Workshop Outline

The weekend

Each session does one kind of work. The modules are Alastair's seven-module course on understanding AI, each a 15-minute talk followed by discussion, plus the four parts of the therapy module.

Understanding AI: Alastair's seven-module course The therapy module Practical Ethics and discussion

Day 1, Saturday

Understand it, use it safely, get first wins

1

10:00 to 12:00 · Concepts

Understand it, then draw the line

Welcome 10 min

How the weekend runs

Introductions, and the one rule for the whole weekend: nothing that could identify a client goes into any tool.

Understanding AI, module 1 30 min

What an AI agent actually is

Written instructions running in a loop, not a mind. Each conversation starts fresh, like a stand-in who needs an onboarding manual.

Understanding AI, module 2 30 min

What it can know

Context has to be given, not assumed. Reading something is not permission to use it.

Therapy module, part 1 30 min

The red line and BACP 2.1(e)

What never goes into an AI tool, and why. The new clause read together. Never use Share, and why a thumbs up or down can send a whole chat for training.

Room for a pause and questions. The red line comes before the first practical, because a safe setup depends on it.

Leave with: a "red lines and green lights" one-pager, and a started risk-assessment record.

2

13:00 to 15:00 · Practical

Set it up and get first wins

Understanding AI, module 3 15 min

Directing work

Start from the person who needs the result, and say how you want the work done. Then straight into practice.

Practical 20 min

Check your setup

Training off, shared links deleted, a temporary chat for anything sensitive. Anyone stuck gets help in a breakout room.

Practical 30 min

Your practice folder

A folder with an "About my practice" file, so it learns your practice once.

Practical 35 min

First wins

The warm reply to an enquiry you can't take on, and a letter with personal details added afterwards, outside the tool.

Practical 20 min

Your first skill

Correct it, then ask it to remember that as a skill.

Leave with: a working setup, a practice folder and a first saved skill.

3

15:30 to 17:30 · Ethics and discussion

Keep your judgement

Understanding AI, module 5 30 min

Keeping your judgement

When it agrees with you, what have you learned? Confidence is not evidence. Led by discussion.

Understanding AI, module 6 30 min

What good looks like

Start from the reader. Own what you pass on, rather than handing half-finished work to someone else to fix.

Practical 40 min

The CPD and accreditation pack

Bring the folder of certificates you gathered beforehand. Your body's own form comes out, hours totalled and gaps flagged. Checking the totals is the lesson.

Ethics and discussion 20 min

The big questions

Environment, jobs, and where all this is going, given room rather than brushed aside.

Leave with: your own CPD and accreditation pack, collated and gap-checked.

Saturday evening

One small, optional thing to try, about ten minutes: ask it to help plan your week, then notice what you had to correct. Questions go in the community channel. Sunday opens with what people found.

Day 2, Sunday

Make it work for your practice, and look ahead

4

10:00 to 12:00 · Concepts

Think with it, and keep it true

Check-in 10 min

What you tried last night

What worked, what surprised you, what you had to correct.

Understanding AI, module 4 30 min

Thinking with it

Bring it in before you have a clear question. Make your thinking visible so you can disagree with it.

Understanding AI, module 7 30 min

Trust and upkeep

What "checked" really means, how records go stale, and keeping them portable if a tool changes or goes.

Therapy module, part 2 30 min

Your practice's data

Privacy notices that name your digital tools (BACP 3.1d), consent, and what an agent may touch.

Leave with: a clear view of what your practice's data can and can't go near.

5

13:00 to 15:00 · Practical

Make it sing

Practical 20 min

Think something through with it

A real question from your practice that involves no client, such as your next quarter or a CPD goal.

Practical 45 min

The practice library

Context files that change everything ("How I write", "My year ahead"). A weekly review, and a sweep that only speaks up when there is something new.

Practical, chosen by the survey 45 min

The sprint

A website built with an agent, payments and bookkeeping prep, email triage in your own voice, or an enquiries tracker. Honest claims, and what an agent may send in your name, are part of the brief.

Debrief 10 min

What you built

One or two people show theirs.

Leave with: a working practice library and one real workflow, finished.

6

15:30 to 17:30 · Ethics and discussion

Clients, the line, and the road ahead

Therapy module, part 3 30 min

Clients and AI

People arriving having consulted ChatGPT, and using it between sessions. Flattery and missing boundaries, seen through module 5. Awareness only.

Therapy module, part 3 30 min

The moving line

What a tool that is safe for client data would need, and what would have to be true before you trust one.

Practical 40 min

Finish the record, plan the next 90 days

Complete your BACP 2.1(e) risk-assessment record. Write a 90-day roadmap.

Ethics and discussion 20 min

Open floor

The questions still unanswered, and what continues after the weekend.

Leave with: a completed risk-assessment record and a 90-day roadmap.

A day at a glance

Both days run the same way, UK time. Six hours live a day, so every session has a short pause, and cameras can go off during practical work.

Concepts

Lunch

Practical

Break

Ethics and discussion

Concepts, morningsThree pieces, each a 15-minute talk and about 15 minutes of discussion, with room for a pause. Explain first, so the confusion clears before anyone practises.

Practical, early afternoonsEveryone builds something for their own practice, in pairs where it helps. Demonstrations use a fictional therapist and invented data, never real clients.

Ethics and discussion, late afternoonsTwo pieces led by discussion, a practical that puts them to work, then an open conversation.

Where each idea is taught, and where it comes back

Ideas return later at a higher level. The practice folder started in session 2 becomes the library of session 5.

	Day 1			Day 2
	1	2	3	4	5	6
	Concepts	Practical	Ethics	Concepts	Practical	Ethics
Understanding AI
1. What an agent is
2. What it can know
3. Directing work
4. Thinking with it
5. Keeping your judgement
6. What good looks like
7. Trust and upkeep
The therapy module
The red line and BACP 2.1(e)
Your practice's data
Clients and the moving line

TaughtComes back, deeperTherapy module, taughtTherapy module, completed

Threads through the weekend

Four things grow from session to session, so nothing built on Saturday is thrown away on Sunday.

BACP risk-assessment record

The evidence clause 2.1(e) asks for.

StartedTools addedChecksData and consentSprint toolsCompleted

Practice folder and library

Plain files that give the AI context.

Why it mattersFolderCPD recordsKeeping it trueLibraryRoadmap

Skills and routines

Instructions it remembers and tasks that run on their own.

How they workFirst skillCPD skillUpkeepWeekly reviewKeep going

The fictional practice

One invented therapist used in every demonstration.

MetLettersCPDIts dataLibrary and sprintClients

What changes from the 90-minute version

The earlier two-day draft (Arc F) ran six 90-minute blocks that each mixed teaching, practice and ethics. This shape gives each session one job.

Twelve hours, not nine

Six two-hour sessions. Every module keeps its 15-minute talk and its discussion, and the certificate states twelve hours.

One kind of work per session

Ideas in the morning, practice after lunch, ethics and discussion late. The artefacts are the same; the CPD pack moves to Saturday's late afternoon, where judgement is the lesson.

The red line still comes first

Session 1 ends on the red line, so the first practical starts safely. Module 3 opens session 2 as a short talk that leads into practice (Q17).

Long days online

Six hours live a day. Short pauses in every session and cameras off during practicals are Katharine's call on group process.

Around the weekend

Before

Set up Claude or ChatGPT on your computer, using the short public guides we link to: the desktop app, then the privacy settings.
Gather your CPD certificates and accreditation forms into one folder.
Join the community channel, where setup help is open in the week before.
An evening Q&A for setup problems, if the survey shows people want one (Q15).

During

Live on Zoom, with Katharine running the room and the technology while Alastair teaches.
An optional setup clinic in the last half hour of Saturday's lunch.
Every session recorded.

Afterwards

Recordings to rewatch.
The community stays open.
A follow-up session two to three weeks later, to share what stuck (Q14).
The 90-day roadmap gives each person their own next steps.

Still to decide

Open questions for Alastair and Katharine, numbered as in the plans.

T1 Q3

Which weekend?

Saturday 31 October and Sunday 1 November, two days before the BACP clause becomes mandatory, or Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 November.

Q1

This shape, or the 90-minute version?

Arc G is Alastair's suggested shape. Arc F mixes teaching, practice and ethics in every block. Katharine's view is wanted.

Q17

A full first morning?

Proposed: three pieces on Saturday morning, with module 3 opening the practical. The alternative fits all four in the morning, with about ten minutes' discussion each.

Q14

What follows the weekend?

A: one follow-up session two to three weeks later. B: the community channel only. C: a short weekly Q&A for a month.

Q15

How much setup help beforehand?

Public guides and a help channel at minimum. An evening Q&A and the lunchtime clinic if the survey shows the need.

Q16

Free or paid plans?

Some practicals may need a paid plan, and Claude's free plan runs out every few hours. Katharine suggested a different task for people who already pay.