According to the latest issue of the APA Monitor on Psychology, the top two trending topics for 2026 are about how people are interacting with AI for therapy and for companionship (and yes, some people are marrying their AI companion).

In this episode, we dive into these two APA articles to take a look at the positives and downsides of using AI in these "human-like" interactions.

As always, you can expect a little snarky commentary from me as well :D

Articles Mentioned:

Article: "AI, neuroscience, and data are fueling personalized mental health care”

https://www.apa.org/monitor/2026/01-02/trends-personalized-mental-health-care

Article: "AI chatbots and digital companions are reshaping emotional connection”

https://www.apa.org/monitor/2026/01-02/trends-digital-ai-relationships-emotional-connection

LINKS:

*Some links are affiliate links. A percentage of purchases come back to me and help my channel immensely!

👉 FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling: https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

👉 All my filming gear: https://kit.co/privatepracticeskills/all-my-gear

This podcast is geared toward therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field. Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

Website: www.privatepracticeskills.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/privatepracticeskills

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/privatepracticeskills/

This podcast is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.

I intended for this to be a “what worked and what didn’t work” for my businesses in 2025, but it turned out to be more of a recap :D Oops. Either way, I hope you enjoy taking a look back at my 2025 with me, and wishing you well as you enter 2026!

Thank you to Paubox for sponsoring this episode. Paubox makes HIPAA-secure email easy and streamlined. Check them out here:

https://bit.ly/pps_paubox_spotify

*Get $250 off your first year with Paubox with coupon code "SKILLS"

*Bonus Deal:* If you add the Paubox badge to your website you get an extra $100 off your first year - that means you can get your whole first year free if you apply both deals!

Video: "How my practice is showing up in AI recommendations (by accident)”

https://youtu.be/mP-X_Vw0_5g

Video: "Encouragement for Therapists Having a Tough Time”

https://youtu.be/JqP-gnll2uo

LINKS:

*Some links are affiliate links. A percentage of purchases come back to me and help my channel immensely!

👉 FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling: https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

👉 All my filming gear: https://kit.co/privatepracticeskills/all-my-gear

This podcast is geared toward therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field. Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

Website: www.privatepracticeskills.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/privatepracticeskills

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/privatepracticeskills/

This podcast is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.

We know that the therapeutic alliance is super important. But, how do we go about actually building a strong therapeutic alliance?

In this episode, we explore some of the variables that exist outside of the therapy session that can influence the therapy alliance.

Thank you to Paubox for sponsoring this episode. Paubox makes HIPAA-secure email easy and streamlined. Check them out here:

https://bit.ly/pps_paubox_spotify

*Get $250 off your first year with Paubox with coupon code "SKILLS"

*Bonus Deal:* If you add the Paubox badge to your website you get an extra $100 off your first year - that means you can get your whole first year free if you apply both deals!

Links Mentioned:

Article: "The Therapeutic Alliance: The Fundamental Element of Psychotherapy”

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6493237/

Article: "Psychotherapy and Therapeutic Relationship"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK608012/

Article from last week’s episode: "Psychotherapy as investigation: cultivating curiosity and insight in the therapeutic process”

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1603719/full

Video: "How to Make Your Initial Therapy Assessment More Conversational”

https://youtu.be/UsKwQWsaE4g

Video: "The Therapeutic Aspects of the Initial Phone Screen”

https://youtu.be/mXEciH3PZ5Y

Video: "How to Build Trust During the Initial Therapy Session”

https://youtu.be/3__u7dOLUdA

LINKS:

*Some links are affiliate links. A percentage of purchases come back to me and help my channel immensely!

👉 FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling: https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

👉 All my filming gear: https://kit.co/privatepracticeskills/all-my-gear

This podcast is geared toward therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field. Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

Website: www.privatepracticeskills.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/privatepracticeskills

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/privatepracticeskills/

This podcast is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.

In today’s episode we talk about a core element of the therapeutic alliance that we rarely talk about in our field: curiosity.

As a profession, we spend quite a bit of time honing in on specific techniques, but we don’t spend enough time talking about the most core element of therapy: the therapeutic alliance. We know from research that a strong, genuine connection with a therapist is the strongest predictor of therapeutic outcomes.

So let’s talk about it more!

Links from today’s episode:

Frontiers in Psychology Article: "Psychotherapy as investigation: cultivating curiosity and insight in the therapeutic process”

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1603719/full

The “Dodo Bird Effect” Definition:

https://study.com/academy/lesson/dodo-bird-verdict-in-psychotherapy.html
LINKS:

*Some links are affiliate links. A percentage of purchases come back to me and help my channel immensely!

👉 FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling: https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

👉 All my filming gear: https://kit.co/privatepracticeskills/all-my-gear

This podcast is geared toward therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field. Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

Website: www.privatepracticeskills.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/privatepracticeskills

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/privatepracticeskills/

This podcast is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.

Today I'm taking you step-by-step through my process of why I'm updating one of my therapy services.

I also share the checklist I use to bring my therapy website up to speed so that potential therapy clients can find me through search and AI recommendations and start to build trust with me.

Thank you to Paubox for sponsoring this episode. Paubox makes HIPAA-secure email easy and streamlined. Check them out here:

https://bit.ly/pps_paubox_spotify

*Get $250 off your first year with Paubox with coupon code "SKILLS"

*Bonus Deal:* If you add the Paubox badge to your website you get an extra $100 off your first year - that means you can get your whole first year free if you apply both deals!

Links Mentioned:

Training: The Client Attraction System

https://privatepracticeskills.teachable.com/p/client-attraction-system

Training: Website Copy in a Weekend:

https://privatepracticeskills.teachable.com/l/pdp/website-copy-in-a-weekend

Video: How my practice is showing up in AI recommendations (by accident):

https://youtu.be/mP-X_Vw0_5g

Video: Super Basic SEO for Beginners:

https://youtu.be/WQJI6_F9rEA

LINKS:

*Some links are affiliate links. A percentage of purchases come back to me and help my channel immensely!

👉 FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling: https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

👉 All my filming gear: https://kit.co/privatepracticeskills/all-my-gear

This podcast is geared toward therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field. Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

Website: www.privatepracticeskills.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/privatepracticeskills

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/privatepracticeskills/

This podcast is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.

Sharing some encouraging words in case the holidays are not exactly a super fun time for you. ❤️

Sign up for my email list to stay informed on my Black Friday deal:

https://mailchi.mp/f7be138b42ba/stay-in-touch

I discovered recently that potential clients are finding my practice through AI recommendations, even though I haven't had a "strategy" to market my practice through AI.

So I decided to dig a little deeper, and I share with you what I'm learning so far about how to optimize our therapy practice marketing so that we can start getting recommended to our ideal clients

....I was surprised by how much less complicated it was than I had assumed!

Sign up for my email list to stay informed on my Black Friday deal:

https://mailchi.mp/f7be138b42ba/stay-in-touch

Thank you to Paubox for sponsoring this episode. Paubox makes HIPAA-secure email easy and streamlined. Check them out here:

https://bit.ly/pps_paubox_spotify

*Get $250 off your first year with Paubox with coupon code "SKILLS"

*Bonus Deal:* If you add the Paubox badge to your website you get an extra $100 off your first year - that means you can get your whole first year free if you apply both deals!

Episodes on Finding your Niche:

"Develop your Niche in Private Practice”

https://youtu.be/bh6bJRb7iwQ

"How to Find your Niche in Private Practice”

https://youtu.be/CzlH8lCGPoM

"5 Ways to Find Your Therapy Niche”

https://youtu.be/FU1eHRDwkus

LINKS:

*Some links are affiliate links. A percentage of purchases come back to me and help my channel immensely!

👉 FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling: https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

👉 All my filming gear: https://kit.co/privatepracticeskills/all-my-gear

This podcast is geared toward therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field. Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

Website: www.privatepracticeskills.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/privatepracticeskills

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/privatepracticeskills/

This podcast is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.

As I'm hearing more and more stories of therapists on the struggle bus right now, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on my own personal self-care routine.

Some of my takes are a bit unconventional, so they may not be the best fit for everyone. But I hope listening to this episode encourages you to reflect on your own self-care, so you can be intentional about building a sustainable, enjoyable life as a therapist. :)

Video: “Redefining Self Care for Therapists”https://youtu.be/HQfPpe1XW4Q

LINKS:

*Some links are affiliate links. A percentage of purchases come back to me and help my channel immensely!

👉 FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling: https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

👉 All my filming gear: https://kit.co/privatepracticeskills/all-my-gear

This podcast is geared toward therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field. Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

Website: www.privatepracticeskills.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/privatepracticeskills

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/privatepracticeskills/

This podcast is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.

Are any other therapists noticing their inquiries slowing down? Drops in your website and Psychology Today visits? No need to panic! In this episode, I share some straightforward, simple-to-implement strategies you can use to adjust your private practice marketing to be a bit more up to date.

(And no, you don’t have to use AI or run ads!)

Thank you to Paubox for sponsoring this episode. Paubox makes HIPAA-secure email easy and streamlined. Check them out here:

https://bit.ly/pps_paubox_spotify

*Get $250 off your first year with Paubox with coupon code "SKILLS"

*Bonus Deal:* If you add the Paubox badge to your website you get an extra $100 off your first year - that means you can get your whole first year free if you apply both deals!

Links Mentioned:

Reddit Post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/comments/1iqvbrm/diminishing_referrals_vent_and_advice_what_are/

Episodes on Finding your Niche:

"Develop your Niche in Private Practice”

https://youtu.be/bh6bJRb7iwQ

"How to Find your Niche in Private Practice”

https://youtu.be/CzlH8lCGPoM

"5 Ways to Find Your Therapy Niche”

https://youtu.be/FU1eHRDwkus

Training: The Client Attraction System

https://privatepracticeskills.teachable.com/p/client-attraction-system

LINKS:

*Some links are affiliate links. A percentage of purchases come back to me and help my channel immensely!

👉 FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling: https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

👉 All my filming gear: https://kit.co/privatepracticeskills/all-my-gear

This podcast is geared toward therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field. Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

Website: www.privatepracticeskills.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/privatepracticeskills

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/privatepracticeskills/

This podcast is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.

Thank you to Paubox for sponsoring this episode. Paubox makes HIPAA-secure email easy and streamlined. Check them out here:

https://bit.ly/pps_paubox_spotify

*Get $250 off your first year with Paubox with coupon code "SKILLS"

*Bonus Deal:* If you add the Paubox badge to your website you get an extra $100 off your first year - that means you can get your whole first year free if you apply both deals!

Article: "Do Psychotherapists Improve With Time and Experience?"

https://scottdmiller.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Goldberg-expertise-jcp-2016.pdf

LINKS:

*Some links are affiliate links. A percentage of purchases come back to me and help my channel immensely!

👉 FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling: https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

👉 All my filming gear: https://kit.co/privatepracticeskills/all-my-gear

This podcast is geared toward therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field. Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

Website: www.privatepracticeskills.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/privatepracticeskills

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/privatepracticeskills/

This podcast is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.