Skip to main content
Focused scenarios are short, single-moment mini-cases you can practice on demand or assign to a class. Each scenario pairs a client and opening message with a target microskill (for example, Reflection of Feeling) and a difficulty level, so you can drill the exact skill or clinical moment you want to work on without setting up a full case. Open them from Practice → Focused scenarios in the left sidebar.

​
When to use focused scenarios

Use focused scenarios when you want to:
  • Practice one microskill in isolation (active listening, paraphrasing, summarizing, and so on).
  • Rehearse a specific clinical moment, such as a risk assessment or a de-escalation.
  • Spin up a quick assignment for a class without authoring a full case.
  • Try a client with a particular stance (cooperative, guarded, flat, hostile) before a longer session.
For longer end-to-end client work, keep using full cases. Focused scenarios are meant to be 5–15 minute reps.

​
The three tabs

The Focused scenarios page is organized into three tabs.
Browse scenarios published to your organization. Use the search bar, filter drawer, or the Browse by skill area and Search by complexity sections to narrow the list.

​
Browse the library

The Library tab surfaces scenarios through several entry points:
  • Trending — most-played scenarios this week.
  • Weekly spotlights — a small curated list refreshed weekly.
  • Browse by skill area — six fixed tabs: Rapport Building, Risk Assessment, Crisis Response, De-escalation, Trauma-Informed Response, and Resistance & Ambivalence.
  • Practice microskills — six core microskills: Active Listening, Reflection of Feeling, Reflection of Meaning, Paraphrasing, Summarizing, and Clarifying.
  • Search by complexity — filter by difficulty.

​
Filters

Open the filter drawer (the slider icon next to the search bar) to combine any of: Difficulty labels map to client stance:
  • Foundational — cooperative and receptive
  • Everyday — hesitant and guarded
  • Difficult — unresponsive and flat
  • High-Stakes — resistant and hostile

​
Create a scenario

1

Step 1 — Details

Pick the parent client, then set:
  • Title — shown wherever the scenario is listed.
  • Opening message — the first line the client says when the scenario starts.
  • Session type — Intake & Assessment, Intervention / Working Session, Crisis / High-Acuity, or Termination.
  • Client stance — controls difficulty (Cooperative, Hesitant, Unresponsive, or Resistant).
The parent client supplies the voice, persona, and patient details, so the scenario inherits everything you have already configured on that client.
2

Step 2 — Audio and description

Select Generate scenario to:
  • Synthesize audio for the opening message using the parent client’s configured voice (ElevenLabs or Cartesia).
  • Save a new row in your scenario library so you can come back to it later.
If the parent client has no voice configured, set up voice settings on that client first.You can edit the auto-generated description before continuing.
3

Step 3 — Review

From the review screen you can:
  • Create another — reset the form and build a second scenario.
  • Try scenario — launch the scenario yourself.
  • Create assignment — teachers and admins only: pick a class and open the assignment form pre-filled with the scenario’s title, description, and time limit.

​
Assign a scenario to a class

Teachers and admins can turn any focused scenario into a class assignment, either from the Step 3 review screen or from the My scenarios tab. The assignment flow:
  1. Pick the target class.
  2. The assignment form opens pre-filled with the scenario’s title, description, and recommended time limit.
  3. Adjust due dates, instructions, or grading as usual, then save.
Students see the assignment in their LMS the same way they see any case assignment.

​
Access

Focused scenarios are gated behind the same access flag as the rest of the Discover experience. If your account has Discover disabled, navigating to /focused-scenarios redirects you to Classes (teachers and admins) or My learning (everyone else).