Live online CPD · Morning session

AI and Ethics in Private Practice

A live online CPD morning for counsellors and psychotherapists who want to respond thoughtfully when clients bring AI into therapy, and make decisions about AI in their own practice that they could explain to a client.

Friday 23 October 2026 10:00am – 1:00pm (UK time) Live on Zoom
Book your place See what the morning covers

£59  ·  Limited to 24 places  ·  Replay included

7 in 10

had already had a client bring AI into the room

18 of 25

named accuracy and misinformation as a leading concern

Very little

of this was covered in the professional training most of us received

From my own survey of 25 therapists in private practice, July and August 2026. A small, self-selecting group who chose to respond, so these figures describe them rather than the profession as a whole.

The situation

Your clients are already using AI

I say that with some confidence, because I asked. Here is a little of what therapists described.

A client who asked ChatGPT whether they had PTSD.
A client keeping a journal inside a chatbot, and reading its replies.
A client using it at 2am, when they couldn't reach their therapist.
A client who arrived because ChatGPT suggested what therapy might help, and told them to find someone.
A client checking whether they had understood their homework properly.
A client who turned up to a first session with a complete formulation already written.

Some of it sounded genuinely useful. Some of it sounded like reassurance-seeking with a faster response time.

Meanwhile the professional conversation has gone to the extremes. One camp says AI will replace therapy. The other says it has no business anywhere near it. Neither gives you anything to say on a Tuesday afternoon when a client mentions it.

It matters professionally too. The new BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions 2026 includes new guidance on AI and digital technology, and becomes mandatory for BACP members on 3 November 2026. This session is independently organised and isn't delivered, endorsed or accredited by BACP.

"This isn't something we ever got trained in."

One of the therapists I surveyed

Before you book

Where I stand

You don't need to be enthusiastic about AI to take part. You might already use it, feel uneasy about it, or be somewhere in between.

There isn't a position I'm trying to move you towards. Concerns about ethics, evidence and environmental impact are welcome in the room, and deciding not to use AI in your own work is a legitimate professional outcome.

You're also allowed to feel conflicted about this. A great many of us are, and it's an understandable place to be given how quickly it arrived and how little any of us were trained for it.

What remains yours is everything that matters:

  • What you understand about how these tools work
  • How you talk about it with clients
  • Whether and where you use it in your own work
  • What you decide you will never use it for
  • How you stay professionally accountable for any of it

The morning is built to help you arrive at your own version of that, rather than adopt mine.

Who it's for

Qualified therapists in private practice

Wherever you currently sit with AI, there's something here for you. The morning works for therapists who don't use it at all and need to understand what clients are doing, and for those who already use it and want firmer judgement around it.

You don't need to be technically confident, and you don't need to use AI. If you can join a Zoom call, you have everything you need.

The morning draws on my own work with therapists using AI in private practice, alongside direct survey responses about what clients are already bringing into therapy. I'm a practising therapist myself, so the examples come from the realities of private practice rather than from a technology background.
The programme

Clients, ethics and professional judgement

Three hours, in three parts: understand how these tools reply and why clients turn to them, explore what their use means through the approach you already work with, and decide what fits your own practice.

Morning

AI in the therapy room

10:00am – 1:00pm (UK time)

How a chatbot puts an answer together

A plain, clinically relevant explanation rather than a technology lecture. Why a reply can sound convincing and personal and still be wrong, why some models agree too readily, and what a warm, confident tone can hide: mistakes, bias and missing context.

What clients are using it for, and why

Looking for an explanation or diagnosis, seeking reassurance, finding the words, organising thoughts, seeking company and choosing a therapist. And why it can feel helpful: it's there at 2am, there's no waiting list, and saying something difficult may feel less exposing.

Through the approach you already use

Questions drawn from CBT, ACT, DBT, attachment, person-centred and relational work to explore what these conversations might mean for a particular client, and what changes after they close the app.

When AI comes into the therapy room

The heart of the morning. Fictional case discussions in small groups, including a client who brings an AI explanation of their difficulties, and a client in nightly chats who shows the chatbot what you said. How to ask about AI use so a client feels comfortable telling you. You'll draft your own wording as you go.

Safety, privacy and trust

The responsibilities that still apply when AI is involved. What real legal cases and recent legislation tell us about chatbot safety. Why removing a name doesn't make notes anonymous. And what research suggests about client trust when therapists use AI without telling them.

Your own decisions

A fictional therapist weighing up an AI note-taker, worked through with THINK. Then your own AI Practice Map, sorting real tasks into support, review and protect, and a written list of what you won't use AI for.

The framework

The PIPP THINK Framework

A framework I created for working through a decision about AI and explaining why you made it, with client welfare and trust at the centre.

T  Transparency and Trust. Could I explain this clearly to my client?

H  Human Judgement. Can I check, change and explain the answer?

I  Intent and Impact. What is this for, and who could it affect?

N  Necessity and Proportionality. Do I need AI, and do I need all this data?

K  Knowledge and Limitations. What do I know, and what needs checking?

Each decision ends in one of three outcomes: Proceed with safeguards, Pause, or Do Not Proceed in this form.

THINK is a way of slowing a decision down and making your reasoning visible. It isn't a compliance check, and applying it doesn't make something safe.

Shape of the morning

How the session runs

9:50Zoom room opens, so you can check your sound and settle in.
10:00Understand and explore. Welcome, how these tools reply, what clients use them for and why, questions through your modality, and the first case discussion.
11:20Fifteen-minute break
11:35Respond and decide. AI use between sessions, the second case, safety, privacy and trust, THINK, and your AI Practice Map.
12:48CPD reflection and questions
1:00Finish

You can listen, write, share or pass at any point. Small-group discussions take place in Zoom breakout rooms.

What you'll leave with

Four questions you'll be able to answer

This is the test I'd hold the morning to.

  • 1What do I say when a client tells me they have been using ChatGPT?
  • 2How do I tell when a client's AI use is helping them, and when it isn't?
  • 3How do I decide about a particular use of AI in my own practice?
  • 4What won't I use AI for, and why?

Made in the session

Yours, in your own words

  • Your own questions for asking clients about AI
  • Wording for responding when a client brings AI into the room
  • Your AI Practice Map, sorting real tasks into support, review and protect
  • A written "not for this" list
  • A CPD reflection and a clear next step

Your digital reference pack

So the session goes on discussion rather than note-taking

  • THINK, with worked examples
  • Consent, contract and privacy notice wording to adapt
  • Help with settings and unfamiliar terms
  • Professional guidance, checklists and further reading

Everything in the pack is a starting point to adapt to your own practice. It is not approved wording, not legal or data protection advice, and not a substitute for checking with your professional body, insurer or a data protection adviser where that would be appropriate.

A CPD certificate of attendance for three hours will be provided.

Practical details

Joining online

Zoom

Your joining link will be emailed to you before the session. The room opens at 9:50am so you can check your sound and settle in.

Small groups

Case discussions happen in breakout rooms. Please join from somewhere private, as you would for supervision. Cameras on helps the groups work well.

Access

If you have access, hearing, visual or other needs, please tell me when you book so I can discuss what would help.

What to have with you

A notebook, or somewhere to write. You won't need an AI account, and nothing needs setting up.

Booking

Book your place

Limited to 24 places

Online morning

Friday 23 October 2026 · 10:00am – 1:00pm (UK time)

The ethics, the client conversations and the professional thinking, live and interactive.

£59
  • The full three-hour live session
  • Small-group case discussions
  • The THINK Framework
  • Your digital reference pack
  • A 14-day replay of the teaching
  • CPD certificate of attendance
Book your place

Nothing to set up and nothing to install beyond Zoom.

Claire Feldman, therapist and founder of Prosper in Private Practice
Your host

Claire Feldman

I'm a therapist in private practice and the founder of Prosper in Private Practice, where I support therapists with the business and professional side of the work.

Let me get the obvious out of the way first. I am not a tech person. I have never written a line of code, I still call the settings menu "the thing", and I once lost most of an afternoon to a problem that turned out to be a cable. If you were hoping for someone from Silicon Valley, I'm going to disappoint you.

What I am is a fairly relentless learner. I've been using AI for about three years now, mostly for the business side of my practice, and I've spent that time experimenting, breaking things, reading far too much and working out what's genuinely useful. As a neurodivergent therapist I've found it properly helpful. It gets me through things I'd otherwise put off for weeks, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise just to sound balanced.

I also take the criticisms seriously. The questions about how these models were built, what they cost, what they get wrong, and what happens when a distressed person talks to one at 2am are all real, and none of them are answered by enthusiasm. That tension is why I put this session together. We need somewhere to have the conversation properly: what we say to clients, where the ethical lines sit, and what any of this means for the way we work.

I'm currently completing certification as an AI Practitioner, largely so that what I pass on is grounded rather than improvised. And I'm committed to explaining all of it in plain English, partly on principle, partly because I couldn't manage it the other way if I tried.

I created the THINK Framework because therapists kept asking me some version of the same question, usually "is it alright if I…?". What they needed wasn't my answer. It was a way of working out their own.

Claire

Where my limits are. I'm not a lawyer or a data protection officer, and nothing in the session is legal advice, data protection advice or regulatory approval. I don't have the final word on what ethical practice looks like either. What I can do is help you think it through carefully and reach a position you'd be comfortable defending.
Questions

Before you book

Do I need to use AI, or be good with tech?

No. This is a discussion-based morning about clients, ethics and professional judgement. You don't need an AI account, and if you can join a Zoom call you have everything you need.

Is this suitable if I'm sceptical about AI?

Yes, and you'll be in good company. Plenty of therapists feel conflicted about it. Nobody will be pushed towards a particular use, and deciding not to use AI is a valid outcome.

I already use AI regularly. Will this be too basic?

It shouldn't be. Most of the morning is about the clinical and professional questions: what clients bring, how you respond, and how you decide about your own use. Those questions don't get easier with more technical experience.

Does the session cover difficult material?

Yes. Part of the morning looks at real legal cases involving chatbots, including cases concerning deaths by suicide. They're discussed briefly and without graphic detail, with a content note beforehand, and you're welcome to step away for that part.

Will we use client material?

No. The case examples are fictional, and I'll ask everyone to keep client details out of the discussion. No identifiable or confidential client information goes into any AI tool at any point.

Will there be a replay?

Yes. The main-room teaching will be recorded and available to you for 14 days afterwards.

Breakout rooms and group discussions won't be recorded, so what you say about your own practice stays in the session. I'll remind everyone at the start and pause the recording for discussion.

Why is it limited to 24 places?

So the small-group discussions work. Case discussions happen in groups of three or four, and keeping numbers down means I can spend time with each group and more people get heard when we come back together.

Is there a practical afternoon online too?

Not as part of this session. I'm planning a separate practical series for therapists who want to set up AI well in their own practice, and people who come on 23 October will hear about it first.

What kind of CPD certificate will I receive?

A CPD certificate of attendance, showing the three hours attended and the content covered. That is generally what accrediting bodies ask to see, but requirements vary and I'd encourage you to check your own.

What if I book and can't attend?

Places can be transferred to another therapist up to 7 days before the session. Just let me know the name.

Refunds are available up to 14 days before the session, after which places are non-refundable. If the session has to be cancelled or moved and the new date doesn't work for you, you'll be refunded in full.

Is this legal or GDPR advice?

No. This is professional training. It isn't legal advice, data protection advice, or approval from any professional body, and the templates in the pack are starting points to adapt rather than approved wording. The decisions stay yours.

Somewhere between the two extremes

Clients are already bringing AI into therapy, and most of us were never trained for that conversation. This is a morning to work out what you say, where your lines sit, and what you protect.

Book your place

Friday 23 October 2026  ·  10:00am – 1:00pm (UK time)  ·  Live on Zoom
£59  ·  Limited to 24 places