Putting AI into Practice

For psychologists in private practice, this raises urgent questions. Which tools are genuinely helpful, and which carry real risks? How do you talk to clients who are already using them? What role can these technologies play in your own practice, from client support to clinical skill-building?

This presentation offers a practical tour of the current landscape of generative AI tools in mental health, including apps, chatbots, therapy trainers, and emerging clinician-facing toolkits. We'll explore where these tools shine, where they fall short, and the red flags every practitioner should know. Along the way, we'll consider the ethical and regulatory questions that come with integrating AI into clinical work, and leave you with a clearer sense of how to engage this rapidly evolving space with both curiosity and care.

About the Speaker

Peter Forkner, PhD, is a psychologist and consultant with more than twenty years of experience in mental health treatment, supervision, and clinical leadership. He spent a decade as director of the Bentley University Counseling Center, where he oversaw an early pilot of a generative AI mental health chatbot. Today, Dr. Forkner speaks nationally on the intersection of artificial intelligence and mental health, working with clinicians and organizations to navigate how emerging technologies are influencing client engagement, care delivery, and the practice of psychotherapy itself. He is also a cofounder of an AI-based clinical training platform designed to help practicing therapists sharpen their clinical skills, giving him a hands-on perspective on how AI tools can support, rather than replace, the work of skilled clinicians.

The session opens with a grounded orientation to the AI tools most relevant to clinical practice: scribes, note-generation platforms, and client-facing applications. Rather than surveying every available product, the goal is building enough conceptual literacy to evaluate any tool that crosses your desk.

The core of the workshop addresses what practitioners actually encounter. How do you respond when a client discloses they've been recording your sessions? What are your obligations when a documentation platform processes clinical data outside Canada? When does using AI tools trigger disclosure requirements, and what does adequate disclosure actually look like? How do you assess whether a vendor's privacy claims hold up? These questions are worked through using realistic scenarios drawn from current practice.

Participants will leave with specific language for informed consent and disclosure, a practical checklist for evaluating AI tools before adopting them, and a clear picture of where current regulatory guidance from CAP applies—and where it doesn't yet reach.

No technical background required. The session assumes you're a competent clinician who wants to protect your clients and your license in a rapidly shifting environment.

About the Speaker

David Cooper, PsyD. is a digital health expert who is currently the Chair of the APA's Mental Health Tech Advisory Committee and previously the Executive Director of Therapists in Tech, the largest organization of clinicians in digital mental health.

With a background in clinical psychology, David has led the development, management, and implementation of digital health solutions, with organizations like the US Department of Defense, the AMA and FDA, and top US hospitals on their digital health strategies.

Currently, he focuses on helping companies and organizations integrate technology into the practice of therapy and treatment.

The central premise is that AI may assist practice, but it cannot assume the psychologist’s ethical, clinical, or legal responsibilities. Thus, the ethical question is not whether psychologists may ever use AI but whether they can explain, justify, supervise, and document its use in a way that protects clients and preserves professional accountability. This session will provide the top ten ethical and practice habits for psychologists when considering the use, role and function of any AI tool in clinical practice.

About the Speaker

Dr. Troy Janzen is currently the Deputy Registrar, Chief of Practice and Complaints Director at the College of Alberta Psychologists. He has worked extensively in assessment and intervention with pediatric populations and families in hospitals, schools, private practice, First Nations Reserves and children’s services settings since 1993. From 2009 to 2017 he served as the Clinical Supervisor and Practicum Coordinator for the CPA-accredited School and Clinical Child Psychology Program at the University of Alberta (U of A). Prior to U of A, Dr. Janzen was Chair of the Psychology Department at Taylor University College. During that time, he helped establish an undergraduate program in psychology.