We believe that being a human is a sacred endeavor, and that human dignity is the birthright of every person. This commitment forms the foundation for whole-person healing. With the exponential pace of development and deployment of AI tools inundating every sector of our society, we feel it is important to express our current stance on utilizing artificial intelligence in our clinic’s practices - in light of our commitment to honoring the dignity of the human spirit.
We know there are billions of dollars being invested to convince us that our work as healers is not enough without AI. That we are not productive enough. That we are not influential enough. That our clients and patients will be served inadequately if we do not utilize AI to optimize ourselves as clinicians. We at MN Clinic for Health and Wellness respectfully and humbly disagree.
Productivity is not God.
Influence is not our North Star.
Profit is not our end goal.
True healing is our mission. And walking alongside our clients as fully embodied, fallible, vulnerable humans, is our path. We are not machines, and we believe that your story – your struggles – your wounds – deserve to be held in a compassionate relationship with a healing professional who knows what it feels like to be human. A human who has come through challenges and who knows what it feels like to have a broken heart -- A person who understands the queasy uneasiness of sitting with profound uncertainty -- A fellow being that has felt the aching longing for wholeness and peace that seem just out of reach.
A bot, no matter how humanlike, can never truly empathize. AI cannot “feel with” you, despite the illusory impression of care, understanding, relatability, and resonance programmed into its algorithm – programmed, of course, to ensure your ongoing engagement and investment in the app. We believe you deserve something real. Something more. Something that honors and respects you as an authentically whole-person. Body, mind, and spirit.
You deserve a therapeutic connection with a soul. A partnership with a clinician whose wisdom and perspectives have been passed down through a lineage of learning and experience. A therapeutic companion on the journey - whose collaborative relationships within a community of highly trained and skilled colleagues enable them to seek consultation and guidance from trusted professionals.
Would it be quicker for us as clinicians to put your complex life story into an AI platform to have a diagnosis pop out? Yes. Would it be easier for your therapist to ask an AI platform how to best treat your symptoms and what your treatment plan should be? Maybe. Would our organization make more money by optimizing our clinician’s “productivity” by outsourcing the work of thinking, wrestling, and reflecting deeply on your story? Most likely. Would we gain more influence and visibility by having AI churn out dozens of articles and social media posts to play the “attention economy” game? Absolutely.
But quicker is not always better.
Easier is not always wiser.
Optimized productivity is not always sustainable.
And influence is not always compatible with integrity.
We seek to honor your whole-person healing by journeying onward with wisdom, in sustainability, and with integrity. Maybe we’ll be left in the dust. But we’ll be left in the dust with our souls intact, knowing we let our values lead how we conduct our organizational practices.
And we also (as marvelously imperfect humans) reserve the right to be wrong about this approach of minimizing AI engagement in our clinic community. We humbly acknowledge that there is much we don’t know, and that as the AI landscape evolves, we may determine that there are safe, sensible, and values-centered ways that we can integrate features of artificial intelligence into our work as healers. But know that if we do, we are doing so in alignment with our values, ethics, and with a foundational unwillingness to compromise our integrity.
Your struggle and pain are fully human, and we believe that you deserve human-centered care. And that’s our bottom line. If that speaks to you, we’d love to connect.
And as a footnote:
No AI assistance (except spellcheck) was used in the creation, editing, or in any step of the process of writing this piece. It probably could have been written faster, more persuasively, and more comprehensively if AI had been utilized. But that’s exactly the point – we value what is real, true, and human – even if it’s not perfect. Our worth isn’t dependent on our ability to optimize and perfect ourselves, our worth is inherent in our fundamental humanness. And that is enough.
And as a SECOND footnote:
In addition to believing that therapeutic healing and whole-person care are intrinsically human-centered processes, we also believe that those working in our clinic community have the right to choose. We at MN Clinic for Health and Wellness root ourselves in the values of ideological diversity, free and respectful expression, human agency, and pluralism. Therefore, we do not dictate the manner in which our staff abstain or engage with artificial intelligence in their individual practices. We provide education and information and implement policies to ensure that if any folks on our team do utilize AI in their clinical work, that they are doing so thoughtfully and with deep care, ethical consideration, education around best practices, and are obtaining clear and frequent consent from their clients.
