Mind & Machine — The AI Pendulum

A week where psychology met technology without the hype: myth-busting AI, co-regulating in community, friendship as repair, and practical emotional regulation you can actually use.

This year felt suspiciously… easy. Not because there was less to do — but because the team moved like a well-regulated nervous system. Everyone played to their strengths, and those strengths came straight from the therapy room. Real people. Real patterns. Real tools.

Mind & Machine — The AI Pendulum

AI has quietly entered the therapy chat. Mood trackers, journaling bots, pseudo-therapists that promise to “listen without judgment.” Here’s the grounded truth: empathy isn’t data-driven; it’s nervous-system-to-nervous-system. We unpacked algorithmic overwhelm — the way constant optimisation trains the brain to chase relief over reflection — and named our rising attachment to automation: that dopamine hit when an app “gets” you faster than a human.

AI isn’t a villain; it’s a mirror. What we project onto it reveals how lonely, overextended, and under-resourced we’ve become. We closed with a cheeky Bot-vs-Human poetry challenge. Humans 1, Bots 0 — barely.

Safe Space — Collective Regulation

We slowed down with a guided circle built on consent and quiet honesty. It reflected what many clients feel now: overstimulation disguised as connection. Together we practised co-regulation — the art of feeling safe in someone else’s calm — and gathered efficient tools for anxiety we’ll actually use on a Tuesday afternoon.

After Hello — Friendship as Repair

In person, connection got delicious. We played What Happens Over a Meal, spoke about the foundations of friendship, and served sev puri, croissants, and banana choco-chip cake like it was group therapy with better catering. Strangers found common ground; curiosity did the rest. Friendship isn’t found — it’s built, one honest conversation at a time. That’s attachment repair in the wild.

Calm in Storm — Emotional Regulation

We closed with our favourite blend of psychoeducation and practice. We mapped emotions in the body, spotted early signs of dysregulation, and built micro-resets to bring ourselves back online. Emotional regulation isn’t about staying calm — it’s about staying conscious.

Pages for Peace — Anxiety Journaling

Quietly in the background, a self-directed journaling course helped externalise worry and write our way back to steady. Low-tech, high-comfort. Sometimes the slowest tools are the smartest ones.

How it felt to host it all: like coming home to what we stand for — care that’s human, honest, and quietly revolutionary. The future of emotional care is hybrid: part machine, part mirror, all human at heart.