Working With Artificial Intelligence (AI): Does Artificial Intelligence mean Artificial Therapy?

Programme

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already reshaping everyday life, from search engines to virtual assistants, entire industries are changing and responding, often with fear. But how well do we understand AI’s role in therapy? This event explores what it means to be AI ready in clinical practice, from ethical frameworks to practical applications, we’ll cover the different types of AI, how AI might support or challenge therapeutic work and whether AI could ever truly provide counselling as we see it. With expert input, this event will give interested attendees and BACP members a space to examine both the potential and the risks of AI in therapy and discuss how we can and likely should engage with this rapidly evolving technology responsibly.

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Programme

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9.30am - 9.40am	Welcome & Introductions
9.40am - 10.40am	The impact of AI on people at work, presented by Sue Christy and Nicola Neath (45-minute presentation followed by 15-minute live Q&A session)
10.40am –10.50am	Break
10.50am –11.50am	When technology meets therapy: The role of AI tools, presentation by Susie Masterson (45-minute presentation followed by 15-minute live Q&A session)
11.50am –12.00pm	Break
12.00pm – 1.00pm	AI and the roads ahead, presented by Richard Miller (45-minute presentation followed by 15-minute live Q&A session)
1.00pm - 1.30pm	Panel Discussion
1.30pm	Event close

This programme is subject to change.

The impact of AI on people at work

9.40am – 10.40am

We’ll explore how this kind of change lands psychologically. When work is tied to identity and meaning, threat to a role can feel existential. People may show up as angry, shut down, disengaged, or unable to plan ahead, and these reactions are often misunderstood or minimised.

The session also looks at the practitioner’s position. Many of us are supporting clients through uncertainty while quietly holding similar worries ourselves. We’ll reflect on what helps – and what doesn’t – when the future feels unknowable, drawing on lessons from earlier periods of collective uncertainty, including Covid.

We’ll consider the risks of silence and false reassurance, and what psychologically safe, trauma-informed support looks like when the threat is real. The session finishes by reflecting on what this means for organisations, leadership, and duty of care, particularly for groups who are often hit hardest by major technological change.

Sue Christy is an accredited counsellor and trained Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) professional and workplace trauma specialist.

Sue works nationally and internationally across a wide range of settings, including emergency services, corporate organisations, and humanitarian contexts, including supporting staff working in and around war and conflict.

Sue also delivers training and consultancy focused on trauma-informed practice, psychological safety, and supporting people when work becomes overwhelming or destabilising. Her approach is shaped by real-world experience, evidence-based practice, and a strong commitment to keeping work human, even in the face of significant change.

Nicola Neath is an accredited counsellor, Author, Director for the Board for the Council for Work and Health Co-Chair of the Mental Health Subgroup; Executive member of BACP Workplace Division; Steering Group member for AEDAA (Association for Exploring the Dynamics of Adult Attachment). She is now in independent practice with over 20 years’ experience working with people and organisations as a counsellor/psychotherapist, coach and trainer. She also offers mentoring and supervision to individuals and groups in person and online.

Significant contributions to the field include publications on the workplace application of the McCluskey Model on Attachment Dynamics (To be Met as a Person at Work), and Relational Ethics. Her expertise is also reflected in several articles authored for BACP journals. She is deeply passionate about integrating psychological perspectives in her work, ultimately benefiting employees and the broader organisational environment.

When technology meets therapy: The role of AI tools

10.50am – 11.50am

Our clients are already using technology to support their daily lives, so it follows that this will include mental health and relationship support. Digital platforms are always on and always available. This is in stark contrast to access to the majority of traditional mental health services - whether accessed via the NHS or privately. The statistics around chatbot use for mental health and relationship support demonstrate what we as a profession already know: demand outstrips supply. So, what should we be aware of in terms of client usage of generative AI tools? How can we bring it into our sessions to improve therapeutic outcomes?

Having spent 20 years in the tech sector managing global sales teams, Susie Masterson retrained as a
psychotherapist in 2016. At Google, Susie coached and mentored female founders. Her client base is still predominantly female and non-binary. Having both trained and worked with Rape Crisis, Susie's approach is trauma informed and relational.
Susie believes that relationships are really important and offers both therapy and relationship coaching to: couples, mothers and daughters, co-workers, and friends.

Before setting up in private practice in 2021, Susie worked as a transformation consultant
for an affordable counselling charity. As a strategic member of the practice management team, Susie helped identify and implement digital tools and practices to improve client outcomes. Feminist principles are at the core of all Susie’s services, and many of her clients are in the LGBTQ+ community.

Susie is a BACP media representative and EDI mentor.

AI and the roads ahead

12.00pm - 1.00pm

While we can't ever tell the future, we can take steps today to prepare for it. In this presentation we will look into the some ways in which AI technology may diffuse into the mental health field and some of the societal upheavals that may occur.

AI is already changing how we use technology, how we communicate and how we work. What might mental health look like in 2035, and what happens between then and now? What can we do today to help bring about a future which values mental health? Looking forward as an experiment can help us find gaps in our current knowledge together.

Richard Miller lives with his family and works as a counsellor, supervisor and trainer working in private practice in Fife. Since 2002, he has studied Humanistic Psychotherapies and Psychology in Aberdeen University, University of Strathclyde and Glasgow Caledonian University where he graduated with the best overall award for Psychology.

He has served as President of Aberdeen University Students Association, an executive officer of the National Union of Students Scotland and is currently serving as co-director of the Scottish Institute of Emotion-Focused Therapy. He has provided counselling in local high schools and St Andrews University. Richard is a current member of the British Association for Counselling, Psychotherapy, the British Psychological Society and the International Society for Emotion Focused Therapy.

Richard has been closely following advancements of the AI field since 2015.