Why Human Connection Still Matters in the Age of AI Therapy

In recent years, the rise of AI in mental health has sparked a mixture of curiosity, excitement, and understandable concern. I’ve had clients bring it up in sessions; some wondering if chatbots might help fill a gap between appointments, worries about confidentiality, while others worry they might one day be replaced by an algorithm. As a therapist, I appreciate the innovation, but I also want to speak from the heart about what makes therapy truly healing, and that is human connection.

AI in Mental Health

There’s no denying that AI tools have opened new doors. They offer convenience, immediate support, and useful interventions, especially when human services are stretched thin. For individuals who feel intimidated by the idea of opening up to another person, chatting with an AI can be a gentle first step. These platforms can teach coping skills, help track mood patterns, and even guide users through structured approaches like CBT.

That said, therapy isn’t just about solving problems. It’s about being seen and heard by another person.

What We Share in the Room

When someone sits across from me in the therapy room, sometimes in tears, sometimes in silence, what matters most isn’t my clinical training or the techniques I use, it’s presence, it's empathy, it’s the relationship that forms between two people navigating this messy, beautiful, human experience.

There are things that can’t be captured through AI: the way someone’s breath catches as they begin to speak their truth, or how a slight shift in posture says more than words ever could. These moments require not just observation but resonance. That’s where healing begins.

The Beauty of Both

I’m not anti-tech. In fact, I welcome the ways AI can support therapy. It can help with admin tasks, offer in-the-moment grounding techniques, or help track progress between sessions. But rather than frame AI as a replacement, I see it as a complement, a helpful ally, not a substitute.

For the deep work of transformation, processing grief, rebuilding after trauma, reimagining identity, we don’t just need tools, we need relationship. We need another human being to bear witness to our pain and remind us of our worth.

Where next?

As we look ahead, I believe the best path forward lies in integration. Let AI increase access, enhance consistency, and lighten the load. But let us also protect and prioritise the very thing that makes therapy sacred; two humans, in genuine connection, finding a way forward together.

In the end, healing happens in compassion not code.