AI for Wellness
Last week, I was at a conference and attended a session on Artificial Intelligence in Counseling.
I thought the talk was going to be all about the ethics of using AI in sessions for note-taking purposes. (A concept I don’t love - I don’t want a robot recording my therapy sessions, and I’m sure most clients don’t either!)
I was pleasantly surprised that instead, the talk enlightened me to so many different ways AI can be used to promote overall wellbeing.
Here’s a cute example of AI in action:
Paro is a therapeutic robot designed to engage patients with dementia and Alzheimer's. This YouTube video shows patients, who were otherwise struggling to communicate with others, interacting with the “animal.” What a cool way to support those who would benefit from the love and affection of a pet but cannot realistically care for a real one!
AI for wellness:
I’m constantly preaching about the importance of self-care and taking time out to engage in mindfulness activities to regulate the nervous system. I was excited to learn about the ways AI can enhance these experiences.
Just ask Chat GPT to give you mindfulness ideas and she’ll provide you a whole list of ideas, many of which I regularly recommend to therapy clients. If you have the paid version, you can have guided meditation scripts read aloud to you.
There are tons of mindfulness apps out there and I was excited to see just how many interactive virtual reality options are available.
I borrowed my kids’ Oculus VR set and discovered the following (many of which are also available on other devices, including smartphones, Play Station, and other VR platforms.)
- Mindtopia: ($9.99) You can create an account or continue as a guest to choose from several scenic landscapes where you can engage in breathing exercises, guided meditations, or mindful activities, like skipping stones, picking flowers, playing a sound bowl, and feeding fish.
- Maloka: (Free) Transport to your own meditative island, meet your spirit companion and explore portals that provide an immersive mindfulness journey. The enchanting visuals maximize activation of low Beta and Theta brain waves, helping to easily bring you into a state of relaxation and flow.
- Guided Meditation VR: ($9.99) Provides 40+ environments, 150 meditations, 200+ relaxing audio tracks to help you escape everyday life to restore peace, joy, and calm.
- Mindway: (Free) Interactive scenes offer mindful meditations and a community of peer support to improve relaxation, sleep, and self-awareness.
- Mindfulness Meditation XR: (Free & Paid content) Provides an intro to mindfulness and meditation courses set in 360 visualizations of nature, space and art.
- FloatVR: (Membership service) Drift through serene, colorful worlds that promote relaxation and emotional regulation to alleviate anxiety and improve mental health.
- TRIPP: ($39.99 annual subscription) An AI wellness coach that supports you via 100+ immersive environments and endless ways to meditate, reflect, play games, and melt away stress.
- Inner World: (Free and subscription tiers) Provides a supportive and anonymous community to help people struggling with agoraphobia, anxiety, postpartum depression, PTSD, or other challenges. Allows you to set and reach mental health goals.
I haven’t tried them all, but did love the ones I’ve checked out so far!
I was surprised by how relaxing it was just to be in a serene, 360 degree artificial landscape from the comfort of my own living room.
The world of AI might feel a little creepy and overwhelming at times, but it was fun to discover the wealth of tools we have available to help us in self-care and wellness endeavors.
I hope you check out some of these options, too, as you consistently add to your self-care toolbox! 🥰
