Artificial Intelligence & Counselling
Is the counsellor even needed now?
Some clients confess to me that they have an A.I therapist. Sometimes people use an A.I therapist to get advice and information, sometimes a deep relational bond is felt. These apps, similar in design to A.I girlfriend / boyfriend apps get to know you over time and can convey empathy, even 'love'. My hunch is that these apps may not be that healthy, and actually cause more harm than intended. Ultimately you are on your own, essentially talking to a mirror of yourself.
Some clients use the more general LLM (Large Language Model) A.I such as Chat GPT or Gemini alongside counselling as a tool for learning and development, which seems reasonable and helpful. Most people are still unaware of how to use A.I at all or what the risks and benefits are. There are ethical & environmental considerations too which need to be explored by everyone. It's all still very new and we haven't even reached AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) yet!
In short, I believe that to truly experience relational depth and the healthy human relational conditions for therapy to occur, two or more people need to work together. This involves building trust, meeting another human at depth, being challenged when necessary, and being offered compassion and understanding so that you can grow and be encouraged to live authentically with the people in your life.
However, I have found that A.I can assist in and out of the counselling room too. I think it's an amazing tool that can help the therapeutic process in numerous ways. Below, I explore some of the ways I have used A.I in therapy with clients so far as we all explore new possibilities together. (And no, this isn't written by Chat gpt! It's really me, Chris).
No. 1 asked question to A.I. ?
What do we want to know most?
I wondered what the most asked question was to Chat GPT so I asked it. I was stunned by the answer. the most common question asked to Chat GPT in 2025 was, 'What is the meaning to life?'.
I thought a long time about this. I had more questions too! What are we supposed to make of that? What are people searching for and why are they asking A.I?
The big existential questions of meaning, purpose, life and death, are often encountered in the therapy room. Spirituality, philosophy, science and religion themes are the backdrop to every client issue even if not explicitly discussed, and are huge topics to say the least.
A.I can assist these theoretical explorations alongside the experiential work in the therapy room. I am happy to point the way to home work and how to use A.I to explore the wider topics you are interested in, and then we can integrate your learning into the therapy room, and your life.
To learn more about transpersonal development- click here.
Use of A.I in Counselling
The friendly ghost in the room.
People are genuinely interested in learning more about the themes and issues they bring to counselling.
Using A.I is the new, 'just ask google', but it's much more than that too and is like having a third entity on hand when needed, like a friendly ghost in the room that is magically connected to and can communicate almost all of human knowledge in an instant.
Whatever the mental or physical health issue, cultural or systemic phenomenon, A.I will have an excellent overview of the topic and recommended pathways for appropriate referrals, reading and other resources in an instant.
Within five minutes a client and I can have core information that we can then explore together, which saves time and keeps the flow of the counselling process going.
This can lead to further required searching, reading or action on either the clients or my behalf outside the therapy room in the service of the clients agenda.
To read more about common issues - click here.
Use of A.I alongside Counselling
Home Work or Thread work?
When I hear the words 'Home Work', I think of school and missing summer evenings and punishment if it wasn't done and detentions. So i use the words 'Thread Work', which sounds nicer and threads each of the counselling sessions together. Motivated by the free will and curiosity of the client and completed at their own pace.
Now, with A.I, thread work is much easier too! Especially for longer problem solving or academic work that we cant fit into the session.
A client (or a supervisee) and I can develop a brief scheme of work together on any given topic to aid the therapeutic process.
A.I & Creative arts
Creative art in A.I & Counselling
As a way of reaching greater depth in client work or simply as a way of aiding self expression, creative arts has been used at Kendal Therapy since I began in 2012. Now a client and I can use A.I to assist in the therapeutic process by exploring the right prompts together to create a unique picture and then spend time discussing the outcomes and relating back to the clients themes. Again, the speed and outcomes can be extraordinary.
To read more about creative arts in counselling - click here.
A.I, Dating and Relationships
Can A.I help you find love?
Dating and relationships are unbelievably complicated. Clients will often bring these themes to counselling and I have started to integrate the help of A.I when appropriate in some novel ways.
For years I have used personality theory to assist clients with these topics. MBTI or the Big five personality tests mostly.
However, if you are not an expert in these topics it can take a while to learn and apply to your own circumstances. Now, with A.I, I can help you simplify things, help you understand yourself and others and even help you write a dating profile, or plan a discussion in an effective way with your partner.
I have even used A.I to help articulate the most complicated relationship issues and there potential solutions. Then the counselling sessions can quickly get to the crux of the psychological issues in the way of practical solutions and help clients use their own intuitions and experience to navigate their options.
To read more about personality - click here.
A.I, Learning and Neurodiversity
Making learning easier through using A.I.
If you have dyslexia, dyscalculia, ADHD, Autism or combinations of two or more of these A.I is a game changer. You can learn more about psychological education around neurodiversity itself and use your type of brain to learn in your favorite way.
For Dyslexic learners, it can read to you, you can speak to it, it can help you write and communicate your inner ideas clearly.
For Dyscalculic learners, it can help you with using numbers and communicate or problem solve.
For ADHD learners, having an interest based nervous system seems to be ideal for Large Language models such as Chat gpt or Gemini. learn only what you're interested in as long as you're interested in it.
For Autistic learners, special interest heaven and ask as many questions as you like.
Being neurodiverse does make life more difficult, but A.I. can make it possible to love to learn, your way.
To read more about neurodiversity in counselling in general - click here.