Reclaim the Couch
Taking Therapy Back from the Algorithms
The world of therapy is at a crossroads. Venture capital, corporate platforms, AI, and digital apps are reshaping mental health care—often prioritizing profit over quality—but the human heart can’t be automated.
As independent therapists, how do we respond?
Details:
Reclaim the Couch is a candid, community-oriented conversation series hosted by The Northampton Center for Couples Therapy. Our aim is to spark meaningful, in-person discussions about how we, as local therapists, can uphold the integrity of our profession, bolster our local networks, and stand out in an increasingly diluted digital sea of meaningless data.
At Reclaim the Couch, we will:
- Brainstorm strategies for resisting platform-driven pressure.
- Discuss the impact of technology on our profession, our clients, and our species, while exploring ways to collectively preserve empathy, relationship, presence, and connection—the core of therapeutic practice.
- Build local networks and collaborations—aka, private practice over platforms.
- Be among real therapists—humans—to have meaningful, deep conversations while enjoying some cookies and tea (or seltzer and chocolate; the sky’s the limit!).
Through shared stories, brainstorming, peer-to-peer dialogue, breakout groups, and real-time concrete action items, we aim to leave inspired, equipped, and connected to a network of local therapists who share our values.
Who Should Attend:
Group practice owners who are committed to human-centered care
What We’re Aiming For:
Socrates Café meets The Matrix. Engaging discussions about the deep issues of our times that affect our clients, our care, our profession, and humanity. No easy answers, just a diverse mix of ideas.
Strength in numbers! Leveraging our local influence and expertise in ways that will benefit the local community and support private practice.
Co-created actionable strategies to support independent therapists in a growing venture-capital-driven market.
Connecting with other like-minded therapists in person! (In other words, we’d like this to be fun!).
At least SIX conversations. One per month. December-May:
The Conversations: |
| Conversation 1: Mapping the Landscape |
| Conversation 2: People before platforms |
| Conversation 3: Community and collaboration |
| Conversation 4: Future-proofing the craft of therapy |
| Conversation 5: The Force—leveraging technology for the greater good |
| Conversation 6: To infinity and beyond! (Or where do we go from here?) |
Community Event Details
Dates & Time: To be determined. Check back soon!
Host(s): Kerry Lusignan and The Northampton Center for Couples Therapy
Location:
The Northampton Center for Couples Therapy
Old School Commons – Suite #301
17 New South St, Northampton, MA 01060
Audience: Independent therapists, practice owners, and clinicians
Fee: Free community event
Invitation
Your practice, your rules. Join NCCT and Kerry Lusignan in reclaiming the couch and shaping a future where therapy belongs to therapists and the communities we serve.
*Note, due to limited space, attendance will be restricted (we really don’t know if no one or everyone will come); we hope to have a diverse group of people regarding specialties, practices, and hat-wearing types. Registration for each Conversation will open one month prior to the set date, and we will notify you by email letting you know when you can sign up (similar to trying to get a table at Little Trúc in Easthampton).
Interested?
Add your name to our Reclaim the Couch email list.
Your Host:
Kerry Lusignan, MFA, MA, LMHC, is a couples therapist and author with all the certifications, degrees, and publications to boot. More importantly, she’s a real person who believes in humor, salt-of-the-earth values, life experience, kindness, and a touch of grit. With over twenty years of experience in private practice, and having founded a center that’s treated over 4500 couples, she thought she’d seen it all: managed care mandating therapy to fit the form not the person; the evolution of her private practice into a center focused solely on relationships; a pandemic that widened gaps, amplified chasms, and highlighted the need for high-quality mental health care. But now there’s this: McTherapy in the form of Corporate Therapy Providers, Tech-Enabled Therapy Chains, and AI-mediated Healthcare via AI Chatbots and Algorithmic Triage. Who knew?