Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a Mental Health Clinician: Managing risk, ethics, and clinical benefits
2 CE Credit Hours. Legal-Ethical. Continuing Education Session Replay
Presented By: Dr. Maelisa McCaffrey (Hall)
What even is AI and how can you know what is ethical when this industry is so rapidly evolving?
This workshop will answer those questions and more. Join guest speaker Dr. Maelisa McCaffrey for an interactive demonstration of the ways mental health clinicians can ethically use AI for clinical work.
You will learn:
- How AI is currently being used in various mental health settings, and what ethical considerations are most important for clinicians
- Exactly which aspects of HIPAA are most relevant to common AI usage
- How to navigate this ever changing landscape of AI tools for therapists.
Maelisa will demonstrate multiple ways to use AI in clinical practice and review what clients commonly think about AI in mental health. She will show progress notes generated by multiple AI platforms and analyze how well these progress notes meet requirements for ethical documentation (and even for medical necessity).
Course Description
![](https://dev-personcenteredtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/using-ai-as-a-mental-health-pro-400x400.png)
Educational Objectives
- Define artificial intelligence (AI) and how it is commonly experienced in everyday life
- Identify three ethical uses of AI in a mental health clinical setting
- Describe what components of HIPAA apply to using AI in clinical practice
- Use a decision tree to determine whether or not an AI platform is both ethical and useful for your specific clinical work
Syllabus
-
- Introductions
- Audience poll and discussion
- Artificial intelligence (AI) in everyday life
- Definition of AI
- Common nonclinical uses of AI
- Ethics, HIPAA, and AI
- How HIPAA applies to common uses of AI
- Ethical guidelines for using AI, even if your ethics code has not specifically addressed AI
- Cautions and concerns about AI tools for therapists
- AI in mental health practice
- Common uses of AI in clinical practice
- Potential benefits of AI in clinical practice
- Client perceptions of using AI in mental health services
- Review of various AI tools for clinical documentation
- Informed consent and client questions when using AI services
- How AI services write progress notes for clinicians
- Examples and analysis of AI generated progress notes
- Closing comments – Mitigating risk and determining the usefulness of AI in your clinical work
- Final Q&A
References
- AMHCA. (2020). AMHCA code of ethics. https://higherlogicdownload.s3-external-1.amazonaws.com/AMHCA/2 AMHCA Code of Ethics-2020-2.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAVRDO7IEREB57R7MT&Expires=1693846114&Signature=bl6rjlWRj1qkEQG8zjkDdXQAlF4=
- Abrams, Z. (2023). AI is changing every aspect of psychology. APA Monitor on Psychology, 54(5). https://www.apa.org/monitor/2023/07/psychology-embracing-ai
- Allen, S. (2023). Improving Psychotherapy with AI: From the Couch to the Keyboard. IEEE Pulse: https://www.embs.org/pulse/articles/improving-psychotherapy-with-ai-from-the-couch-to-the-keyboard/
- American Counseling Association. (2014). ACA code of ethics. https://www.counseling.org/resources/aca-code-of-ethics.pdf
- American Psychological Association (2017). Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
- Forester-Miller, H., & Davis, T. E. (2016). Practitioner’s guide to ethical decision making (Rev. ed.). Retrieved from http://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/ethics/practioner’s-guide-toethical-decision-making.pdf
- Maheu, M. (2023). Psychotherapy notes in the age of AI: Considering ChatGPT healthcare ethical implications. telehealth.org: https://telehealth.org/chatgpt-healthcare/
- McAdoo, T. (2023). How to Cite ChatGPT. APA Style: https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/how-to-cite-chatgpt
- McCaffrey, M. (2023). Modern progress notes: Considerations for teletherapy, insurance audits, and artificial intelligence (AI). Webinar: https://dev-personcenteredtech.com/modern-progress-notes-teletherapy-insurance-audits-artificial-intelligence-ai/
- Record Keeping Guidelines, American Psychological Association, American Psychologist. 2007. December Vol62 Number 9, Pages 993-1004
- U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. (2006). HIPAA Administrative Simplification. Washington D.C.: Author.
- U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. (2013). HIPAA Omnibus Final Rule. Washington D.C.: Author.
- Weisman, H. (2023). Making therapy documentation easier: A comparison of AI note automation tools for private practice therapists. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/making-therapy-documentation-easier-comparison-ai-hannah-weisman-phd/
- Zuckerman, E.L. and Kolmes, K. (2017) The Paper Office for the Digital Age. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Presented/Developed By
Dr. Maelisa McCaffrey (Hall) is a licensed psychologist, nail design enthusiast, and multi-passionate entrepreneur. With her business QA Prep, she empowers therapists through trainings and consultation on clinical documentation. Maelisa focuses on the “why” behind the usual recommendations and encourages clinicians to think outside the box, while also keeping their ethics intact. A true ENFP, Maelisa aims to make sure all of her endeavors are meeting a need in the community while also allowing for plenty of laughter and fun.
Program Notices
Accuracy, Utility, and Risks Statement: The contents of this program are based primarily on the presenters’ extensive combined experience handling legal, ethical, and usable paperwork needs for mental health organizations. Statements about applicability are according to presenters’ understanding of the state of the art and legal precedents at the time of presentation. This program discusses strategies for complying with applicable ethics codes and laws, for improving clinical documentation, and the informed consent process. It may not include information on all applicable state laws. Misapplication of the materials, or errors in the materials, could result in non-compliance with applicable laws or ethics codes.
Conflicts of Interest: None.
Commercial Support: None.
This course is subject to our cancellation/refund policy and complaint policy.