A clinician leaning in during a difficult session with a young client
Built by licensed clinicians, for clinicians

The conversations that matter most get the least practice.

Therapy TrAIner is a training platform where therapists, counselors, and mental health professionals practice the hardest clinical conversations with realistic, AI-simulated clients and get rubric-based feedback on every session.

The problem

Practice makes performance.

What separates the most effective therapists from the rest isn't age, credentials, or years in the field. It's skill, honed through deliberate, targeted practice. Even the therapeutic alliance, the best-known predictor of client outcomes, turns out to be a skill: research shows it's the therapist's contribution to the alliance, not the client's, that predicts who gets better. And yet the chances to practice are scarce: pre-licensed clinicians reach their first clients underprepared for the highest-stakes conversations, and once licensed, the opportunities get rarer, not more frequent.

See the research & sources →

Two findings from the research

Confidence is a poor measure of competence.

In studies, clinicians asked to rate their own skill average in the 80th percentile. None rate themselves below average, and mental health professionals routinely overestimate their rates of client improvement and underestimate their rates of client deterioration.

Experience alone doesn't build skill.

A study that followed 170 therapists and nearly 6,600 clients found outcomes stayed flat, or slightly declined, as therapists gained years and caseload.

How it works

Three steps, every session.

1 · Before

Foundation Brief

We handle the prep. A short brief covers the skill, the framework behind it, and what to focus on.

→2 · During

Scenario Practice

A live, unscripted conversation with one clinical challenge. In-the-moment coaching, on or off.

→3 · After

Structured Evaluation

Rubric-based feedback tied to the exact skill you practiced, with examples from your own dialogue.

See how it works →
Inside a session

See a session up close.

A real scenario from the library: the client, the setup, and the specific skills the session evaluates.

The library

A growing catalogue of clinical skill drills.

Each series pairs a foundation brief with focused practice modules.

Explore the library →
Who it's for

From first practicum to full caseload.

How it works

One skill at a time. Focused practice. Real feedback.

Every Therapy TrAIner session follows the same three-part arc: a brief that sets you up, a live scenario with one clinical challenge, and a rubric-based evaluation tied to the skill you practiced.

Practice Session · Suicide Risk Assessment
Alex Rivera, the simulated client

Alex Rivera

20 · Nonbinary · Latinx

Skills being evaluated

1Empathic rapport building
2Direct suicide inquiry
3Risk & protective factors
4Means & plan assessment
Session contextFirst meeting. Brought to the counseling center after a friend flagged a late-night post. Two weeks of passive suicidal ideation, no prior attempts.
SilenceNodLean inWarm expressionConcern

Tap the mic to speak · Type instead

✦Practice Coach
ConsiderYou've built enough trust to ask directly. Name it without euphemism.
Nice workDirect, compassionate inquiry. You asked the question without softening it away.

Tips are based on your learning goals and won't affect the conversation.

Evaluation 4.2 / 5
The flow

Three steps, every time. The structure is the point.

1 · Before

Foundation Brief

We do the prep so you don't have to. Each session opens with a short brief: the skill you're working on, the framework behind it, and what to focus on. Your time goes to the practice, not the setup.

→2 · During

Scenario Practice

You meet an AI-simulated client built around one specific challenge, like a suicide-risk assessment or a moment of cultural rupture. The conversation is live and unscripted. Optional in-the-moment coaching is there if you want it.

→3 · After

Structured Evaluation

When the session ends, you get feedback tied to the exact skill you practiced. Not a generic score. A rubric built for that scenario.

The evaluation

This is where the learning lands.

Every report is specific, and tied to what you actually said.

  • Skill-by-skill scoring across empathy, rapport, question quality, reflective listening, and safety assessment
  • Missed opportunities, named clearly
  • Examples pulled straight from your own dialogue
  • Concrete recommendations for what to do differently
  • Flags for any clinical risk the client raised
Practice, then practice again

The repetition is yours to own.

You control when work is shared. Run a scenario as many times as you want before anything goes to a supervisor. Getting critical feedback should build confidence, not anxiety.

A clinician with a notebook, reflecting between sessions
For programs and centers

The same flow, with an oversight layer.

Supervisors get cohort management, seat assignments, scheduling, and progress tracking across every trainee. Learners still control their own practice. Directors see the results that matter without adding to a busy week.

See options for programs and centers →

The library

A catalogue of clinical skill drills.

Each series pairs a foundation brief with focused practice modules and per-module practice briefs. Authored and reviewed by licensed psychologists before any learner sees it.

Current series

The catalogue

Every series: one foundation brief, focused practice modules, and per-module practice briefs.

Need something specific?

For universities, telehealth networks, and employers, we design custom rubrics and author scenarios against a specific training goal.

Explore custom training →

A clinician listening attentively to a client in session
Who it's for

Built for every stage, from first practicum to full caseload.

The same method, shaped to how you train. All paths start with a conversation.

Why it works

Built by clinicians. Grounded in how skill is actually built.

Therapy TrAIner isn't a chatbot with a clinical coat of paint. It's built on one idea from the training literature: skill grows where practice is deliberate, specific, and paired with honest feedback.

What the research tells us

Three findings shape everything we build.

Confidence is a poor measure of competence.

In studies, clinicians asked to rate their own skill average in the 80th percentile; none rate themselves below average.1 Mental health professionals routinely overestimate their rates of client improvement and underestimate their rates of client deterioration.1

Experience alone doesn't make therapists better.

One study followed 170 therapists and nearly 6,600 clients. Outcomes stayed flat, or slightly declined, as therapists gained years and caseload.4

Deliberate practice predicts outcomes. Almost no one does it.

The strongest predictor of a therapist's outcomes isn't age or caseload. It's time spent on targeted skill practice.5 Everyone agrees it works. Few have had a way to actually do it.

The research (sources)
  1. Walfish, S., McAlister, B., O'Donnell, P., & Lambert, M. J. (2012). An investigation of self-assessment bias in mental health providers. Psychological Reports, 110(2), 639–644. link
  2. Davis, D. A., et al. (2006). Accuracy of physician self-assessment compared with observed measures of competence: A systematic review. JAMA, 296(9), 1094–1102. link
  3. Tracey, T. J. G., Wampold, B. E., Lichtenberg, J. W., & Goodyear, R. K. (2014). Expertise in psychotherapy: An elusive goal? American Psychologist, 69(3), 218–229. link
  4. Goldberg, S. B., et al. (2016). Do psychotherapists improve with time and experience? Journal of Counseling Psychology, 63(1), 1–11. link
  5. Chow, D. L., et al. (2015). The role of deliberate practice in the development of highly effective psychotherapists. Psychotherapy, 52(3), 337–345. link
  6. Flückiger, C., Del Re, A. C., Wampold, B. E., & Horvath, A. O. (2018). The alliance in adult psychotherapy: A meta-analytic synthesis. Psychotherapy, 55(4), 316–340. link
  7. Baldwin, S. A., Wampold, B. E., & Imel, Z. E. (2007). Untangling the alliance-outcome correlation: Exploring the relative importance of therapist and patient variability in the alliance. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 75(6), 842–852. link
  8. Del Re, A. C., et al. (2021). Examining therapist effects in the alliance-outcome relationship: A multilevel meta-analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 89(5), 371–378. link; see also Del Re et al. (2012). link
  9. Anderson, T., et al. (2009). Therapist effects: Facilitative interpersonal skills as a predictor of therapist success. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65(7), 755–768. link
  10. Anderson, T., et al. (2016). A prospective study of therapist facilitative interpersonal skills as a predictor of treatment outcome. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 84(1), 57–66. link
How the method works

Deliberate practice needs three things.

Every scenario is built around them.

Practice with feedback

Targeted reps on one skill, with a clear read on what worked and what didn't. Not a participation score.

Repetition without harm

A place where a clumsy attempt costs you learning, not a client. Stakes, not consequences.

Drills, not open chat

One clinical challenge, clear success criteria. Not generic dialogue.

Why clinicians notice

The feedback can be uncomfortable. It's also accurate.

Therapy TrAIner responds in clinically grounded ways that surprise clinicians used to predictable AI. Even reflective listening, taught in the first course of every program, drifts over a career. Beta testers, including licensed psychologists, say the rubric caught drift they couldn't see in themselves.

Reviewed by clinicians, before you ever see it.

Every scenario, rubric, and coaching prompt is written and reviewed by licensed psychologists before a single learner sees it. Nothing reaches you that hasn't passed a clinician's judgment first.

Pricing

Two ways to get started. Both begin with a conversation.

We're finalizing public pricing. For now, tell us how you train and we'll share the right plan and get you set up.

Modules & subscriptions

For individuals, programs & centers

Self-paced access to the full library. Individual clinicians and trainees, plus team access for graduate programs and counseling centers with cohort management and progress tracking.

  • Individual and student plans
  • Team & cohort access for programs and centers
  • Admin view for supervisors
Custom training

For universities, telehealth & employers

Scoped engagements, priced per project. We design the rubric, author the scenarios, and deliver against a specific training goal for clinical and non-clinical staff.

  • Designed rubrics
  • Authored scenarios
  • Delivered against your goal
A clinician with a notebook, reflecting between sessions
About

Built by clinicians, for clinicians.

Therapy TrAIner began with a simple observation: our profession asks people to perform the hardest conversations with almost no chance to practice them first. We set out to change that, with a tool that holds a real clinical bar.

The team

Who's building Therapy TrAIner

Peter Forkner, PhD

Peter Forkner, PhD

Founder & Clinical Director

Peter Forkner, PhD, is a psychologist and consultant with more than twenty years of experience in mental health treatment, supervision, and clinical leadership. He spent a decade as director of the Bentley University Counseling Center, where he oversaw an early pilot of a generative AI mental health chatbot. Today, Dr. Forkner speaks nationally on the intersection of artificial intelligence and mental health, working with clinicians and organizations to navigate how emerging technologies are influencing client engagement, care delivery, and the practice of psychotherapy itself. As a cofounder of Therapy TrAIner, he brings a hands-on perspective on how AI tools can support, rather than replace, the work of skilled clinicians.

Brent Kersanske

Brent Kersanske

Technical Co-Founder

Brent Kersanske is a software-engineering leader with twenty years of experience across B2B SaaS and regulated digital health and medical devices, including HIPAA- and FDA-governed environments. He served as a domain engineering lead at Allergan and AbbVie, and is currently earning an M.A. in counseling at NYU. That pairing of regulated healthcare engineering and clinical training gives Therapy TrAIner fluency in both worlds: the standards healthcare software must meet, and the craft it exists to teach. As Technical Co-Founder, Brent leads the platform's engineering.

Rebecca Forkner, PhD

Rebecca Forkner, PhD

Chief Clinical Officer

Rebecca Forkner, PhD, is a licensed psychologist with more than 20 years in community agencies and college mental health, working with individuals, families, and communities. Most of her clients have come from disadvantaged populations, including BIPOC and international students, first-generation college students, and those facing financial hardship. She draws on that depth of experience in shaping the platform's clinical design, from the clients trainees meet to the skills they're taught. Most of her private practice is pro bono. Her training spans comprehensive psychological assessment, CBT, DBT, psychodynamic therapy, and mindfulness, and she has taught research methods and the integration of mindfulness into clinical work. As Chief Clinical Officer, Dr. Forkner has helped shape Therapy TrAIner since its beginning, advising across the business.

Paul Ricci

Paul Ricci

Senior Strategic Advisor

Paul Ricci is a strategic operator and executive with more than two decades of experience leading high-functioning executive teams inside global entertainment organizations. His work spans go-to-market strategy, marketing, and brand building: revitalizing established brands, launching new franchises, and creating the systems that let them scale. He has also founded and advised new ventures across film and emerging technology, and remains a hands-on builder with modern AI tools. As Senior Strategic Advisor to Therapy TrAIner, Paul guides business strategy, go-to-market planning, and partnerships, helping the team decide what's worth building and putting the structures in place to deliver it.

Request access

Let's start a conversation.

Tell us a bit about how you train and we'll point you to the right plan, a demo, or a scoped pilot.

Prefer email? info@therapytrainer.ai