Two Years In: What I've Learned About Using AI In My Practice

Two years ago I didn't use AI for anything in my business. It wasn't a decision, it just wasn't on my radar as something that had anything to do with running a group practice. Now I use it most days: to think through a marketing angle, to draft a first pass at a newsletter, to ask questions about my own website that I'm too close to answer myself. That shift didn't happen because I decided AI was safe. It happened slowly, one small use at a time, and there were stretches where I trusted it more than I should have.

I still think that's the honest version of this story. Not "I found this tool and everything got easier," but "I built confidence in stages, got overconfident once or twice, and figured out where the line actually is." If you're a group practice owner trying to decide what role this has in your business, that's probably closer to what your version will look like too.

Teaching It Who I Am

The first thing I did, before I ever used AI for anything client-facing, was spend real time teaching it about me. My voice. My ideal client. The specific niche I coach in. What I actually believe about group practice ownership, not just what sounds good in a marketing sentence.

That part took longer than I expected, and I didn't skip it. A tool that doesn't know your ideal client or what you actually stand for will hand you back something generic, and generic is the opposite of what builds a practice like mine. The time I spent upfront is the reason anything it produces now is even usable as a starting point.

I Never Post What It Writes

Here's the rule I don't break: I never publish anything AI has written without starting from my own ideas first, reading the draft over, and tweaking it until it sounds like me. Not because I don't trust the tool with grammar or structure. Because the thing that actually built this practice (referrals, word of mouth, people trusting me before they've met me) depends on my clients and my colleagues hearing an actual person when they read something with my name on it.

I've caught myself skipping that step when I was rushed, and it showed. A draft would go out a little flatter, a little more like it could have been written for any practice owner instead of specifically for the therapists and clinic owners I actually work with. That's the tell. If a piece of writing could apply to anyone, it isn't finished yet.

Why This Matters More, Not Less, As AI Gets Better

Here's the part I didn't expect two years ago: the more AI shows up in this space, the more it matters that practices show up human. Not less. I'm seeing a lot of content right now, some of it from direct competitors, that got people started when they first built their practices, but hasn't kept pace with where the field actually is in 2026. The information underneath it is old. The advice doesn't account for what group practice owners are actually navigating right now.

AI can make that problem worse or better, depending on how you use it. If you lean on it to produce more content faster without updating what's actually true, you end up contributing to the same flood of dated, interchangeable advice. If you use it the way I've tried to, as a way to think faster, not a replacement for your own judgment, it can help you say something sharper and more current, not less. The differentiator was never going to be who has access to AI. Everyone will, soon enough. It's going to be who still sounds like a real person who actually knows what she's talking about: real empathy, real validation, and a willingness to challenge a client's thinking instead of just agreeing with it.

This is really the same thing I've said about where AI fits into your team systems: it's a productivity tool, not a replacement for judgment. Onboarding and supervision were never going to be where I drew that line for you. Marketing and voice are where I've had to draw it for myself.

Where I Still Draw The Line

I don't use AI to skip understanding my own numbers, and I don't hand it anything client-facing without checking it against what I actually know to be true about my ideal client right now, not two years ago. Those are the two places I've learned, sometimes the hard way, that shortcuts cost more than they save.

Everything else, research, first drafts, a faster way to see my own website the way a prospective client would, I've made peace with. That took two years to sort out. It didn't happen in a weekend, and I don't think it should for you either.

Teach AI Your Client, Not Your Team

If you run a group practice with a team, it's tempting to think the goal is getting AI to sound like your practice's overall voice, blended across everyone who works there. I'd push back on that. Associates come and go. Your team next year will look different than it does today, and if you've built your AI's foundation around how your team sounds, you'll be rebuilding it every time someone leaves or a new hire starts.

What doesn't change nearly as often is who you're actually trying to reach. Teach it your ideal client instead: who they are, what they're struggling with when they find you, the specific language they use to describe their problem before they know what to call it. That foundation holds up over time in a way "team voice" doesn't, and it's also what client-facing content actually requires, because clients aren't looking for your team's voice. They're looking for someone who understands their situation.

I don't have this problem the same way, because Group Practice Network is just me. There's no team to account for, so the training I've done has been entirely about my own voice and about knowing exactly who I'm talking to: the therapists and clinic owners running practices across Canada, and what they're actually navigating right now. If you do have a team, the principle is the same. Aim it at the client, not the roster.

What To Do If You're Considering Using AI For Your Group Practice

• Before you use AI for anything client-facing, spend real time teaching it your voice and your ideal client's needs, not your team's, since your team will change and your ideal client is the more stable foundation.

• Never publish anything AI drafted without reading it against your own material first. If it could have been written for any practice, it isn't ready.

• Decide in advance which parts of your practice's voice are non-negotiable: real empathy, real validation, a willingness to challenge. Treat those as off-limits for shortcuts.

If you're working through what your own voice and positioning should look like right now, with or without AI in the mix, you can learn more about individual coaching with me. I’d love to support you as you work through how this looks for you.