Artificial Intelligence for Therapists: An Ethical Primer

In this course, Dr. Eric Beeson (Ph.D.; LPC/LCMHC; NCC; CRC; ACS; Professor and Chair, Counselling Department at Marshall University; strategic advisor to SIMCare AI), introduces a grounded ethical primer for clinicians navigating rapid changes in generative AI. You’ll explore common and emerging dilemmas (privacy, data retention, overtrust, bias, safety trade-offs, and the limits of “efficiency”), distinguish general-purpose chatbots from fine-tuned clinical applications, and apply a structured decision-making matrix to real-world use cases such as documentation, supervision support, and client-facing tools. The focus throughout is practical: strengthening clinical reasoning, protecting client rights, and ensuring any AI adoption is defensible, transparent, and meaningfully additive to care.