Practicing with Integrity in a Digital World
One of the things I've been thinking about a lot over the past few years is how quickly technology has become woven into nearly every part of therapy. I feel like daily I have a conversation about how the world is changing with AI.
It's easy to notice the obvious changes. We schedule appointments online, complete paperwork electronically, meet over telehealth, communicate through secure messaging and use AI to complete notes. (I used AI to make my blogs more SEO and editing!) But technology is influencing us much more than logistics. It's shaping how documentation, assessment tools, scheduling systems, insurance processes, and increasingly, the conversations we're having about artificial intelligence.
None of that is inherently good or bad. Like most things in therapy, I think the more interesting question is how we use it.
Technology has the potential to make care more accessible, reduce administrative burdens, and create supports that simply didn't exist a decade ago. At the same time, it raises important questions about privacy, consent, bias, boundaries, accessibility, and what parts of therapy should remain deeply, unmistakably human.
Those questions matter to me.
I think our ethical responsibilities grow alongside the tools we use. Just because something is possible doesn't automatically mean it's helpful, or appropriate, or aligned with good clinical care. AND I have found that using AI tools has allowed me to be more present with my clients in therapy and complete my notes in a more timely manner that I have every done prior to being able to use it.
That's one of the reasons I've intentionally sought out continuing education focused on digital ethics and artificial intelligence. My goal isn't simply to learn how to use new technology. It's to better understand where it helps, where it falls short, and how to make thoughtful decisions that keep the therapeutic relationship at the center. I am going to continue to seek learning in this area. This is just a few of what I have done so far.
Continuing Education That Has Shaped My Thinking
Digital Ethics in Social Work Practice
SWTP CEUs (ASWB ACE-approved provider #2486)
Completed 2026
This course offered a broad and practical look at how the NASW Code of Ethics applies to today's digital world. Rather than focusing only on policies or regulations, it explored the everyday decisions therapists make when working online.
Topics included secure communication, telehealth, texting and email, social media boundaries, informed consent, documentation, HIPAA, privacy, accessibility, and the emerging role of artificial intelligence in clinical work.
One idea stayed with me throughout the training. Technology doesn't reduce our ethical responsibility. If anything, it amplifies it.
The convenience of digital tools can sometimes make it easy to overlook the small decisions we're making every day. Which platform do we use? How do we communicate with clients? How do we protect privacy? How do we respond when technology creates new ethical dilemmas that didn't exist twenty years ago?
Those questions don't always have perfect answers, but I think they're worth continuing to ask.
One thing I appreciated about this course was how practical it felt. It wasn't trying to convince clinicians that technology is either wonderful or dangerous. It simply encouraged thoughtful decision-making grounded in ethics rather than convenience.
The AI Revolution: Pros and Cons for the Social Work Profession
Preferra Insurance Company RRG (ASWB ACE-approved provider)
Completed 2025
Artificial intelligence is becoming part of healthcare surprisingly quickly.
It's showing up in documentation tools, scheduling systems, screening measures, insurance processes, administrative software, and increasingly in products designed specifically for therapists.
I wanted to understand those changes before simply accepting or rejecting them.
This course explored both the opportunities and the risks of AI in clinical work. It discussed issues like algorithmic bias, privacy, informed consent, overreliance on automation, equity, and the importance of maintaining clinical judgment.
One question kept resurfacing throughout the training:
Just because something can be automated, should it be?
I found myself coming back to that question long after the course ended.
Efficiency certainly has value. Most therapists spend far more time on administrative work than many people realize. (Like so much time if you run your own business) But therapy has never been about efficiency.
It's about relationship. It's about noticing the pause before someone answers a difficult question. It's about the look on someone's face that tells you they're saying "I'm okay" while every other part of them is communicating something different. Those moments aren't data points. They're deeply human experiences.
That's why I feel confident that AI will not replace clinical thinking. At its best, I think it should support clinicians, not substitute for them.
Additional Learning
I've also completed a number of shorter trainings that have continued to shape the way I think about technology and ethics in everyday practice.
These include:
AI & Practice Management: Applications and Implications (2025)
AI Tools to Support Your Private Practice (2025)
Technology in Social Work Practice: Standards of Practice (2023)
Social Work Ethics and "Everyday" Technology (2023)
Behavioral Ethics: A Lens to Examine Ethical Challenges in Social Work Practice (2023)
Ethical Considerations in Surrogate Decision Making (2023)
What I've Been Learning About AI
One thing I've noticed as conversations about AI become more common is that people often fall into one of two camps.
Some people seem convinced it's going to solve nearly every problem.
Others feel like it should never be used at all.
As I've continued learning, I've found myself somewhere in the middle. I don't think technology is inherently ethical or unethical. I think people use technology ethically or unethically.
That's an important distinction.
Like many tools, AI can either increase accessibility or create harm. It can reduce barriers for some people while creating new challenges for others. It can save time, but it can also oversimplify deeply human experiences if we aren't careful.
Rather than asking whether AI is "good" or "bad," I've found myself asking different questions.
Who benefits?
Who might be left out?
What assumptions are built into this system?
Does this support the therapeutic relationship, or pull us away from it?
Those questions feel much more useful to me than trying to decide whether AI itself is something to embrace or avoid.
A Personal Reflection
Part of why this topic feels personal is because I don't approach technology only as a therapist. I also approach it as someone with ADHD and dyslexia. Like many neurodivergent people, I've learned that administrative work often takes far more energy than people realize. Writing documentation, organizing projects, keeping track of countless small details, and managing all the behind-the-scenes pieces of running a practice can sometimes feel like they require as much energy as the clinical work itself.
For me, thoughtfully using AI has been surprisingly freeing. Not because it does my thinking for me. It doesn't. And I wouldn't want it to.
Instead, I've found that it can reduce some of the executive functioning barriers that make administrative work so exhausting. It helps me organize ideas, overcome the blank page, and spend less energy wrestling with logistics so I can spend more energy thinking deeply about my clients, continuing my education, and being fully present in the therapy room.
In that sense, AI feels less like a replacement and more like an accessibility tool, an adaptive device.
That distinction matters to me.
It reminds me that technology isn't only about innovation. Sometimes it's about making work more accessible for people whose brains work differently. At the same time, I don't want convenience to become an excuse for losing the human parts of therapy.
Those are the parts that matter most.
Empathy.
Presence.
Curiosity.
Trust.
Those can't be automated.
And honestly, I don't think I'd want them to be.
Digging Deeper
If this post resonated with you, you might also enjoy exploring:
ADHD & Mindfulness – Reflecting on how neurodivergent brains benefit from flexible, compassionate supports rather than one-size-fits-all approaches.
Mindfulness, Dopamine, & Reclaiming Attention – Exploring technology, the attention economy, and how mindfulness can help us build a healthier relationship with digital media.
How to Do Nothing – A reflection on reclaiming our attention in a world designed to compete for it.
Culture, Power & Belonging – Considering how systems, identity, and context shape our experiences, including the technologies we use.
Narrative Therapy – Understanding how the stories we tell ourselves influence the way we relate to change and new technologies.
Internal Family Systems (IFS) – Approaching curiosity, protection, and change with compassion rather than criticism.