been collaborating on a study. And Birgit has taken the whole deliberate practice idea into practice with her team of clinicians, in a really radical way...
If previous ACE conferences is any indication, it is a awe-inspiring experience. I hope you can join us.
4. Board Approved Masterclass Supervision:
My kindred buddy, Duane Smith, director of SPOT, will be running a series of AHPRA board approved masterclass supervision this year. This applies to all registered psychologists in Australia.
Stay tuned to our website for details of dates and venues across WA.
(note: We have decided that I will not be co-facilitating this training. Apologies for the initial mis-information. I'm working on a new module for supervisors and supervisees, called Reigniting Supervision: Taking Clinical Supervisors and Psychotherapists to the Next Level of Real Development. More on this in the next newsletter)
Understanding the Professional
, I'm seeking your help. Can you contribute 2 mins of your time to fill up this ultra-brief survey? I wish to get a more nuanced idea of the challenges you face as practitioner.
Click here for the BRIEF SURVEY,
Thanks a million.
Til then, please stay in touch. I hate marketing, but I love connecting. Love to hear back from you, if you have any questions or comments.
Reach me at daryl@darylchow.com
Stay in touch.
Blessings,
Daryl Chow, Ph.D.
Senior Associate & Trainer, International Center for Clinical Excellence (ICCE);
Endorsed Counselling Psychologist & Board Approved Supervisor (Aus),
Specialist Psychological Outreach Team (SPOT) @ Henry Street Centre, Fremantle, W Australia.
Senior Psychologist (on locum),
Institute of Mental Health, Singapore.
You are receiving this because you attended a workshop/consultancy/ supervision with me in recent times, or you are a subscriber to the Frontiers of Professional Development (FPD) blog. I want to keep you up to date on some developments that you will find useful. You might also be interested to check out the previous FPD Newsletters for useful and practical resources. Join our Facebook group to connect.