Hey there,

Unless you've been living under a rock (or maybe just buried under a pile of progress notes), you've probably heard about the implications of AI in mental health.

Tools like ChatGPT are popping up left and right, and suddenly everyone's talking about “AI therapists” and “chatbots that can cure your depression.”

And as an EMDR therapist, you might be wondering:

“Should I be worried?”

“Is my job about to be taken over by a robot?”

Well, I've got good news and bad news.

The bad news:

AI will definitely have an impact in the therapy world.

Artificial intelligence isn’t going anywhere, and it’s only going to get smarter and more sophisticated over time.

But the good news?

Specialized therapists are safe from being replaced.

Sure, a chatbot might be able to spit out some generic coping skills or lend a virtual ear. But that’s about where its capabilities end.

With research showing time and again one of the most important components of successful therapy outcomes is the therapeutic relationship, that comes from human-to-human connection.

In the EMDR session, a robot cannot pick up on the non-verbal cues, the emotional attunement, or lean on intuition only found through previous lived experience being in the therapy seat.

That's where you come in, with your hard-earned skills, your deep compassion, and your ability to create a safe & healing presence.

But here's the thing:

To stay relevant in the age of AI, you must differentiate yourself. You must lean into what makes EMDR unique and valuable (i.e. your ability to facilitate profound, transformative healing on a level that no machine possibly can).

That means:

• Sharpening your skills and staying on the cutting edge of EMDR innovation
• Developing specialties in areas like complex trauma, peak performance, or psychedelic integration
• Marketing yourself as the go-to experts for the clients who need us most
• Emphasizing the irreplaceable power of human connection and attunement

So while the robots might be coming for some jobs, I believe that if you’re dedicated to mastering your craft…

You’ll always be in high demand.

The world is waking up to the power of EMDR, and it needs skilled, compassionate humans like you to bring this healing to the people who need it most.

So keep growing your expertise, and keep showing up with your whole heart.

And if you're looking for a community of like-minded therapists to help expand your practice and explore advanced EMDR applications, consider joining us in Helicon 👉 Learn more. ​

We’re just getting started!

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Talk soon,

Chris

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P.S. If you are struggling to get caught up on CEs, take a look at Save the Therapist. It's a great spot to earn accessible and engaging CEs that really are free. I'm sharing this for free too... it is NOT a paid ad/sponsorship. Save the Therapist is more like listening to a podcast than taking a boring CE training, so check it out! savethetherapist.com. Take your learning from this newsletter a bit further with their Ethics of AI in Counseling course!