How AI is reshaping self-development and what we risk losing
Lately, I’ve noticed a shift in my practice. Clients are using ChatGPT to coach themselves. One even tried a guided family constellation through the chat.
“The questions were spot-on,” she said.
“It felt like a trained facilitator.”
Then she paused. “But… I couldn’t feel it. Something was missing.”
And there it was – the core of the dilemma. AI can mirror awareness. But can it contain emotion? Can it co-regulate a nervous system, or hold trauma with presence?
How I use AI in my own practice
Let me be honest: I use ChatGPT too.
Not as a therapist, but as a thinking partner.
It helps me:
- Structure programs
- Draft meditations
- Develop ideas
- Write reflective questions
- Organise psychoeducation around frameworks like e.g. Polyvagal Theory
But it never replaces:
- Supervision
- Embodiment
- Human connection
- My own nervous system wisdom
AI supports my role. It doesn’t take it over. So what can ChatGPT really do? I asked ChatGPT what kind of therapist it thinks it would be. It answered:
What I do well:
✔ Ask powerful questions
✔ Reflect patterns
✔ Offer insight and structure
✔ Provide psychoeducation based on IFS, ACT, CBT, somatic work
✔ Generate creative metaphors, reframes, meditations
What I can’t do:
✘ Co-regulate with a human nervous system
✘ Offer long-term relational safety
✘ Respond to body cues or trauma freezes
✘ Operate with ethical supervision
✘ Replace embodied, human presence
I’m a mirror, not a container. A compass, not a companion.
The field is splitting: Two emerging camps
Camp 1: The AI Optimists
“AI democratizes therapy.
It’s always available.
Judgment-free.
Structured. Insightful.
And safe for those afraid to speak aloud.”
Camp 2: The Human-First Purists
“Therapy is relational.
It lives in tone, body language, pause, breath.
AI can’t attune, can’t sense trauma, can’t co-regulate.
It lacks attachment, ethics, accountability.
Also: do we really want to hand our emotional world to Big Tech?”
Where do I stand?
Somewhere in the messy, conscious middle.
I don’t believe ChatGPT will replace therapists or coaches. But I do believe it will reshape our work. Clients now arrive with AI-generated insights. They’re self-reflecting before our sessions. They use ChatGPT for journaling, pattern-spotting, resourcing.
As a trauma-informed therapist and parent coach, I welcome the curiosity. But I also invite caution. True healing happens in the body. Through relationship, in-person.. Within the safety of co-regulation and secure attachment.
We need more discernment, not less.
The question isn’t whether AI will replace us. The question is: How do we, as professionals, evolve with it without losing the soul of what we do?
And you?
Have you used ChatGPT for your own reflection, or with clients?
Does it strengthen your work or threaten the core of your craft?
Drop a comment. I’d love to hear what this brings up for you.