Ethical and Effective Uses of AI for Therapy Clients
As a therapist deeply invested in supporting clients with compassion and integrity, I’ve spent time exploring how AI can be used ethically and meaningfully within the therapeutic process. While nothing replaces the nuance of human connection and clinical attunement, there are ways AI can complement therapy when used thoughtfully and with care.
Here are a few ways I’ve seen AI be most effective:
1. Supporting Parts Work Between Sessions Clients using Internal Family Systems (IFS) often benefit from staying in dialogue with their parts outside of sessions. AI can be a reflective tool to help identify protectors, track patterns, and even offer prompts to check in with exiles gently. When paired with a client’s growing self-energy, it can create more space and clarity.
2. Containment and Soothing Some AI tools can help co-regulate between sessions by offering grounding prompts or visualizations. While this should never replace somatic or relational work, it can act like a bridge—especially for clients who struggle with overwhelm or dissociation.
3. Journaling and Pattern Recognition AI can assist clients in noticing trends in mood, thought patterns, or the voices of different parts over time. When clients journal with AI, they may gain insight into the internal system in ways that deepen our in-session work.
4. Psychoeducation and Reinforcement AI can gently reinforce themes explored in therapy—whether that’s boundary setting, trauma responses, or nervous system education. It’s not a replacement for therapy, but it can echo and extend the work in meaningful ways.
Key Functions and Benefits
Augmentation, Not Replacement: A study analyzing Pakistani AI mental health startups confirmed that AI is best used to augment therapist roles by improving accessibility and treatment scalability, rather than replacing human judgment and empathy (Mehmood et al., 2025).
Early Engagement and Stigma Reduction: Chatbots can facilitate early mental health interventions and reduce stigma, especially among hesitant individuals, by offering a non-human interface for initial discussions (Punia et al., 2025).
Ethical Considerations
Confidentiality: I encourage clients not to share identifying information with AI tools. Use aliases and generalities.
Discernment: AI is not always accurate and should never be the sole source of clinical guidance.
Consent: I only recommend AI tools to clients who are open to it, and we talk together about what feels helpful versus intrusive.
In short, AI can be a gentle companion for clients doing deep therapeutic work—but only when used with intention, discernment, and care. If you’re a client exploring these tools, know that you are the expert on your own system. AI is here to support—not override—your wisdom.
Sources
Mehmood, R., Parvez, M. A., Qureshi, M., & Sagheer, Z. (2025). Investigating the future role of AI in therapeutic settings and whether AI will eventually supplement or replace human counselors. Review of Applied Management and Social Sciences, 8(1).
Punia, A., Bhakuni, P., & Sharma, N. (2025). Development of AI- and NLP-driven chatbots and virtual assistants for mental health support. Advances in Psychology, Mental Health, and Behavioral Studies.
