How Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools Can Benefit Therapists and Mental Health Professionals

By now most of us know that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is enhancing the way we work, play, and create, and the field of mental health is not an exception. From healthcare to academia, AI has the potential to revolutionize the way we live and work. If you are new to the world of AI, it can be challenging to know where to start. In this blog, I will discuss simple first steps you can take to begin using AI technology.

Therapists and healing professionals in private practice, or those with group practices can benefit from AI in numerous ways. The good news is that you don’t need to be a tech wizard to use AI, anyone can learn! While AI might sound a bit intimidating, keep in mind that AI is already all around us in everyday life. For example, have you ever used Siri or Alexa? That's AI! And it can do a lot more than just tell you the weather or play your favorite song.

Now, you might be thinking, "That all sounds great Mari, but I'm not a tech expert. How am I supposed to implement AI in my business?" Don't worry, there are plenty of AI websites out there that are specifically designed for small business owners that are incredibly easy to navigate. As an additional support, I have listed some of the more popular AI websites below, along with my personal favorites, with a brief description and URL for each site. Note that I am not affiliated with any of these organizations, I simply enjoy technology and helping others learn tools to support their small businesses.

Let’s start by exploring the ways AI can help therapists and small business owners streamline their business tasks. Take a breath, have fun, and know that if you learned how to use Google Docs, or Google Sheets, PowerPoint, or even Word, you can easily learn how to use AI.

Content Creation

One of the most significant ways AI can help small business owners, therapists, and writers is by aiding in content creation. AI can generate unique and compelling content in a matter of minutes. AI-powered tools can create blog posts, social media content, and product descriptions with ease. This feature can save a great deal of time and effort, allowing private practice therapists or those in the field of mental health more time to focus on other essential tasks or interests.  With a few simple prompts and descriptions that you provide to your bot, you can easily (yes, easily!) create an article, blog, slideshow, social media post, comment, or speech.

Graphic Design

Need a stunning graphic design, banner, logo or book cover but creating art is not your strong suit? AI can help you design beautiful graphics with AI-powered tools which generate logos, banners, and other visuals almost in the blink of an eye. While AI cannot replace the unique imagination and creativity of a human artist (though hardcore AI enthusiasts will likely disagree with me), this AI feature can save time and money for small business owners who are on a tight budget or have limited time.

Website Design

AI-powered tools can also help you design your website. These tools use machine learning algorithms to analyze user behavior and generate website designs that are optimized for user experience. This feature can help small business owners attract more customers, increase engagement, and boost sales. It is important to keep in mind that as with any new technology there are pros and cons as AI tech evolves. For example, you will want to understand what improves your SEO (search engine optimization) vs. what might negatively impact your SEO.

Curating Content

AI can also help curate content. AI-powered tools can analyze social media feeds, news articles, and other sources of information to generate curated content that is relevant to that specific business. This feature can help small business owners save time and effort while ensuring that their content remains fresh, unique, and engaging. Again, there are prompts that you will want to give your AI bot to generate the content.

For example, if you wanted to write a blog on the importance of therapy for mental health, you will want to keep the following tips in mind when structuring your AI prompts:

1. Who are you writing to?
2. What are three key points you want to get across?
3. How will this benefit your audience?
4. What do you specifically want your article to look and sound like?
5. Do you want your AI to take on a role (example: social media manager, content editor, SEO expert, etc.)

Instead of, “Write an article about therapy”, a robust AI bot prompt for a mental health blog will sound more like this:

”Write a blog discussing the benefits of working with a psychotherapist or mental health professional to reduce anxiety and learn mindfulness based tools in a compassionate and supportive counseling environment. Use friendly and professional language that is easy to understand and is encouraging. Include a bullet pointed list of benefits.” This will help your bot fine tune your blog post. If you don’t like the first blog that is generated, ask it to regenerate as many times as needed. I have found that the first draft is usually not exactly what I want, but by the third draft, refining my prompts, I get much closer to what I am looking for.

Keep in mind that you will likely need to briefly edit the content as well, or you can use an AI editor to further tailor the content. I will always carefully read and add my fine tuning on any AI generated content to avoid losing my voice and personality in the message.

An important consideration is to use AI websites that check for plagiarism when creating or curating content. Websites that can help you with this are:

·       GPTRadar.

·       Originally.AI.

·       GPTZero.

·       Turnitin.

·       CopyLeaks.

·       ZeroGPT.

·       Winston AI.

I like CopyLeaks as the AI assists the user in specifically detecting if the content was written with AI, and it does this (gasp!) with 99.12 percent accuracy. This can also be used for SEO in order to avoid Google penalties. Additionally, publishers are using this AI technology to check that the submissions of books and articles are original content. This AI is also used in school systems and universities by professors and teachers to double check the integrity of their student’s homework. Students who try to take shortcuts (aka cheat) by scraping websites and articles for their homework thinking this won’t be discovered by their instructors will want to think again.

Customer Service

AI-powered chatbots can help small business owners provide excellent customer service. These chatbots can answer frequently asked questions, provide product information, and even process orders. This feature can help small business owners save time and money while ensuring that their customers receive the support they need.

Popular AI Websites

As promised, here is a list of popular AI websites for small business owners. Note that this list is only the tip of the AI iceberg. If you are interested in discovering more AI websites that are specifically designed for your unique business needs, look for an AI website that will generate a specific list for you. You can do this by giving the AI “bot” a prompt, and then let it work its AI magic! An example of a well rounded prompt might be: “Provide a bullet pointed list of AI websites and their URLS that will create responses to my therapy clients in professional but warm language.” You can then adjust your prompts as needed, and then regenerate the response several times until you are satisfied.

I will begin with some of my favorite websites, followed by a few helpful tips…

Jasper.AI (https://www.jasper.ai)
My current favorite content AI wizardry is via Jasper.AI which allows you to create amazing blogs that provide a humanlike energy. You can create facebook ads if that’s your thing, website content, listserv posts, video scripts, blog posts, marketing emails, video scripts, captions, academic papers, SEO content…and in 26 languages. You can also collaborate with your team which is an extra plus! Jasper is affordable and has a user friendly platform.

Resemble.AI (https://www.resemble.ai/)
Resemble’s realistic AI voice generator allows you to create human–like voiceovers in seconds, easy breezy! You just upload your voice into it and within moments you can use text to prompt your voice in almost any language. You will upload about 15 samples of your voice, and then anything you write can be converted into your own voice. Super helpful for call centers, assistants, audio books, entertainment…the possibilities are endless, and it is loads of fun!

Runway (https://runwayml.com/)
I can lose hours on this platform, it is so creative, with beautiful interface. In the simplest terms, it is like a supercharged image editor that is going to add lightening in a bottle for your workflow. Amazing, creative, brilliant…all the stuff! Be prepared to get lost with your creative muse and meet artistic parts of yourself you did not know existed.

ChatGPT (article link for ChatGPT to read first)
ChatGPT is gaining a lot of popularity in the AI world. It is OpenAI’s text-generating AI chatbot that is able to write just about any content including certain coding through short text prompts. A major plus is that ChatGPT was recently super-charged by GPT-4. What the heck is GPT-4? In a nutshell it is the latest language-writing model from OpenAI’s labs that allows for speed of light writing that is more tight, refined, and varied. Super user friendly, hardly any learning curve, efficient, and again, fun! Additionally, you can basically throw any question at it and it will come back with a thorough, well researched, highly specific, answer, or create content. Google is going to have to step up their game big time to compete with what is arriving.

Remember, there are always limitations with any AI platform and AI tech. On occasion the AI may generate inaccurate or incomplete information, or biased information that is “baked into” the platform, or provide misleading or outdated information - for example medical information. There are also growing concerns for some industries and on social media about AI being used to impersonate, distribute false information, or people using AI for phishing and other illegal scams. As such it is important at this stage/wave of AI content creating to double check, edit where needed, and ensure that you fact check as appropriate.

Other concerns with this emerging technology include the ongoing debate of robots taking over human jobs, or replacing artists, writers, musicians, teachers, and watering down “God given” talents for mass consumption. Additional research is needed on the impact of student learning and brain development when AI is heavily implemented in classrooms. There are legitimate worries about plagiarism, or who owns the AI content (which would require several other blogs for me to address this). These are real concerns that must be addressed by AI developers, and, as with any evolving technology, legal and ethical eyes are on what will be developed in the months and years to come, and how these concerns will be managed. Still, AI assisted apps and sites are a major time saver for small business owners who are juggling an incredible amount of tasks. I believe AI is beneficial for small business owners, however, as always, educate yourself. Be an informed consumer, consider your clinical legal and ethical responsibilities, your clinical boundaries, especially with confidentiality, and remember that while AI is fun and convenient, it is not a magic wand.

In my clinical and coaching roles, these sites have been helpful working with my therapy and business coaching clients in supporting various counseling or coaching tasks. For example, a therapy client with ADHD may find an AI voice platform like Resemble.AI to be life changing for organizing tasks and scheduling appointments. A business coaching client who doesn’t enjoy the process of writing, or feels lost in the maze of content creating will likely enjoy the ease of an AI like Jasper. If you’d like my support in navigating first steps, I am happy to help! You are welcome to schedule with me via my coaching calendar here.

The focus of this blog is not to debate the fine points or limitations of AI, you can do that on social media if you are so inclined as there are plenty of groups and chats where people blow off steam all day long on the topic of AI. With that in mind, let’s move on and look at a few other tried and true websites that utilize AI, and that have been around for awhile. These are trusted and respected platforms that you are welcome to check out. Again, I do not have an affiliate relationship with any of these organizations:

Canva (https://www.canva.com/)
Canva is a graphic design platform that uses AI to help small business owners create fantastic graphics. The platform features a user-friendly interface and a vast library of design templates. Their new feature for AI slide creation is a game changer. It is very simple to learn how to navigate Canva, I encourage you to give the unpaid version a try.

Grammarly (https://www.grammarly.com/)
Grammarly is an AI-powered writing assistant that helps small business owners, writers, and artists improve their writing. The tool analyzes text for grammar, spelling, and style errors and provides suggestions for improvement. An easy website to dip your toe into the AI pool.

Wix (https://www.wix.com/)
Wix is a website builder that uses AI to help small business owners create stunning websites. The platform features a user-friendly interface and a vast library of website templates.

Hootsuite (https://hootsuite.com/)
Hootsuite is a social media management platform that has been around for a while. It uses AI to help small business owners manage their social media presence. The tool allows users to schedule posts, monitor social media feeds, and analyze performance.

Zendesk (https://www.zendesk.com/)
Zendesk is a customer service platform that uses AI-powered chatbots to help small business owners provide excellent customer support. The tool features a user-friendly interface and a vast library of customer service templates.

Salesforce Einstein (https://www.salesforce.com/products/einstein/overview/)
This AI-powered CRM system can help you manage customer relationships more effectively.

Helpful Tips from Mari for Refining A.I. Content Prompts

1. Make sure you write nuanced, creative prompts in the AI chat box if you are not using an AI agent (see more on AI agents below)

2. A prompt is the way you ask the AI your questions (remember, this is not a google search)

3. Assign a role to the AI in your chat box/prompt (social media manager, fact checker, copy editor, etc.)

4. Write a creative prompt structure idea for your AI chat. Examples: “Act as a fact checker” (then add your prompt, this will allow the AI to check data across many sources)…”; “Act as a copy editor (then your prompt)…;”Act as a social media manager”, etc.

5. Ask the content AI to create several versions of the content and assign it a role. Example, “I want you to act as a writing editor. I will provide you with a paragraph. I want you to rewrite it several times and then put the versions in a table for me.” The AI will provide multiple samples and give you options to choose from, all organized in a table format.

6. Refine, refine, refine your prompts. Example of a detailed prompt for the chat box: “Write a professional email to a colleague named Elizabeth inviting her to lunch. Use kindness, warmth and humor. Let Elizabeth know that I will be paying for lunch as a thank you to her. Ask her to pick a Friday or Saturday in May, hours would be 11 AM-1PM. Ask her if she has a particular food they enjoy. Sign my name this way: Warm regards, Mari”

When I added the above prompt to my content AI chat box (point #6), here is what my AI generated for me in 15 seconds (it provided the subject line as well):

Subject: Invitation to Lunch

“Dear Elizabeth,

I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to extend an invitation to you for lunch as a small token of my appreciation for all the help and support you have given me. I am grateful for your valuable contributions, and I believe that a casual lunch would be a perfect way to express my gratitude.

The purpose of this lunch is to have a relaxed conversation outside of the usual work environment, so I thought it would be best if we could have it at a nearby restaurant. I would like to let you know that I will be paying for the meal as a thank you for your kindness and efforts.

If you're available in May, kindly let me know which Friday or Saturday works best for you. The time would be from 11 AM to 1 PM. I am flexible, so we can choose a date and time that suits your schedule.

Also, I want to make sure that we select a restaurant that you would enjoy. Do you have any particular food or cuisine preference? We can explore a few options together and select a place that suits your taste.

I am looking forward to catching up with you over lunch and sharing some laughter and good food. Please let me know your availability and preferences so that I can make the arrangements accordingly.

Warm regards,

Mari”

Now, let’s say I don’t really like that email content the AI created and I want something else. Easy breezy, I can simply ask the AI to regenerate it by clicking a button, and a few seconds later, here is what it created:

”Dear Elizabeth,

I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your hard work and dedication to our team. You truly are an exceptional colleague and it is always a pleasure working with you.

As a token of my appreciation, I would like to take you out to lunch. The bill is on me, so don't worry about a thing! I think it would be great to catch up over some good food and enjoy some laughs together.

If you're free, please let me know which Friday or Saturday in May works best for you between 11 AM-1PM. I'm happy to work around your schedule.

Also, do you have a favorite food or restaurant you enjoy? I'm open to trying something new or going to your favorite spot.

Thank you again for all that you do, Elizabeth. I look forward to hearing back from you and sharing a meal together.

Warm regards,

Mari”

As your AI gets to know your particular voice and style, it will generate content that aligns with your voice and personality. Does it replace you spirit and creativity, your human heart and soul? No, of course not (there’s only one wonderful you after all). However, if you are busy juggling tasks like many of us, then AI is a handy assistant.

Other AI Supportive Websites:

Google Analytics
This powerful tool uses AI to help you analyze website traffic and user behavior.

Google Cloud AI Platform
Google Cloud AI Platform is a powerful suite of tools and services that enables small business owners to build and deploy machine learning models. With its easy-to-use interface, Google Cloud AI Platform can help small business owners automate routine tasks and make better decisions based on data. Google Cloud AI Platform also provides pre-built machine learning models that can be easily customized to suit a business's specific needs.

Amazon Web Services AI
Amazon Web Services (AWS) AI is another popular website for AI for small business owners. AWS AI provides a range of AI services, including machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision. With AWS AI, small business owners can easily build and deploy AI applications without the need for extensive coding skills. AWS AI also provides pre-built AI models that can be easily customized to fit a business's specific needs.

Article on AI Terms/AI Glossary
Here is a concise article by Telus International outlining 50 AI terms that every beginner will want to get familiar with. Some of these terms may be part of your every day discourse, and others may be new. Think of this as learning a few important phrases in a new language in order to visit a country (the land of AI) you’ve been excited to travel to.

Future of AI
As AI continues to evolve, we will see exciting new technology hit. Even as I write this, the early development of “AI agents” is happening. Without going into too much detail, the nutshell is that these AI agents work differently in that they write their own prompts. Rather than creating a prompt for the AI in your chat box, instead you would assign the AI agent a detailed goal and role (not a prompt). The AI agent then figures out what it needs to do to accomplish the goal you assigned. For example, you would not tell the AI agent something like, “Write a blog post about SEO”; instead you would give the AI agent a larger goal such as, “Improve the conversion rate of our business.” The AI agent figures out what it needs to do to accomplish that goal, which may or may not be writing a blog on SEO. You can also assign the AI agent to a role, “I want you to act as a copy editor”.

There is so much more to discuss when it comes to AI agents, but I do not want to overwhelm you. If you want to dive into that area of AI development and geek out, this is an interesting article that does a great job of breaking down the various types and functions of AI agents.

So, there you have it! I hope this information encourages you to give AI a try. As you have learned, artificial Intelligence used mindfully and with integrity and can be a valuable tool for therapists, mental health professionals, and small business owners. There are plenty of AI websites out there to help you get started, and I am happy to help as well. If you find yourself bogged down, try not to be too intimidated by the AI technology. An encouraging reminder is that we therapists and healers are typically life long learners, and learning new things is great for brain health as well, so have fun and enjoy the process.

Ready for a simple first AI challenge?

Here is a super easy, 5 minute mini AI challenge if you are up for it: If you are ready to dip your toe in the water, here is a first step I’d like you to try: Find a free AI content website like ChatGPT, generate a comment for this blog by giving your AI “bot” a prompt in the chat box. Examples of prompts: “Create a thank you response for Mari Lee for her AI blog”, or “Create a brief but friendly paragraph sharing my excitement about learning AI”. Then cut and paste what your AI bot creates into the comment section below and introduce yourself!

Kindly and in support,
Mari

P.S. As a writer, I have enjoyed the process of creating content my entire life through articles, blogs, books, scholarly writing, or writing poetry. Given how busy my month has been, I decided to let my AI bot “Oliver” on the ChatGPT platform do the lion’s share of writing for this blog. This is the first blog I have produced using AI assistance, after all, it made sense that my first blog about AI should make use of AI. Oliver (my AI bot buddy) generated chunks of writing in minutes that would have taken me several hours to write and compile. I spent about 5 minutes refining my prompts, and about 40 minutes fine tuning the AI content Oliver came up with, adding my “Mari” voice to round out what my AI bot created for me. While I appreciated Oliver’s quick and efficient way of following my prompts for this blog, I equally enjoyed adding my personal touches, writer’s voice and wisdom in warming up what I wanted to share. As my AI skills increase, I will continue to share what I learn.
Oliver and I make a great team, don’t ya’ think? 😀