The field of psychology has been undergoing rapid changes. Therapists, counselors, and psychologists have for a long time been buried in paperwork. Right from soap note writing and keeping track of the schedule of patients to being updated with the latest developments in the clinical world, the “business” part of psychology typically gets in the way of the “healing” part.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is coming in to fill the gap.
In this article, we will discuss the following five AI tools in psychology practice. We will explain the practical applications of each tool by giving step-by-step instructions on how to use the tools. We will also discuss why they can prove to be helpful in allowing you to offer better care to patients by saving time.
Why Should a Psychology Practice Use AI?
Before jumping into the list, lets speak about the “why.” Using AI within the medical context is not about how the therapist could be replaced. Psychology is an extremely human process, something that the AI simply can’t do: Psychology involves empathy, building an alliance, or understanding the subtlety of facial expressions.
However, AI is excellent at:
- Administrative Efficiency: Writing notes that used to take hours.
- Data Analysis: Identifying patterns in a patient’s mood over time.
- Accessibility: Providing support to patients when you are not available (after-hours support).
- Research: Summarizing thousands of academic papers in seconds.
By automating these tasks, you reduce clinician burnout, which is currently at an all-time high in the mental health profession.
1. Heidi Health: The AI Medical Scribe for Clinical Documentation
Use Case: Clinical Note-Taking and Documentation
The biggest “pain point” for any psychologist is clinical documentation. Writing SOAP (Subjective, Objective, Assessment, and Plan) or DAP (Data, Assessment, and Plan) notes is time-consuming. Many therapists spend 10–15 hours a week just writing notes.
Heidi Health is an AI-powered medical scribe designed to listen to your sessions (with patient consent) and turn that conversation into a structured clinical note instantly.
Why it’s great for Psychologists:
- Privacy First: It is HIPAA, GDPR, and PIPEDA compliant.
- Custom Templates: You can tell the AI to write in your specific style.
- Focus on the Patient: You no longer need to type on a laptop while the patient is talking. You can maintain eye contact and stay present.
How to use Heidi Health (Step-by-Step):
- Sign Up and Setup: Create an account at Heidi Health. Ensure you sign the Business Associate Agreement (BAA) for HIPAA compliance.
- Get Consent: Always ask your patient for permission to use an AI scribe. Explain that the audio is encrypted and used only to generate the note.
- Start Recording: Open the Heidi app on your phone or computer at the start of the session. Click “Record.”
- Conduct Your Session: Talk to your patient as you normally would. You don’t need to speak to the AI; just let it listen in the background.
- Generate the Note: Once the session is over, click “Stop.” Choose your template (e.g., SOAP note). Within seconds, the AI will provide a draft.
- Review and Edit: This is the most important step. Review the draft, make any necessary clinical adjustments, and then copy it into your Electronic Health Record (EHR) system.
Example: During a session, a patient talks about insomnia and a recent fight with a colleague. Heidi Health will automatically organize the insomnia under “Subjective,” put your observation of their anxious mood under “Objective,” summarize your plan for a CBT-I (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia) intervention under “Plan.”
2. Wysa: AI for Patient Engagement and Between-Session Support
Use Case: Crisis Triage and CBT Homework
Therapy usually happens once a week for 50 minutes. But what happens during the other 10,000 minutes of the week? Patients often struggle between sessions and may need immediate tools to manage anxiety or stress.
Wysa is a clinically validated AI “pocket penguin” that uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) techniques to talk to patients through a chat interface.
Why it’s great for Psychologists:
- 24/7 Availability: It provides immediate support when a patient has a panic attack at 3 AM.
- Evidence-Based: It uses techniques like reframing and grounding exercises.
- Crisis Detection: If a patient mentions self-harm, Wysa immediately directs them to emergency helplines.
How to integrate Wysa into your practice:
- Professional Account: Visit Wysa for Clinicians to see their enterprise or professional versions.
- Prescribe the App: Suggest Wysa to your patients as a “digital tool” for homework.
- Set Goals: Ask the patient to use Wysa for “daily check-ins.”
- Review the Data: In your next session, ask the patient to show you their mood tracker or the summaries provided by the app. This gives you data on how they felt throughout the week, rather than just how they feel on the day of the appointment.
Example: A patient with General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) feels overwhelmed at work. They open Wysa and type, “I’m so stressed.” The AI guides them through a 4-7-8 breathing exercise and helps them reframe the thought “I’m going to fail” into “I am facing a challenge, but I have the tools to handle it.”
3. Carepatron: AI-Powered Practice Management
Use Case: Scheduling, Billing, and Workflow Automation
Running a private practice is running a business. You have to manage bookings, send invoices, handle insurance claims, and remind patients of their appointments.
Carepatron is a practice management software that uses AI to streamline these administrative tasks, making the “office” part of your practice almost invisible.
Why it’s great for Psychologists:
- All-in-One: It combines scheduling, telehealth, and billing.
- Automated Reminders: Reduces “no-shows” by using AI to send reminders at the best times.
- AI Transcription: Like Heidi, it also has built-in transcription features.
How to use Carepatron (Step-by-Step):
- Onboarding: Sign up at Carepatron.
- Import Client List: Upload your current patient list securely.
- Enable the Client Portal: Give your patients a link where they can book their own appointments based on your availability.
- Automate Invoicing: Set the system to automatically generate and send an invoice the moment a session ends.
- Use AI Templates: Use their library of AI-generated intake forms to gather patient history before the first meeting.
Example: Instead of spending Sunday night looking at your calendar and worrying about who hasn’t paid, you log into Carepatron. You see that the AI has already sent out three payment reminders and filled a cancellation slot by automatically notifying a patient on your waitlist.
4. Elicit: AI for Research and Evidence-Based Practice
Use Case: Staying Updated on Psychological Research
To be a great psychologist, you need to stay updated on the latest treatments. However, reading dozens of academic journals is time-consuming.
Elicit is an “AI Research Assistant.” It helps you find answers from 200 million academic papers without you having to read every single one.
Why it’s great for Psychologists:
- Accuracy: Unlike ChatGPT, which can “hallucinate” (make things up), Elicit summarizes real, peer-reviewed papers.
- Literature Reviews: It can find patterns across multiple studies (e.g., “What is the latest research on EMDR for complex PTSD?”).
- Saves Time: It extracts the most important findings into a simple table.
How to use Elicit (Step-by-Step):
- Go to the Website: Visit Elicit.com.
- Ask a Clinical Question: Type a specific question. For example: “What are the most effective interventions for social anxiety in teenagers?”
- Review the Summary: Elicit will provide a summary of the top 4–8 papers.
- Analyze the Table: Look at the table it generates, which shows the “Population,” “Intervention,” and “Outcome” of each study.
- Apply to Practice: Use these findings to adjust your treatment plans or to explain the “why” behind an intervention to a patient.
Example: You have a patient who isn’t responding well to traditional talk therapy for depression. You ask Elicit, “Efficacy of Behavioral Activation vs. CBT for severe depression.” Elicit shows you recent meta-analyses suggesting Behavioral Activation might be more effective for this specific severity. You adjust your approach based on this evidence.
5. UpLift: AI for Measurement-Based Care
Use Case: Patient Screening and Progress Tracking
Measurement-Based Care (MBC) is the practice of using standardized scales (like the PHQ-9 for depression or GAD-7 for anxiety) to track progress. However, patients often forget to fill these out, and clinicians often forget to score them.
UpLift uses AI to guide patients through these assessments and provides clinicians with a visual dashboard of the results.
Why it’s great for Psychologists:
- Objective Data: It helps you see if a patient is actually getting better, beyond just their verbal report.
- Engagement: The AI makes the screening process feel like a conversation rather than a cold test.
- Compliance: It helps meet the requirements of insurance companies that demand proof of progress.
How to use UpLift (Step-by-Step):
- Integration: Sign up at UpLift Health.
- Assign Screens: Before a session, the system automatically sends a digital screening to the patient.
- AI Analysis: The AI scores the results and flags any “red flags” (like a sudden spike in suicidal ideation).
- Review the Trend: Open the patient’s chart to see a graph of their progress over the last six months.
- Discuss: Use the graph in your session. Say, “I noticed your anxiety scores dropped significantly after we started the mindfulness exercises. How does that feel to you?”
Example: A patient thinks they aren’t making progress. You show them the UpLift chart where their PHQ-9 score has dropped from a 22 (Severe) to a 12 (Moderate) over three months. This visual evidence boosts the patient’s motivation and “self-efficacy.”
Ethical Considerations: The “Safety First” Approach
While AI is incredibly helpful, psychology is a protected and sensitive field. You must follow these rules:
- HIPAA Compliance is Non-Negotiable: Never use a “general” AI (like the free version of ChatGPT) for patient notes. General AIs save your data to train their models. You must use tools that offer a Business Associate Agreement (BAA).
- The “Human-in-the-Loop” Rule: Never let an AI make a final clinical decision. The AI provides a draft or a suggestion. You, the licensed professional, must review, edit, and approve everything.
- Informed Consent: Patients have a right to know if AI is being used. Update your consent forms to include a section on “Use of AI for Documentation and Practice Management.”
- Bias Awareness: AI models can sometimes have biases based on the data they were trained on. Always be critical of AI suggestions, especially regarding cultural or demographic nuances.
How to Start Implementing AI in Your Practice (A 4-Week Plan)
If you feel overwhelmed, don’t try to use all five tools at once. Follow this simple rollout:
- Week 1: Documentation. Start with Heidi Health. Use it for 3–5 sessions to get a feel for how it records and summarizes.
- Week 2: Research. Spend 30 minutes on Elicit looking up a topic you’ve been curious about. See how it changes your understanding of current literature.
- Week 3: Management. Look into Carepatron or your current EHR’s AI features. Automate just one thing, like your appointment reminders.
- Week 4: Patient Tools. Introduce Wysa or UpLift to one or two “tech-savvy” patients and ask for their feedback.
Conclusion
The role of AI will not be that of a replacement for the analyst’s chair. It will be that of a remover of the “clutter” around that chair. By implementing the following tools in your practice using Heidi Health notes, Wysa therapist tools, Carepatron for admin work, Elicit for research, and finally UpLift, you can
The aim is simple: Less time on the screen and more time with the human.
The aim is simple: “Less time on
When you use these tools well, you’re doing more than making your life easier. You’re giving a modern, more efficient, and more data-driven experience to the people who need your help the most.
