Sentio Quality Improvement Projects

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Sentio Counseling Washington, affiliated with the nonprofit Sentio University, is at the forefront of quality improvement in mental health care. Our QI initiatives span Deliberate Practice training for empirically supported treatments, Measurement Based Care implementation, and clinical skills development for psychiatry, nursing, addiction counseling, occupational therapy, and crisis intervention. Published by the American Psychological Association and Elsevier, our training materials are developed in collaboration with leading researchers and clinicians from institutions including UCLA, Georgetown, UCSF, Michigan State, and the University of Massachusetts.

We work with mental health organizations, hospitals, training programs, and clinical teams across Washington State and nationally to improve therapist effectiveness and client outcomes through structured, evidence based methodologies. Whether your organization is based in Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Vancouver, Bellevue, Kent, Everett, Renton, Federal Way, Spokane Valley, Kirkland, Auburn, Bellingham, Kennewick, Redmond, Puyallup, Lakewood, Sammamish, Olympia, or Marysville, our staff are available to present on quality improvement at Grand Rounds, professional conferences, clinical training programs, and organizational development events throughout Washington and beyond.

To learn more about bringing Deliberate Practice training, Measurement Based Care consultation, or quality improvement programming to your organization, contact our team. We also offer ongoing professional development webinars and publish regularly in peer reviewed journals and public facing outlets on topics related to therapist development, clinical outcomes, and best practices in mental health service delivery.

Project #1: Deliberate Practice for Empirically-Supported Treatments

Deliberate Practice is transforming how therapists are trained across Washington State and beyond. Unlike traditional clinical education that relies heavily on lecture and discussion, Deliberate Practice provides structured, repeatable exercises that build core therapeutic skills through direct rehearsal and expert feedback. This approach has been shown to accelerate skill acquisition and improve client outcomes across a range of treatment modalities. Mental health training programs, clinical supervision groups, and healthcare organizations in Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Vancouver, Bellevue, Kent, Everett, Renton, Federal Way, and Kirkland are increasingly adopting Deliberate Practice methods to strengthen therapist competency in evidence based treatments including CBT, emotion focused therapy, DBT, motivational interviewing, and psychodynamic psychotherapy. Sentio's Deliberate Practice training materials, published by the American Psychological Association, are used by graduate programs, postdoctoral fellowships, and continuing education providers nationwide. Contact us to learn how Deliberate Practice can be integrated into your clinical training curriculum or supervision program.

Published by the American Psychological Association, Sentio is developing a series of multi-media Deliberate Practice (DP) training materials for empirically-supported treatments, including books, DVDs, and webinars.

Collaborators:

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Project #2: Measurement Based Care

Measurement Based Care is recognized as a best practice in mental health service delivery, yet it remains underutilized across much of Washington State. MBC involves the routine collection of standardized outcome data from clients at every session, allowing therapists and clinical teams to track progress, identify clients who are not improving, and adjust treatment in real time. Research consistently shows that therapists who use MBC achieve better outcomes and lower dropout rates than those who rely on clinical judgment alone. Sentio provides MBC training and implementation support to counseling centers, community mental health agencies, hospital systems, private practices, and graduate training programs in Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Vancouver, Bellevue, Kent, Everett, Renton, Federal Way, Kirkland, and throughout all 39 Washington counties. Our team can help your organization select appropriate outcome measures, design workflows for routine data collection, train clinicians and supervisors in using outcome data effectively, and build a culture of continuous quality improvement. Whether you are launching MBC for the first time or looking to strengthen an existing program, Sentio staff are available for consultation, training workshops, and ongoing implementation support.

Sentio provides services to further dissemination and implementation of best practices in Measurement Based Care (MBC). Clinical outcome data is used for quality assurance and quality improvement at every level of service, including:

Sentio leadership publishes and speaks frequently on this topic, including:

To speak with Sentio staff about obtaining training in MBC for your organization, please contact us.

Project #3: Quality Improvement in Psychiatry/Medicine

Quality improvement in behavioral health is a growing priority for hospitals, medical residency programs, and healthcare systems across Washington State. Sentio's Deliberate Practice training materials for psychiatry and related medical fields, published by Elsevier, provide clinicians with structured exercises to develop and refine the interpersonal and clinical skills that are essential to effective patient care but rarely practiced in a systematic way during medical training. These materials are designed for use in psychiatry residency programs, nursing education, addiction counseling certification programs, occupational therapy training, and crisis intervention teams. Healthcare organizations and academic medical centers in Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Vancouver, Bellevue, Kent, Everett, Renton, Federal Way, Kirkland, and across Washington are invited to bring Sentio's QI programming to their teams. Our staff have presented at Grand Rounds at UCLA, Georgetown, and other leading institutions, and are available to deliver presentations, workshops, and training series tailored to your department's needs. Contact us to discuss how Deliberate Practice based quality improvement can enhance clinical skills training at your organization.

Published by Elsevier, the Sentio is developing a series of multi-media Deliberate Practice (DP) training materials to support Quality Improvement in psychiatry and related medical subfields. Each volume will provide structured practical exercises to rehearse critical skills derived from theories and research methods.  Authored and edited by leading experts, each volume will be based on an empirically-based pedagogy that is structured, incremental, and tightly focused on the essential skills mental health professionals must acquire to obtain licensure/registration and enter the workforce.

  • Psychiatry

  • Nursing

  • Addiction counselors

  • Occupational therapists

  • Crisis workers & paramedics

Sentio staff are available to present on QI at department Grand Rounds, conferences, and other venues. To speak with Sentio staff about obtaining training in QI for your organization, please contact us.