Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly integrated within professional settings, including healthcare and psychotherapy. My professional stance and choice is that I do not use AI in any part of my clinical work including things such as: case conceptualization, email responses, note taking and writing, creating and writing resources I offer clients, session transcription or summarization, letter/document writing, or writing of content for my website. Not only is it important for you as the client to understand how your information is being processed, but I believe it is also important for you to have insight into the way in which I practice.
My main priority is ensuring high-quality, responsive care for you that is grounded in the reality of human experience. I place a lot of value on ensuring that the innately human side of psychotherapy, which is called the therapeutic relationship or alliance, is prioritized in my clinical work. The therapeutic relationship or alliance is one of the leading variables that relates to positive outcomes in psychotherapy, regardless of the particular therapeutic style that is used. Research into this variable has shown again and again that the strength of the relationship between your therapist and you is positively associated with outcomes and experience of psychotherapy.
If you want to see an example of this research, you can find it here: https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2018-23951-001.html or search: Flückiger, C., Del Re, A. C., Wampold, B. E., & Horvath, A. O. (2018). The alliance in adult psychotherapy: A meta-analytic synthesis.Psychotherapy, 55(4), 316–340. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000172.
The way I respond to research like this is by keeping all of my clinical work human, authentic to me, and prioritizing of the value in building unique and strong therapist-client relationships.
If you benefit from using AI in your own life, or use AI tools to help move you towards your goals or process your thoughts, you are welcome to bring your reflections and insights to sessions. I believe it should be up to each individual whether using AI is part of their work on their mental health. If you have questions about the impact of not including AI tools in my clinical practice, please feel free to reach out to me.
You can read more about the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario’s (CRPO) suggestions and mandates for how to use AI tools in therapy here: https://crpo.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Guideline-on-Artificial-Intelligence.pdf
