Your Clients Are Already Using AI: What Therapists Need to Know
An online CPD course for counsellors, psychotherapists, hypnotherapists and other therapists who want to understand how and why clients use AI for emotional support, and what it means for their practice. The course is self-paced, provides 10 CPD hours and is written by Karen Ferguson, a therapist of 26 years and founder of MindMotive AI.
Course at a Glance
Who it’s for: counsellors, psychotherapists, hypnotherapists and other therapists and wellbeing practitioners
CPD hours: 10
Format: online, self-paced, text-based, with no videos or live sessions
Structure: six modules plus a short final assignment
Access: 3 months from the date of purchase
Certificate: MindMotive AI certificate of completion, emailed after your final assignment has been checked
Price: £195
Provider: MindMotive AI, Cambridgeshire, UK
Why This Course Matters Now
Whether or not you use AI yourself, it’s likely that some of your clients do. They may be talking to it between sessions, using it to make sense of what they’re feeling, or bringing what it told them into the room, and they won’t always mention it. Professional bodies now see AI as relevant to all therapists, not just those who use it.
This isn’t a course on how to use AI, and it won’t try to talk you into liking it. It’s about understanding what your clients may be experiencing, so you can respond with knowledge rather than guesswork. You don’t need any technical knowledge or experience of AI to take it.
What the Course Covers
Module 1: AI and Emotional Support – Why This Matters Now. Why people turn to conversational AI for emotional support, what they may find helpful, and why some practitioners are reluctant to engage with it.
Module 2: Understanding Conversational AI – How It Behaves and Why. How AI conversations work, the differences between free, paid and purpose-built AI, why responses can sound convincing but be inaccurate, and how AI products respond to distress.
Module 3: When Clients Use AI – Implications for Therapeutic Practice. What it means when AI conversations become part of a client’s experience, including when AI helps clients find words, introduces new interpretations or complicates therapeutic work.
Module 4: Professional Attitudes Towards AI – The Impact on Clients and Public Trust. How practitioners’ views about AI, in sessions and in public, can affect what clients feel able to share and how the profession is seen.
Module 5: Using AI in Your Own Practice – Opportunities, Limitations and Evaluation. How to judge AI tools if you choose to use or recommend them, and how to make informed choices without pressure to adopt.
Module 6: Beyond the Therapy Room – Extending Support, Reach and Income. Ways to extend your support and income beyond individual appointments through MindMotive AI’s referral and licence arrangements.
What You’ll Be Able to Do
By the end of the course, you’ll be able to:
- weigh up the key considerations before using or recommending an AI tool
- explain why people use conversational AI for emotional support and what they may get from it
- recognise characteristics of AI that can shape how people interpret its responses
- respond to a client’s AI use in a way that respects their experience and keeps your professional judgement
reflect on how your own attitudes towards AI may come across to clients
How It Works
Each module includes reading, a short activity and a reflective exercise, and you work through the modules in order at your own pace. When you’ve completed all six, you upload a short final assignment of six questions, about 500 to 700 words in total. Once it has been checked, we’ll email you a certificate confirming 10 CPD hours, usually within working 7 days.
About the Course Tutor
Karen Ferguson has been a therapist for 26 years and has trained more than 1,000 therapists. She is the founder of MindMotive AI, where she designs conversational AI partners, including Otto, and she has spent more than three years designing, using and testing AI for emotional support. She is a Fellow of the ACCPH.
Frequently Asked Questions
Counsellors, psychotherapists, hypnotherapists and other therapists and wellbeing practitioners, whether or not they use AI themselves.
No. The course explains what you need to know in plain language and assumes no technical knowledge.
No. The course is about understanding your clients’ use of AI. Module 5 covers how to judge AI tools if you choose to use or recommend them, but there’s no expectation that you will. If you’re interested in AI designed for use in therapeutic practice, MindMotive AI has Digital Partners built for practitioners, and you’re welcome to contact us to find out more.
No. It’s a CPD course from MindMotive AI, and you receive a certificate of completion confirming 10 CPD hours. CPD comes in many forms, including courses, reading, workshops and reflective learning, and it doesn’t need to be accredited to count towards your professional development.
You have 3 months from the date of purchase.
Upload your final assignment at the end of the course. Once it has been checked to confirm all six questions have been answered, we’ll email your certificate, usually within 7 working days.
No. It’s a completion check, not an exam, and individual written feedback isn’t included. If an answer is missing or doesn’t address the question, you may be asked to complete it before your certificate is issued.
Join the Course
Understand what your clients may be experiencing, and respond with knowledge rather than guesswork.