The rise – and limits – of Ai therapy.

Have you tried an ai coach or therapist yet?

There are many camps around ‘whether ai will replace coaches and therapists’ in the future. Like many of these debates, the answer probably lies somewhere in the middle.

Where both modes fall short is where we might find an innovative sweet spot…

Take a 5 Minute Break…

P.S. You may have noticed I have decided to switch these biweekly posts to Saturday. Where you can enjoy your 5 minute wellness innovations over a nice cuppa ☕️ 🍷 🥃 

INSIGHT ^{_{(what we need)}}

Spiritual depth isn’t found in an algorithm – but they are an effective support system.

AI-powered therapy and coaching are surging (tens of thousands of apps and multiple millions of downloads) – with evidence-backed momentum. You can’t deny the benefits: a landmark 2025 trial by Dartmouth researchers demonstrated that a generative-AI therapy chatbot significantly reduced client symptoms—users reported gains on par with traditional therapy sessions. A 2023 Nature meta-analysis found conversational AI agents significantly reduce depression and distress.

The market is capitalizing on this proof: global market data shows AI mental-health tools grew from a $1.13 B industry in 2023 to an anticipated $5.08 B by 2030 (CAGR 24%). Similarly, digital health and wellness coaching—powered increasingly by AI—is expected to jump from $11 B in 2024 to over $22 B by 2030. The market need for ai assisted mental health is screaming for attention.

There are too many to list, but some of the more popular contenders include:

• Woebot – backed by clinical trials and over 1 million users; showing repeated measurable improvements in young adults with depression and anxiety.

• Wysa – an emotionally-intelligent mobile chatbot app with real-world data showing higher depression improvement in engaged users.

• TheraBot– a compassionate digital pal with multimodal LLM companionship, aiming to tailor therapy-inspired answers by initiating interaction and continuing dialogue to deepen interaction and self-awareness.

Creating an opening of safety and trust.
Where these bots shine are in their affordability, accessibility, and inherent non-judgmental objectivity in populations where therapy is stigmatized. All the research points to quickly developing a level of trust – but is that a good thing? Especially if bonding with a chatbot definitionally involves a kind of befriended deception and, in many cases, unhealthy attachment in isolation. (And yes, this happens with humans as well — just not as quickly!).

Good place to hide.
Patients often find these ai therapists a safer territory, having hid suicidal ideation, substance use, or personal disappointment and confrontation with human therapists. That said, without being confronted by the awkwardness of oneself within a non-superficial human interaction, our shadow sides aren’t fully expressed. Not to mention, the occasional scare of algorithm glitches where patients say something like “I want to jump off a cliff” and the app replies, “It’s wonderful you’re taking care of your mental and physical health”…this is not an arena where miscalculations are acceptable.

Deeper integration simply requires time and connection.
Despite their impressive debut and growing reach, these systems hit a ceiling. They help with mild to moderate challenges but fall short when it comes to deep, embodied self-development—the kind that relies on nuanced empathy, relational insight, and somatic understanding. They can help de-stigmatize mental health and provide structure, but they can’t fully replace human depth or guide transformational growth over the years it takes integration to happen.

Momentum without meaning.
Today’s inspiration (see below) offers a helpful analogy for the ‘not so great camp’ to hit home. Riding a stationary bike in the gym vs. a mountain bike in the hills are fundamentally different. We may still be burning calories, activating muscles, and doing the “work.” But our sense of momentum experiencing the felt sense of a real natural terrain is not the same thing. In ai-supported therapy (or coaching) “only”, you might be analyzing your dreams, reflecting on symbolism, addressing actualization shortcuts with tools, or even downloading whole book summaries into quick cognitive fixes — but consider it being “momentum without meaning.” There’s no extrapolation over time within context…taking everything in….often with struggle when it comes to connecting with yourself and others.

Beware of synthetic healing.
There are important highs and lows of real human emotion face to face with someone who is, yes a mirror, but also a separate human being with whom you are learning to self-regulate. The mirror of an ai-assisted therapist is effective in reflecting back a neglected or rejected sense of self. Giving you much needed encouragement. You might benefit from surface level benefits — like starting to exercise for the first time and needing to warm up the body and find alignment in reps — but the depth of that embodied experience with time to practice relationally and integrate is missing. Synthetic listening, being and caring are not the same between [yourself and an algorithm] and [yourself and a real live counsellor] who knows how to use the power of waiting, the depth of silence (especially when it’s so confronting your brain feels it’s in a short circuit moment with NO OUT), and the honest reflection of not having any answers. So you do the work of waiting for something to emerge in the moment (not having an answer at your fingertips). This is where the magic of human relational understanding will always* outpace an algorithm.

“What’s happening inside you and where does X arise in this moment?” — that’s a question you can outsource to Ai – but not with the embodied co-experience of empathy. Nor the wisdom that silence shows us when we notice the Now.

*I put an asterik here because…you never know what the future will design.

INSPIRATION ^{_{(what i want)}}

Jordan Thornton: integrative therapy guide and contemplative practitioner educating his audience (and cohorts) on the slower currents of spiritual growth: taking people through ancestral inquiry, soul excavation, and immersive ritual backed by evidence.

His work reminds us that spiritual depth isn’t an algorithm—it’s a commitment to curiosity, presence, and inner listening. Ai can journal or coach you through surface-level patterns — but only time, intentional practice, and vulnerability can lead to breakthroughs in meaning, purpose, or collective belonging.

Jordan Thornton’s Self Integration School gets the kind of deep, life-changing praise that any coach would dream of — due to the depth of his curriculum, highly informed by thousands of books and hours of therapy-inspired sessions on transformative integration. He puts the onus on participants to do the actual work: having curated the top publications of all time (in his opinion) on psychological and spiritual development. He’s done the leg work for you, you just have to dive in and explore. He blends academic rigor, somatic depth, structural flexibility, and high-touch mentorship that suits those committed to the true, slow pace of real inner work. 

• Comprehensive, Multi-Year Learning: Over 30 rich video modules covering transpersonal, somatic, archetypal, and trauma-informed frameworks.

• Evidence-Based Curriculum: Courses are structured around 3–5 seminal texts per module, totaling exposure to 100+ influential books in developmental and consciousness psychology.

• Mastery Through Practice: Includes guided exercises and “shadow work” reflection tools that translate theory into embodied, somatic insight.

• Self-Paced, Semi-Structured Learning: Modular design allows individuals to focus on their most resonant areas, while still offering a holistic, integrated arc.

• Mentorship & Community: A select group of students work with Jordan one-on-one each year, while others benefit from peer-driven engagement via weekly seminars and a private Q&A vault.

INNOVATION ^{_{(what i wish for)}}

CurriculumSpiritus.Ai: capture your “course of spirit” in this voice activated ai ‘resume of the soul’ that highlights the integral shifts of your inner work. 

This is where you document the moments that remade you.

What if self-development could be as structured and strategic as career growth?
Only, its just for you!

“CS” is a personalized “resume” of your spiritual, emotional, and inner-life milestones. Designed for people who want to reflect on and track their deeper growth alongside their professional journey. This is like a personal archive of becoming — a resume that your soul has been writing all along. For all ages, to start at any time.

• Your “CS” first prompts you with a series of questions to get to know who you are against a timeline of life, marked with any professional and personal milestones: from birth to schools, jobs, moves, marriages, home ownership…whatever has happened that you deem significant to your identity.

• Voice activated note taking stores these layers of notable milestones in life as you continue to document your inner experiences along the way.

  • Add entires that document traumatic events as well as joyous ones.

  • Add entries that document focused self-development work (retreats, programs, books, self-inquiry, mentorship, shadow work, etc).

  • Document your years-long “projects” of internal work.

• “CS” then offers you prompts (set on demand, daily, or for a reflective period) where you talk through the integration that happened during those various milestones, at the surface and at the soul level.

• At any time, get a visual representation summary of your Curriculum Spiritus to reflect on further or refine as new reflections come to you.

• Through journalling prompts, go deeper on things that happened to you in the past where you may decide to reinterpret the narrative from the Now.

• Similar to professional CVs, set inner growth intentions or “areas” where you would like to explore further: perhaps it’s the relationship you have to a fear, friend, or frustration. Whatever is showing up persistently in your life.

Why it matters:

• Helps you take your inner work more seriously, giving structure to what’s often intangible, unexpressed, or neglected.

• Offers language or clarity you can use with coaches or therapists who are working with — giving them the kind of background context that could take 10 sessions just to tease out. Making inner CS’s as useful as professional CVs in a different context of inner growth.

• Encourages self-knowing, celebration of life’s big events “good” or “bad” but rendering them beautiful gifts that have helped you know yourself and grow.

Thank you to Wim Alexander for this idea. Which I have held onto and practiced since you told me the story of bringing your “spiritual CV” to one of your milestone class reunions: knowing that it was a more comprehensive description of your life journey than the ‘one’ job that was on your professional CV. A job you took to support the path of fatherhood, husbandhood, and masterhood over years of self-mastery. I started my own internal CV around that time 15 years ago. You are one of my teachers 🙏