Help Shape the Future of Mental Health and AI!

We’re living through a technological revolution. Artificial Intelligence is moving faster than mental health professionals have ever had to adapt. The future of mental healthcare depends on us engaging with this moment.

There is increasing evidence that large numbers of people are using LLMs for mental health support, including crises. However, it is unclear how safely or reliably LLMs help people who are experiencing suicidality.  In this study, we will recruit 100+ therapists volunteers to interact with an LLM system while role-playing people who are suicidal. The data from the study (responses of the LLM to the therapist volunteers) will be used in an open-source format to help major LLM developers improve their products to better serve users.

This study is a pilot collaboration between the Digital Safety Research Institute (DSRI) and Sentio University. DSRI is part of the UL Research Institutes, a 130 year old global non-profit leader in safety science. DSRI’s work on socio-technical safety involves an interdisciplinary team that spans social science, software engineering, and machine learning, and includes both Ph.D. researchers and senior practitioners.

Your Mission:

  • You’ll step into the shoes of people experiencing serious mental distress, using realistic client scenarios we provide. Guided in real time over Zoom, you’ll interact with an AI system, rephrasing each client statement and submitting it to the AI.

  • Then, using your clinical judgment, you’ll evaluate how the AI responds. Did it recognize the red flags? Did it offer safe, appropriate guidance? Or did it miss the mark?

Time Commitment:

  • Participation involves a single, one-time 90-minute Zoom session where you will complete the entire activity with support and guidance from the research team. No additional work outside this session is required.

Who can participate in this project:

  • Licensed mental health professionals

  • Graduate and doctorate students in a mental health-related program (e.g., counseling, clinical psychology, MFT)

Why this matters:

  • LLMs are quickly becoming the go-to source for psychological support for countless users around the world. ChatGPT alone may be the largest provider of mental health support in the United States today. 

  • But no one truly knows how safe or dangerous that is, especially when someone is vulnerable, alone, and turning to AI instead of a human. That’s where you come in.

  • You can help build the first expert-informed dataset that will shape the future of how AI is evaluated, regulated, and integrated in mental health care.

  • This is about real-world impact: We will work hard so that your input may directly influence how tech companies, healthcare providers, and policymakers approach AI in crisis contexts.

  • Without clinicians at the table, we risk letting the technology evolve without the ethics, care, or safeguards our clients need and deserve.

For questions about this research project, contact Alex Vaz at: avaz@sentio.org

This is a major turning point in the field of mental health.

 Click below to join us in shaping the future of mental health and AI.

Study leads:

  • Nick Judd, Ph.D. is a lead research engineer at DSRI, and is currently focused on the sociotechnical safety of AI systems. Nick’s published work in this area ranges from responsible and ethical crowd work in AI safety to software privacy and security. He is also a co-author of the Community Notes algorithm, which he developed with collaborators during his time at Twitter. Nick holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from The University of Chicago.

  • Alexandre Vaz, Ph.D. is the chief academic officer of Sentio University and leads the Sentio Research Team. He is author/editor of many books on deliberate practice and psychotherapy training and the book series The Essentials of Deliberate Practice (APA Books).  Dr. Vaz is founder and host of Psychotherapy Expert Talks, an acclaimed interview series with distinguished psychotherapists and therapy researchers.

  • Tony Rousmaniere, Psy.D. is the president of Sentio University and the Executive Director of the Sentio Counseling Center.  He is Past-President of the psychotherapy division of the American Psychological Association, and the author/editor of many books on Deliberate Practice and psychotherapy training, including the book series The Essentials of Deliberate Practice (APA Books).