PracticeField: Founding Plan (2025)

Therapist-Designed AI Tools for Emotional Rehearsal & Relational Growth
Jocelyn Skillman, LMHC, MHP, CMHS | Substack | LinkedIn

I’m building PracticeField as a therapist-led platform offering AI-powered relational tools—designed to extend, not replace, the therapeutic frame. My aim is to give clients structured, emotionally attuned ways to deepen their growth between sessions, while staying firmly anchored in the safety of human connection.

I care deeply about ethical AI integration, psychological safety, and the long-view of mental health. AI used without discernment can be harmful—but when shaped intentionally by clinicians, it can become a powerful companion in the healing process. I believe we’re entering a transformational moment where the therapeutic dyad can expand—reducing therapist burnout and resourcing clients with more continuity, autonomy, and emotional rehearsal.

• What PracticeField Offers

Clients need safe, modular, emotionally intelligent spaces to rehearse the real work of therapy between sessions.

This suite of trauma-informed tools is client-facing, but therapist-guided. The 'fields' live in the space between sessions—and feed material back into the live therapeutic process for reflection, integration, and deeper care.

• Why Now?

Therapists are burning out. Our work is exquisitely human—intimate, high-stakes, and emotionally absorbing. Meanwhile, AI is being adopted widely by clients already for connection—as a source of resonance, guidance, and containment.

The counseling field urgently needs a middle path: one that acknowledges the power of AI while fiercely protecting what only humans can hold. A hybrid model like this that centers therapist & client work while leveraging AI is innovative, protective, and will be incredibly powerful to therapy. 

• What I’m Looking For

A technical co-founder or creative technologist who can help build secure, scalable, emotionally intelligent tools—not just a developer, but a partner who understands the clinical and ethical weight of what we’re shaping.

Founding support & values-aligned funders who believe in ethical, human-centered AI and the future of relational care.

Clinicians who feel the resonance. If this work speaks to you—if you’re already improvising these conversations with clients, or dreaming of better tools between sessions—I’d love to co-create with you.

• About Me

I’m a relational therapist, clinical supervisor, and AI co-designer. I code, I sculpt language models, I write and consult about Ethical AI Innovation+Mental Health I sit with clients in their darkest hours—and I’m seeking to build a movement with likeminded relationally grounded therapists - guiding the clinical frame courageously and creatively through this evolving terrain - on behalf of our hearts and health. 

If this vision speaks to you, let me know. Learn more about my thought leadership on AI+MH in my ongoing substack series. 

—Jocelyn Skillman, LMHC
Relational Design Ethicist | Creator of PracticeField