Artificial intelligence is changing psychotherapy in remarkable ways. From AI-generated clinical notes to treatment planning and administrative support, therapists are being asked to rethink how technology fits into mental health care.
At the Design Your Life Centre, we believe AI has an important role to play—but we also believe there is a clear boundary between using technology to support therapists and allowing it to replace the deeply human processes that make therapy effective.
The question isn’t whether we should use artificial intelligence in psychotherapy.
The question is where we should draw the line.
AI Is Changing the Way We Work
Like many business owners, I have spent the past year experimenting with artificial intelligence almost daily.
It has taught me how to solve technical problems I would have spent hours trying to figure out on my own. It helps organize information, refine my writing, and reduce many of the administrative tasks that once consumed far more time than they should have.
The human brain simply cannot compete with the speed at which AI retrieves, synthesizes, and organizes information.
Nor should it.
Used thoughtfully, AI can free us to spend more time doing what matters most.
As both a clinical psychologist and an entrepreneur, I find that incredibly exciting.
Yet every time technology removes a struggle, it also invites a more important question.
Was that struggle simply inefficient, or was it contributing something valuable?
Where AI Belongs in Psychotherapy
AI in psychotherapy refers to the growing use of artificial intelligence to support clinical documentation, administrative tasks, scheduling, treatment planning, and other aspects of mental health care.
Some of these innovations are genuinely helpful.
At the Design Your Life Centre, we use technology in many ways that improve efficiency while allowing our clinicians to devote more time and attention to their clients.
But there are certain aspects of psychotherapy that we believe should never be outsourced.
One of those is the therapist’s process of integrating a therapy session.
Why We Don’t Use AI During Therapy Sessions
The electronic health record platform we use offers an AI note-taking feature during psychotherapy sessions.
The software listens to the conversation and automatically generates a well-organized clinical note by the time the session ends.
It is an impressive piece of technology.
It is also a feature we have intentionally chosen never to use.
Not because we are resistant to innovation.
Because we believe presence is part of the treatment.
One practice that often surprises new clinicians joining our team is that, once the assessment phase of therapy is complete, I ask them to stop taking notes during sessions whenever possible.
Why?
Because every moment a therapist spends thinking about what to write down is a moment they are no longer fully present with the person sitting in front of them.
Psychotherapy is far more than gathering information.
Healing occurs when another human being is fully present with you—listening not only to your words, but also to your emotions, your body language, your energy, your moments of hesitation, and even the silence between sentences.
Clients deserve that level of attention.
Presence isn’t simply a therapeutic skill.
It is part of the treatment.
Clinical Thinking Should Never Be Outsourced
Many people assume that writing a therapy note is simply documentation.
We see it differently.
When a therapist reflects on a session afterward, they begin integrating everything they experienced. They organize patterns, consider emotional themes, evaluate where the client is in the therapeutic process, and intentionally decide what deserves attention next.
That reflection deepens clinical understanding.
It sharpens judgment.
It informs the next session.
Writing the note is not merely administrative work.
It is clinical work.
It is part of what our clients are trusting us—and paying us—to do.
That process should remain profoundly human.
How We Use AI Ethically
This doesn’t mean we avoid artificial intelligence altogether.
Quite the opposite.
Immediately after a session, our clinicians often dictate their own reflections into a secure application without including any identifying client information.
They speak freely about what stood out, the emotional themes that emerged, the insights that developed during the session, and their intentions for future treatment while everything is still fresh in their minds.
Only after the therapist has completed the clinical thinking does AI assist by organizing those reflections into a concise, well-structured clinical note.
Every note is carefully reviewed by the therapist before it becomes part of the client’s record.
The thinking remains entirely human.
The technology simply makes documenting that thinking more efficient.
To us, this represents the ethical use of artificial intelligence in psychotherapy.
Technology supports the work.
It does not replace it.
The Future of AI in Mental Health
Artificial intelligence will continue transforming mental health care in ways we are only beginning to imagine.
Many of those changes will improve accessibility.
Many will reduce administrative burden.
Many will make therapists more efficient.
We welcome that progress.
At the same time, every profession must decide what it believes is too important to outsource.
At the Design Your Life Centre, our answer is clear.
The most powerful part of psychotherapy has never been the note.
It has never been the treatment plan.
It has never even been the techniques.
It is the experience of one human being sitting with another in a way that allows healing to become possible.
Technology will continue to evolve.
Human presence should never become optional.