Child Therapy
Therapy with children calls for a rhythm that adults rarely demand. The therapist has to meet the child where they are emotionally, build vocabulary for feelings that the child may not yet have words for, explore identity questions without leading the answer, and hold limits firmly enough to keep the work safe without rupturing the alliance. These moves do not transfer cleanly from adult therapy training, and they are difficult to learn from a textbook because most of what matters happens in tone, pacing, and improvisation. This page collects Sentio University's free Practice Time! deliberate practice demonstrations for child therapists. Pair them with peer practice or a structured supervision hour. For the full Practice Time! catalog across all therapy models, see the Practice Time! series page. Therapists training in child and family work as part of a graduate program can explore the Sentio MFT Program, the first hybrid MFT program in California to integrate deliberate practice across the entire curriculum. Licensed supervisors who want to use deliberate practice in their own supervision can join the year-long Clinical Supervisor Training.
Ep 10: Naming Feelings
Ep 11: Exploring Identity
Ep 12: Setting Limits
What you will learn
These three Practice Time! episodes are organized around skills that show up in nearly every session with a child or adolescent client:
- How to build emotional vocabulary that meets a child where they are developmentally
- How to explore identity questions without leading or imposing adult frames
- How to set limits firmly enough to keep the work safe without rupturing the alliance
- How to track tone and pacing as primary therapeutic signals with younger clients
- How to translate adult-oriented clinical interventions into developmentally appropriate moves
How to use these videos with peers or supervisors
The episodes are most useful when paired with structured practice afterward. A two-session pattern works well. In the first session, watch one of the demonstrations with a peer or supervision group and pause at each demonstrated skill to discuss how it would fit your current caseload. In the second session, run the exercise live: one person plays the therapist, one plays the child, and a third observes and offers structured feedback against the specific behavioral target shown in the video. Five to ten minutes of focused rehearsal followed by feedback tends to produce more growth than thirty minutes of unstructured roleplay. Licensed clinicians can also join Sentio's ongoing deliberate practice consultation group, which meets regularly and is open to clinicians worldwide.
About the book
This book presents deliberate practice exercises in which students and trainees rehearse fundamental skills in child and adolescent psychotherapy until they become natural and automatic.
Exercises in this book:
- Communicating Interest and Curiosity
- Naming Feelings
- Praise and Encouragement
- Observing and Describing Play
- Empathic Validation
- Elaborating Play
- Exploring Identity (Multicultural Orientation)
- Self-Disclosure
- Gathering Information About Safety Concerns
- Setting Limits
- Talking About Sex
- Responding to Resistance and Ruptures
- Annotated Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Transcript
- Mock Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Session
Frequently asked questions
What is deliberate practice in child therapy?
Deliberate practice in child therapy is the structured rehearsal of specific clinical skills, like building emotional vocabulary, exploring identity, and setting limits, under feedback from a supervisor or peer. For a longer introduction, see What is Deliberate Practice.
Who is this content for?
Marriage and family therapists, licensed clinical social workers, counselors, play therapy trainees, and graduate students who work with children and adolescents.
Are the Practice Time! episodes really free?
Yes. Every Practice Time! episode is free to watch on YouTube and is embedded on Sentio resource pages with no login required. The series is sponsored by Sentio University as part of the wider Free Therapist Training initiative.
How do I use these videos in supervision?
Watch one episode in a peer practice group or supervision hour, pause at the demonstrated skill, and rehearse it live in roles. For supervisors who want a deeper grounding in the method itself, see the Clinical Supervisor Training.
Is there a Sentio graduate program that uses deliberate practice with child clients?
Yes. The Sentio MFT Program integrates deliberate practice across the entire curriculum, including coursework on therapy with children and adolescents.
Selected references
- Axline, V. M. (1947). Play Therapy. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0345303356.
- Landreth, G. L. (2023). Play Therapy: The Art of the Relationship (4th ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1032105215.
- Greenberg, L. S. (2015). Emotion-Focused Therapy. American Psychological Association. ISBN 978-1433821387.
- Rousmaniere, T., Goodyear, R. K., Miller, S. D., and Wampold, B. E. (Eds.). (2017). The Cycle of Excellence: Using Deliberate Practice to Improve Supervision and Training. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1119165569.