Professional Training Resources
Free Deliberate Practice and Clinical Training Tools for Therapists, Supervisors, and Graduate Programs
Sentio Counseling Center (SCC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization providing online counseling throughout California with sliding scale fees starting at $15 per session. In addition to our clinical services, SCC is proud to offer the professional training community a growing library of free, evidence-based training resources developed in partnership with Sentio University (SU), a nonprofit graduate university in Los Angeles.
SCC is the only counseling center in California that fully integrates Deliberate Practice methodology with routine clinical outcome measurement into every aspect of its clinical operations. This combination of structured skill building and ongoing outcome tracking allows our clinicians to continuously improve and allows us to share the tools and methods that drive those improvements with the broader professional community, at no cost.
Our Affiliation with Sentio University
Sentio Counseling Center operates as the integrated training clinic of Sentio University, which offers a Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy program built entirely around the Deliberate Practice model. SU is the first graduate program in mental health to formally implement safe and ethical AI training for students, and it provides guaranteed practicum placements at SCC for all enrolled students. This tight integration between university and counseling center means that the training methods, supervision models, and clinical tools developed at SU are tested and refined in a real clinical setting serving real clients across California.
The result is a uniquely practice-driven approach to professional development. Rather than teaching theory in isolation, our model ensures that every training resource we produce has been shaped by direct clinical experience, outcome data, and feedback from both clients and clinicians.
Free Training Resources at the Sentio Innovation Lab
Through the Sentio Innovation Lab, SCC and SU make a comprehensive set of professional training tools available to the public at no charge. These resources are designed for use by graduate programs, clinical training sites, supervisors, and practicing therapists who want to incorporate Deliberate Practice and outcome-informed care into their work.
The free resources include the Sentio Supervision Model (SSM), a structured framework for integrating Deliberate Practice into clinical supervision. They also include a Supervision Preparation Form that helps trainees arrive at supervision sessions with focused learning goals, a Deliberate Practice Difficulty Assessment Form for calibrating exercises to the appropriate challenge level, and a full set of Deliberate Practice Exercises for Common Factor Skills that can be used across theoretical orientations.
In addition, the Innovation Lab offers video training for the Outcome Questionnaire 45 (OQ-45), one of the most widely used clinical outcome measures, as well as Deliberate Practice instruction videos and exercises for helping skills, multicultural therapy, and therapist inner skills. The lab also hosts the Learn Psychotherapy podcast and Practice Time!, a video series featuring live Deliberate Practice demonstrations.
These resources are used by graduate programs and clinical training sites around the world to improve the effectiveness of therapy training. We make them available for free because doing so advances our nonprofit mission of making high quality mental health care and training accessible to everyone.
About the Developers
The training resources available through SCC and the Sentio Innovation Lab were developed by Tony Rousmaniere, PsyD, and Alexandre Vaz, PhD, two of the leading figures in the application of Deliberate Practice to psychotherapy training.
Tony Rousmaniere, PsyD, is the Executive Director of Sentio Counseling Center and President of Sentio University. He is a licensed psychologist and past president of the American Psychological Association's Division 29, the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy. Dr. Rousmaniere is the author and co-editor of numerous books on Deliberate Practice and psychotherapy training, including Deliberate Practice for Psychotherapists and The Cycle of Excellence. He is series co-editor of The Essentials of Deliberate Practice (APA Books) and Advanced Therapeutics, Clinical and Interpersonal Skills (Elsevier). His 2017 article in The Atlantic, "What Your Therapist Doesn't Know," brought widespread public attention to the gap between therapist training and clinical effectiveness. He supports the open data movement and publishes his own aggregated clinical outcome data in de-identified form. Dr. Rousmaniere provides workshops, webinars, and advanced clinical training to clinicians across the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Alexandre Vaz, PhD, is the co-founder and Chief Academic Officer of Sentio University. Dr. Vaz provides Deliberate Practice workshops and clinical training and supervision around the world. He is the author and co-editor of four books on Deliberate Practice and psychotherapy training and serves as co-editor of the APA Essentials of Deliberate Practice series and the Elsevier Advanced Therapeutics series. He has held multiple committee roles with the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI) and the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR). Dr. Vaz is the founder and host of Psychotherapy Expert Talks, an acclaimed interview series with distinguished psychotherapists and researchers.
Why Deliberate Practice and Outcome Data Matter
Research consistently shows that therapist effectiveness varies significantly, and that years of experience alone do not predict better outcomes. Deliberate Practice is a structured, evidence-based approach to skill development adapted from the science of expert performance in fields such as music, athletics, and medicine. When combined with routine outcome monitoring, which involves tracking client progress at every session using validated measures, Deliberate Practice gives clinicians and supervisors concrete data about what is working and what needs improvement.
SCC is the only counseling center in California that integrates both of these methods into daily clinical practice. Every SCC counselor participates in Deliberate Practice supervision, and every client's progress is tracked with standardized outcome measures. This approach ensures accountability, drives continuous improvement, and produces the kind of real-world insights that inform the training tools we share with the field.
Professionals interested in learning more about our clinical training model can visit our Clinical Training page, explore our DP Supervision Residency, or review our quality improvement projects.
Serving Professionals and Communities Across California
As a nonprofit counseling center providing online therapy statewide, SCC serves clients and trains clinicians connected to communities throughout California. Our online model allows us to reach professionals and clients in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Oakland, Long Beach, Fresno, Bakersfield, Anaheim, Riverside, Santa Ana, Irvine, Stockton, and across Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County, Alameda County, Sacramento County, Santa Clara County, Contra Costa County, and Ventura County.
Whether you are a graduate program director looking for training tools for your students, a clinical supervisor seeking a structured supervision model, or a licensed therapist who wants to improve your clinical effectiveness, the resources developed by SCC and Sentio University are here for you, free of charge.
Visit the Sentio Innovation Lab to access all free training resources. To learn more about Sentio University's graduate programs and certification courses, visit sentio.org.
For questions about professional training, partnerships, or using our resources at your institution, please contact us.