How to train mental health counseling professionals through repeated practice with an AI Avatar in the role of a client using Perso Interactive

About

Counseling experts in the mental health field are developed by sufficiently experiencing a variety of counseling situations. However, the environment in which they can practice safely before meeting actual clients has been limited, and guidance from experienced counselors was a time-consuming and expensive process.

To solve this, Perso Interactive, along with the nation's largest telecommunications company and a mental health specialty company, developed the 'AI Avatar-based Mental Health Specialist Education, Training, and Coaching Solution.' This is an educational solution that allows student counselors to repeatedly practice counseling with an AI Avatar that speaks and makes facial expressions like a human, and even receive feedback and customized guidance on the counseling process.

This was highly significant in that it expanded the use of the AI Avatar, which had previously been used mainly for store guidance, exhibition explanations, and customer service, into the field of professional education and training. It aims to reduce the time and cost required to train professional human resources by providing an environment where they can safely practice and receive coaching in various counseling situations before meeting actual people.

Background

To become a counseling expert, repeated practice with various clients, such as adolescents and adults, is necessary. This is because the core of the process is of training oneself to know what to ask during counseling, how to react to the other person's emotional expressions, and how to continue the flow of conversation.

However, counselors do not have many opportunities to safely practice these situations before meeting actual clients. Case-based practice and supervision by experienced counselors have a significant educational effect, but it is also a highly time-consuming and labor-intensive process. This solution started from exactly this problem. The start was the question, 'Could we help student counselors practice repeatedly as if talking to a real human and reach a professional level by utilizing an AI Avatar?'

Solution

This solution is created by combining the AI capabilities of the three companies.

First, an AI Avatar suitable for counseling training is implemented based on Perso Interactive's voice, video, facial expression, and real-time conversation technology, which is a real-time conversational AI Avatar service. An LLM-based AI agent is added to this to design a conversation structure so that the conversation continues naturally according to the training situation and feedback suitable for the training purpose can be given. Finally, based on expertise in the mental health field, we plan counseling cases, training content, and evaluation systems, and conduct service operation and field verification through a mental health AI platform.

Actual training takes place as follows. Student counselors repeatedly practice counseling by talking to an AI Avatar roleplaying as various clients, such as adolescents and adults. When the counseling session ends, they receive feedback based on the conversation content, including whether their responses were appropriate, whether counseling goals and strategies were well established, and how they should understand the client's state. Furthermore, they can receive customized guidance from an AI supervisor Avatar that embodies the knowledge and know-how of experienced counselors.

The key is the direction of 'not replacing experts with AI.' Rather than taking the place of experts, we aim for a 'supportive AI partner that assists but does not replace,' contributing to raising better experts more effectively.

Results

This solution aims to safely and efficiently transform the repeated practice and feedback processes, which were the most burdensome parts of training mental health professionals.

Student counselors can comfortably practice various counseling situations repeatedly before meeting real clients, receive specific feedback immediately after the session, and quickly build their capabilities. At the same time, educational institutions can reduce the time and cost spent on case-based practice and supervision, while providing feedback based on a consistent standard to anyone, thereby elevating the overall quality of education. This increases both individual training effectiveness and educational management efficiency.

Furthermore, this collaboration does not stop at counseling but can expand to various areas of the mental health sector. To this end, the three companies are also reviewing cooperation with hospitals, welfare institutions, professional academic societies, and professional organizations.

Recommended for

This case is particularly useful for educational institutions and training program managers that foster mental health counselors, as well as institutions responsible for professional training such as hospitals, welfare institutions, and professional academic societies.

For any place that needs to develop professional human resources requiring repeated case practices and feedback, the method of utilizing an AI Avatar to provide a safe practice environment and consistent coaching will serve as a great reference.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What kind of counseling situations can be practiced?

A. You can repeatedly practice what to ask, how to respond to the opponent's emotional expressions, and how to continue the flow of conversation while talking to an AI Avatar in various roles, such as adolescents and adults. After counseling, feedback on the appropriateness of responses, goal and strategy setting, and understanding of the client's state is provided.

Q. Can this expand to fields other than counseling?

A. Yes. This solution is not limited to counseling and can be widely applied to various areas in the mental health field. It can be expanded structurally in response to field training and education needs from hospitals, welfare institutions, professional academic societies, and professional organizations.