Deliberate Practice Supervision Residency

Advanced supervisor training for licensed clinical supervisors in California and Washington State

Apply for the DP Supervision Residency

Sentio Counseling Center (SCC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit counseling center providing affordable, evidence-based online therapy throughout California. SCC is the only counseling center in California that fully integrates Deliberate Practice methodology and clinical outcome data into every level of its training and supervision. As the clinical training partner of Sentio University, a nonprofit graduate school offering a Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy, SCC operates at the intersection of clinical innovation and rigorous academic research.

The Deliberate Practice (DP) Supervision Residency is a one-year, no-cost advanced training opportunity for licensed supervisors who want to transform how they train the next generation of therapists. Under close mentoring from Sentio's top supervisor trainers, residents learn to integrate DP skill rehearsal, video-based feedback, and routine outcome monitoring into their supervision practice. This is the most rigorous supervisor training program of its kind in the country.

What You Will Learn

The DP Supervision Residency teaches supervisors how to integrate Deliberate Practice into traditional clinical supervision. Over the course of the year, you will learn to increase the amount of direct skill rehearsal in your supervision sessions, provide effective performance feedback using video recordings of therapy sessions, calibrate training so trainees are rehearsing within their "zone of proximal development" (tasks that are neither too easy nor too challenging), develop custom DP exercises tailored to specific therapeutic models and common factors skills, assign and evaluate DP homework between sessions, and use Deliberate Practice to support the development of therapist self-awareness and the "Person of the Therapist."

The residency provides over 50 hours of video-based training in DP Supervision. Supervisors who complete the program receive up to 50 continuing education (CE) credits and certification as a DP Coach from the International Deliberate Practice Society.

Why Sentio

SCC stands apart from other training sites because of its commitment to measurable clinical outcomes. Every client session is informed by validated Routine Outcome Monitoring data. Every supervision session incorporates video review of real clinical work. And every supervisor completes advanced training in a structured DP supervision model that has been described in peer-reviewed journals and endorsed by leading researchers in the field.

SCC is not a private practice or a for-profit training company. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, our mission is to provide the highest possible standard of mentorship for counselors through innovative and rigorous training methods, and to positively transform the lives of our clients and the communities we serve. We offer sliding-scale therapy starting at $15 per session to individuals and couples across California, making high-quality mental health care accessible to people of all backgrounds and income levels.

Affiliation with Sentio University

SCC serves as the clinical practicum site for Sentio University, a nonprofit graduate school in Los Angeles. Sentio University is the first graduate program in mental health to formally implement safe and ethical AI training for students and is an affiliate of the International Association for Safe and Ethical AI (IASEAI). The university's faculty are active scholars whose research appears in peer-reviewed journals including Nature, and the Sentio AI Research Team conducts studies on AI safety in mental health contexts in collaboration with the Digital Safety Research Institute (DSRI) at UL Research Institutes.

Sentio University produces open-source clinical training resources that are used by graduate programs and practicum sites worldwide. The Sentio Innovation Lab offers free training tools, including recorded webinars on Deliberate Practice, AI in mental health, multicultural orientation skills, and therapist inner skills development. Professionals can join the Innovation Lab email list to receive free DP exercises, video demonstrations, and other training materials at no cost. These resources are published under an open-source format and are available to any clinician, training program, or practicum site in the world.

Program Structure

The residency has two phases.

  • Part 1, Foundational Training (3 weeks): Participants attend three weekly one-hour Zoom classes. Dates and times are determined based on participant availability. This phase totals approximately one hour per week.

  • Part 2, Supervised Practice (11 months): For the remaining eleven months, participants provide two hours per week of individual, videotaped Zoom supervision to MFT and PCC trainees who are providing online therapy through SCC. Participants also attend one hour per week of group mentoring, during which they receive feedback on their own supervision videos and engage in group DP skill-building exercises. Each participant supervises two trainees who work under their license and is responsible for the standard work of clinical supervision, including evaluations and documentation. This phase totals approximately three hours per week.

Cost

The residency is offered at no fee through a work/trade arrangement. Supervisors provide supervision to SCC trainees in exchange for advanced training and mentoring in DP supervision.

Requirements

Supervision at SCC is conducted entirely online and requires a high level of comfort with screen-sharing on Zoom. SCC provides some technical training and support, but candidates who are not confident navigating Zoom's screen-sharing features may find this residency challenging.

California supervisors must be licensed in California and meet the qualifications described in item #30 (pages 11 through 12) of the BBS FAQ on supervisor qualifications. Washington State supervisors must be licensed in Washington State.

Continuing Education

Supervisors who participate in the residency may be eligible to receive continuing education credit from Sentio University. Sentio University CEs can be claimed by all BBS licensees, including LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and LEPs. Please note that these CEs cannot be claimed by psychologists or psychiatrists, as Sentio University is not an APA-approved provider. Regulatory agencies in states outside of California may not recognize these CEs.

Weekly one-hour group mentoring meetings are equivalent to one CE credit hour. These credits can be applied to the six hours of supervision CEs that the BBS requires for license renewal, and can also be applied to non-specific CE requirements.

For more information about weekly meeting content, educational goals, learning objectives, and topics covered, please review the residency syllabus.

Serving Communities Across California

Because SCC provides all services online, our counselors and supervisors serve clients and trainees throughout the state. SCC currently reaches individuals and couples in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Oakland, Long Beach, Fresno, Bakersfield, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Riverside, Stockton, Irvine, Santa Clarita, and communities across Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego County, Alameda County, and San Bernardino County. Supervisors who join the residency contribute directly to expanding access to affordable, outcome-driven mental health services in these communities and beyond.

Learn more about the areas we serve.

Published Research and Articles on Deliberate Practice Supervision

The Sentio Supervision Model has been described and evaluated in peer-reviewed publications. Professionals interested in the research foundations of this residency can explore the following:

Free Training Resources from Sentio University

Even before applying to the residency, professionals can access a growing library of free Deliberate Practice training tools through the Sentio Innovation Lab. Resources include DP exercise instructions and demonstration videos for multiple therapeutic modalities (Schema Therapy, DBT, Motivational Interviewing, Interpersonal Psychotherapy, REBT, and more), multicultural orientation training materials, therapist inner skills exercises, recorded webinars on Deliberate Practice and AI in mental health, and information about the Therapist Throwdown, a live demonstration event designed to normalize showing clinical work and receiving constructive feedback.

All Sentio Innovation Lab materials are released under an open-source format and are free for use by clinicians, supervisors, and training programs worldwide. Join the Innovation Lab email list to receive new tools as they are published.

Apply

If you are a licensed supervisor in California or Washington State and are interested in transforming your supervision practice through Deliberate Practice, please complete this application. You are welcome to share this opportunity with colleagues who may be eligible.

Apply for Supervision Residency
Apply for Supervision Residency