Don’t Let AI Redefine Mental Health Care Without You

Therapy is already changing. The change will only accelerate, faster than many of us can adjust.

This is partly because of artificial intelligence (AI), but also because the mental health system hasn’t scaled. It has forced people to seek care in new ways, and one of those avenues is AI.

Mental health practitioners need to meet all of this with intention. Change is inevitable, and it makes sense for us to have a say in how this change occurs.

Why the System Is Ready for a Shift

We’re facing a massive mismatch between demand and supply:

• Waitlists for therapy are months long.
• Costs are rising beyond reach.
• Many areas of the country have severe provider shortages.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2023) found that about 23 percent (almost 60 million) of people struggle with mental health difficulties, though only about half get support. This leaves almost 30 million people without the mental health support they need.

At the same time, we’re facing a shortage of mental health professionals. For instance, KFF (2025) reports that the United States only has enough psychiatrists for a quarter of the population. McCrickard (2022) reported that almost half of mental health professionals report not being able to meet the demand for treatment.

Too many people need help, but there aren’t enough professionals to help them.

AI didn’t cause this crisis. But people are turning to it because the system has failed them. And what used to require a licensed professional can now be partially supported by a 24/7, judgment-free, free tool that you can take with you anywhere.

This is not about replacing human therapists but about evolving the mental health ecosystem.

What the Next 1 to 3 Years Will Look Like

One of the more exciting aspects of how I see things changing over the next few years is how much more empowered the client will feel, how less burdened by administrative work the therapist will feel, and how much more transparent the entire client-therapist relationship will be.

AI makes collaboration easier. Clients can track goals, review summaries, and revisit key insights between sessions. Therapy becomes more shared, giving clients the kind of empowerment we want them to have.

These changes will allow us to do our jobs better and better meet the needs of our clients.

1. Therapy will stop following a fixed schedule.

The 50-minute weekly session isn’t sacred. It’s a legacy structure. We’ll see:

• Shorter, flexible, more affordable check-ins
• Longer, integrative intensive sessions when needed
• More interaction and support available between sessions

2. AI will become the in-between support.

This is already happening. Clients use AI to:

• Regulate themselves when activated
• Reframe stuck thought patterns
• Track insights in real time
• Reflect before reacting in high-stress moments
• Practice difficult conversations

It builds emotional momentum between sessions and deepens self-trust. In addition, clients can submit AI transcripts of what I’ve termed interactive journaling before each session for therapist review and background. Companies are already building and supporting apps that do this for therapists.

3. Personalized treatment plans will get smarter.

AI tools will support therapists with:

• Mood, sleep, and journaling trend analysis
• Detection of emotional themes or dysregulation
• Suggestions for practices or prompts tailored to current patterns

The treatment plan becomes a living program, shared with the client and easily accessed and updated.

4. AI will reduce administrative load and allow for more transparency.

Post-session note writing will end as therapists will just need to review transcripts and notes for accuracy. AI, with permission, can:

• Transcribe sessions
• Create summaries (individually customized for the therapist and client)
• Highlight moments of progress or setback
• Identify important moments from various therapeutic perspectives, such as Internal Family Systems or cognitive behavioral therapy.
• Offer in-between session exercises for clients
• Provide supervisory-type questions for therapists to review about each session

These notes can be easily shared with clients who can keep a record of their therapy sessions for review and reminders. AI can even produce client-facing summaries of sessions to provide to clients with one or two exercises in a post-session follow-up. Therapists will be freer to use their therapeutic skills to help people because the burden of administration will be significantly less. This could also allow therapists to see more clients and help more people.

5. Therapists will shift roles.

This will widen the therapist's reach. We’ll become:

• Guides for the full mental health experience
• Interpreters of patterns, tone, and progress
• Educators helping clients use AI tools safely and effectively
• Strategists who see the whole arc of a client’s journey, not just a specific session

It would give therapists more time and energy for the helping side of their work.

6. Clinical training must adapt now.

AI fluency must become a core curriculum in mental health graduate programs:

• How to use AI for the therapist's own personal growth and mental health support
• How to guide ethical use in and out of therapy
• How to integrate AI-generated insights into treatment
• How to use/create custom AIs for therapy practice support
• How to review transcripts and journaling for therapeutic leverage
• How to teach clients reflective prompting and digital discernment

This is not a nice-to-have, but a new field of care to study.

What AI Can’t (and Shouldn’t) Do

As a reminder, AI is not a substitute for deep clinical work, crisis support, or the irreplaceable human presence of a trusted therapist.

It also comes with real risks, from biased responses to privacy concerns, that must be addressed with transparency and care.

That’s why human oversight matters. Therapists must guide this evolution, not just react to it.

A More Empowered Model of Mental Health Care

In the past, therapists were the gatekeepers. We held the language, the tools, and the frameworks.

That power is shifting. AI is democratizing emotional insight. We’ve already seen this happen through social media. People who never saw therapy as an option, because of cost, access, or stigma, are now exploring emotional support and personal growth. Why? Because it’s in their pocket. It’s available now.

We Must Meet the Moment

AI won’t replace therapy. But it is already reshaping it.

If we cling to rigid models while the world adapts, we’ll miss the opportunity to co-create the next evolution of care. The best chance of success is if we, mental health practitioners, get involved to help develop this hybrid future instead of letting it happen to us.

We can make mental health care more accessible, more human, and more responsive, not by choosing between AI and empathy, but by using both carefully and thoughtfully.