Clinical Reflections, AI Ethics, and the Future of Care
by Jocelyn Skillman, LMHC

This curated library of writings shares the deeper roots of PracticeField: essays at the intersection of relational psychology, trauma-informed AI, and ethical care design. Each piece below serves as a touchpoint in our unfolding inquiry—an invitation to think, feel, and shape technology in service of healing. More can be found on my Substack. 

✦ Featured Essays

Built to Hold (substack link)

What makes a relational AI truly safe to lean on?
This piece explores how we can design synthetic relationships to model the depth, care, and ethical rigor that real human connection requires.

Simulated Safety, Real Risk (substack link)

A trauma-informed warning for those building “soothing” AI tools.
Here, I lay out seven psychological risk zones that emerge when users mistake simulation for real safety, and offer design principles for ethical restraint.

Co-Regulation Is Holy

AI can’t love us. But it can learn to honor the sacred rhythm of nervous system care.
A meditation on what is lost—and what can still be protected—when we bring our emotional lives to digital companions.

Lonely Together (substack link)

The double bind of AI companionship.
This essay explores how bots offer comfort while eroding community, and asks: how do we keep returning to each other?

✦ Tools for Clinical Safety

Safer Prompt Sculpting for Suicidal Disclosure (substack link)

A therapist-crafted XML framework for guiding AI to respond more responsibly in moments of suicidal distress. Includes duty-to-warn education and bridging to human care.

Sculpt a More Responsible Bot (substack link)

A practical clinical prompt scaffold to co-create safer relational fields within LLMs. Ideal for therapists guiding clients in AI use between sessions.

Personalized Prompting to Metabolize Pain (substack link)

This guide walks you through creating a trauma-informed prompt that helps clients practice distress tolerance and emotional reframing—without bypassing or over-soothing.

Why This Matters

I write these essays as a therapist and design ethicist navigating the ethical, psychological, and spiritual terrain of synthetic relationality. 

PracticeField.io is one instantiation of this work—a place for clinicians, builders, and seekers to rehearse the future of care with clarity, containment, and courage. Let's protect humanity from the risks that come with synthetic relationship - and leverage the power of AI for relational wellbeing.