About this event
AI is rapidly reshaping how we understand, deliver, and support therapeutic work.
But there’s a problem.
AI solutions are now faster, cheaper and more readily available than therapy or counselling services. AI solutions can also be dangerous to vulnerable populations that require higher standards of safeguarding than AI chatbots can provide.
Risks of suicides, psychosis, AI “delusions” and mental health stigma increase with a growing population of AI usage. Governance becomes increasingly complicated as an effort to regulate AI therapy support is met with resistance from global AI providers that promote strategies designed to boost user participation.
As AI growth continues to create challenges to therapy and counselling worldwide, technologies continue to evolve leaving practitioners increasingly confronted with questions about what will remain essential.
- How do therapists and counsellors navigate an environment where innovation is accelerating faster than our professional and regulatory frameworks can keep pace?
- Unlike a qualified therapist, safety isn’t the primary goal of a therapeutic chatbot. What can be done about “therapy bots” mimicking therapeutic behaviour with an added directive to be more addictive and unrealistically positive to keep users “coming back for more”?
- What should practitioners do to better respond to the uncertainty that AI “therapy bots” pose to our profession?
- Are AI therapy models (LLMs-as-Therapists) culturally biased? Do they stigmatise mental health issues and bring possible harm to our clients?
This workshop provides informed answers to these questions and offers a more grounded, forward-looking space to explore the impact of AI on the future of therapy.
We will consider emerging possibilities for practice, shifts in client expectations, and the ethical tensions that arise when human care meets intelligent systems. Rather than offering a fixed roadmap, the session focuses on building the awareness and adaptability clinicians need as these technologies continue to develop.
Together, we will examine
- the opportunities and risks of AI enabled tools in therapeutic settings
- how disruption may reshape roles, boundaries, and expectations
- questions every practitioner should be asking to prepare for the coming decade
- ways to integrate AI thoughtfully while safeguarding relational depth and client wellbeing
How May This Workshop Impact Your Practice?
- Colleagues will leave with a clearer sense of the forces shaping the future of therapeutic work and practical considerations they can bring into supervision, organisational contexts, and their own evolving practice.
RECORDING
This event will be recorded and you can use the ticket function to pre-purchase the recording before the event. This will be useful for colleagues who are not able to attend the event live and also for those who attend the event live and want to watch it again.
ZOOM
This event will be hosted on the Zoom meeting platform where we will use our cameras and microphones to interact with each other as a group.
SELF-SELECT FEE
The self-select fee is a radical inclusion policy to open learning for all colleagues. The guide price for this event is £20.00, however, we appreciate that income varies greatly in different locations and circumstances. Please contribute what you can to help us maintain inclusive professional training.
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At Onlinevents, we and the presenters we collaborate with are committed to working in a way that aligns with the ethical codes and frameworks of our respective professional organisations. We expect all colleagues attending our events to uphold the ethical principles of their professional membership.
If you are not a member of a professional organisation, we ask that you participate in a way that is both authentic and respectful, fostering a space of mutual learning and professional engagement.
By registering for this event, you agree to be present and interact in a manner that reflects these principles.
Joshua Isaac Smith
Josh is founder of Advanced EMDR, Ltd. He is co-author of the Amazon business best-seller and Gold Award winning book Composure: The Art of Executive Presence.
In November 2025 Josh was acknowledged with a Global Recognition Award “for innovation in trauma therapy education while demonstrating exceptional leadership in mental health training” placing Advanced EMDR into Forbes and Business Insider magazines. Recently, Josh became COO of an AI startup 5Dai.ai, based in Budapest, Hungary. 5Dai develops and consults with companies in Culturally Adaptive AI Readiness and SMART applications for a portfolio of small to medium-sized companies.
As an EMDR therapist with 2 decades of experience Josh has trained with the world’s leading experts in trauma, EMDR, somatic psychotherapy and leadership coaching.
In addition to being the former Assistant Director of the EMDR Centre London for 5 years, Josh honed his executive coaching skills at Harvard University to become a certified executive coach. He combined his approach using psychotherapy and Executive Coaching by deepening in the work of Amy Edmonston in Psychological Safety and Authentic Leadership by Bill George. Josh is also an accredited member of the International Council of Integrative Psychotherapists
He is best known for his creation of a bestselling DVD “Yogaboxing”, which combined his many techniques into a fitness workout. As a former technology entrepreneur Joshua was once CEO of a telecommunications company based in southern California before selling and retiring at 32. He has been seen by an estimated 10 million people on CBS news, ITV, Channel 4, Living TV, and has appeared on radio on numerous occasions including BBC and LBC. His work has been featured or mentioned in top print media including the Sunday Times, South China Post, Health & Fitness, Shape, Marie Claire, Evening Standard, Daily Mail, and Metro.
Josh is based in London, UK and Budapest, HU. He works with clients individually and online.