Manifesto

Guiding Principles for AI Native Mental Health Tools

Last Updated on Sep, 10, 2024

From those with the gift to heal, create, and innovate in partnership with those with the greatest need for support, safety, and understanding—let us build a system that maintains the dignity of human life for all, not just the fortunate few.

Acknowledging the Crisis

We have found ourselves living in a world where access to mental health care is not a right for the many, but a privilege for the few. Too many of us  suffer in silence because the cost is too high, the wait is too long, or the stigma is too heavy to bear. Our current system is  broken–  fragmented beyond recognition, marked by inequity, scarcity, and boundaries that leave countless lives unattended. Those who have pursued paths to heal others, have found the work becoming untenable, as it continues to grow in its burdensome, exhausting and exploitative ways. 

The Promise of AI in Mental Health

Artificial intelligence and generative technology are tools that themselves have no inherent moral value. What matters is how we choose to develop and use the tools to improve our systems of care. We believe that the most ethical and powerful application of these tools is to enhance the therapist and enrich the therapeutic space. When used intentionally, these technologies serve one purpose: to deepen and elevate the most effective element of therapy- the therapist-client relationship.

Sacred Privacy and the Inner World

An individual's insight, made up of thoughts, emotions, memories, and self reflection is not a commodity to be bought, sold or manipulated; these experiences are of shared humanity and the internal understanding of self.

We make the commitment that the privacy of the inner self is a sacred trust, and that any generative and artificial intelligence tools created must protect the inherent human right of privacy without compromise. No algorithm should have  the right to twist, exploit, or use the mind’s truth for purposes other than healing and empowerment.

This is a line that must never be crossed.

Open and Accessible for All

The power of AI in mental health must not be locked behind corporate gates, its development motivated by profit of the privileged few, or limited by geography. It must be open, transparent, and accessible and seen as a shared resource for every person, everywhere. The care for one’s mental health is a human right, and the tools we build must honor that truth.

Breaking the Silos

The walls once built to separate professions, disciplines, and gatekeep information are no longer barriers to maintain, but bridges to build in order to serve us allTechnology connects all disciplines in care for individual health and well being with educators, healers, and community. Weaving together the ancient tapestry of wisdom, science and lived experiences in order to promote the healing of all.

From the Individual to the Global

Every moment born in the therapeutic relationship, every moment of courage, pause of self discovery and push towards growth is a seed that can nourish the world.Through ethical and respectful integration, we can carry these lessons beyond the walls of therapy, transforming personal healing into community well-being. 

No borders. No boundaries. Only shared humanity.

Our Call to Action 

We call for the tools that are to be developed with AI to serve the practitioners and patients of mental health treatment that is:

  • Human-centered, never replacing genuine face-to-face interaction.

  • Ethically grounded, clinically sound, and  transparent in purpose and process, developed to align with values over exploitative profitability

  • Collaborative with both the professional and the patient, honoring the knowledge of all disciplines.

  • Globally accessible, dismantling barriers of cost, language, and location.

We commit to building and using the next generation of technological tools that deepens human connection, expands care to those left out, dismantle systems that promote health for the privileged and transforms the private act of healing into a collective force for global compassion.