Back in 2024, we asked therapists whether they were using AI in their private practices. One in four said they were.

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That was just two years after ChatGPT became publicly available. By now, with AI becoming ubiquitous, the number is likely higher than one in four—and it will only grow.

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AI tools can speed up repetitive tasks, succinctly summarize reams of data, and generally smooth out day-to-day operations. Here are five must-have AI tools for your therapy practice.

AI notes for therapists

If it feels like you’ll never catch up on your session notes—or if you’re great at taking notes, but terrible at keeping them organized—then AI can help.

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A number of HIPAA-compliant note-taking tools for therapists promise to help you cut down on paperwork while keeping track of important details about your clients’ treatment. Many of them also include functions for organizing or summarizing your notes, so nothing gets lost in the mix.

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AI tools can:

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• Adhere to clinical documentation standards (eg. SOAP, DAP)
• Provide writing assistance, helping you to write more quickly and clearly
• Compile and summarize case histories and treatment plans
• Transcribe audio recordings of sessions and draft notes based on their content

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To get started, check out:

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• Mentalyc for compliant, high-quality notes
• Blueprint for AI notes that integrate with your EHR
• Upheal for integrated scheduling, telehealth, and compliance tools
• SimplePractice and Jane for AI notes within comprehensive practice management platforms

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Heads up: You may find that the practice of writing notes allows you to carefully review client sessions, surface new insights, and cement important details in your mind. As you experiment with AI note-taking tools, check in with yourself to make sure you’re not sacrificing the benefits of personal note-taking for the speed and convenience of AI.

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AI boilerplate documents for therapists

Text generated by AI can come across as impersonal or artificial. But there are times when that’s a good thing.

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Most therapy practices rely on stacks of forms to run their backoffices. These range from intake questionnaires and consent forms to lists of policies and procedures. If you’re just getting your practice off the ground, you can use AI to generate these for you.

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ChatGPT and Claude do a passable job of generating forms and contracts. More specialized tools (like Writify.ai’s contract generator) or general AI writing suites (like Scribe or Copy.ai) may give you more options and higher-quality output.

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These tools significantly speed up a task that could otherwise see you putting in long hours writing your own documents from scratch, or else borrowing and modifying documents from other practice owners. But there are a few caveats to keep in mind:

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• Review everything carefully. AI is not perfect—it can make mistakes. Personally review any document you plan to use in your practice before presenting it to a client.

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• Get legal input if necessary. For important contracts, get the help of a lawyer. They can look over a contract you bring them to make sure it complies with local laws and regulations, and that the language used makes it binding.

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• Keep private information private. Never enter another person’s information—including their name, contact information, or any details about treatment—into an AI tool unless it is certified HIPAA-compliant.

AI research for therapists

AI is a powerful research tool. It can help you with any number of tasks requiring research—from writing blog posts, to drafting papers for journals, to hunting down half-forgotten facts and figures.

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In just seconds, AI can:

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• Skim thousands of scholarly articles, picking out the ones most relevant to your research
• Compare multiple sources and explain how they differ from one another
• Order resources chronologically by date of publication
• Search for sources that support a particular claim or statement
• Format and store citations

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As always, results will vary according to your own skills as a researcher. Be sure to double-check any output from AI to make sure it’s accurate and supported by the sources it cites.

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To get started experimenting with AI-powered research, check out:

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• Elicit, for searching scientific articles, generating research briefs, and building libraries of resources
• OpenRead, for compiling and organizing notes and citations
• Scholarcy, for analyzing and summarizing academic articles and papers

AI scheduling for therapists

When you run a busy practice, it may feel like there is hardly enough time in the week to slow down and think. AI scheduling tools can help you build to-do lists, prioritize tasks, organize your work more efficiently, and even find opportunities for some much-needed R&R.

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Check out these options to get started:

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• Clara: Just cc: Clara in email threads and it will book time in your schedule.
• Structured: Speak directly to the mobile app to plan out your day.
• SkedPal: Use time-blocking to organize tasks in the most efficient way possible.
• Reclaim: Prioritize and track your tasks and guarantee yourself downtime.

AI marketing for therapists (GEO)

For years, search engine optimization (SEO) has been the backbone of digital marketing. But users are increasingly turning to AI to find what they’re looking for online. That has given rise to generative engine optimization (GEO).

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Using SEO, you include keywords relevant to search engines on your website to improve its ranking—that is, how far up the page it appears when a search engine returns results. For instance, if you were a therapist based in Tulsa, you might include “therapist tulsa” and “tulsa therapy practice” in the text on the main page of your website.

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GEO is based on longer, more complex terms that AI can read, understand, and incorporate into its responses to users. Following the above example, you might include a term like “Where can I find a therapist in Tulsa?” on your website, followed by a short answer optimized for AI.

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This is a simplified overview. An in-depth introduction to GEO will give you a deeper understanding of the strategies involved.

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But you don’t need to be a digital marketing wizard to benefit from GEO. Tools like Peec AI and Writesonic’s AI Search Visibility product are designed to help business owners improve their chances of appearing in AI search. Taking advantage of GEO now can help establish a steady stream of new clients in the future.

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Learn more about How AI Will Impact Therapists.

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