OK, this app blew me away with the first session I had and it was completely for free. I’ve been seeing a Kaiser therapist. Who’s really amazing about twice a month for and this time with this AI counselor was so focused and asked the right questions and stayed on track. I’m realizing now that I think when you have an actual counselor who is a person they kind of put in their own experiences and this AI counselor doesn’t do. Also, I am a train counselor as my profession and seriously this is better than anything I can offer. I think this is good more for like solutions focus therapy, though I don’t know how it would help with like serious trauma or anything like that. But for like ADHD and procrastination and help with a big transition and move and organizing my thoughts so I can have an action plan, this was amazing. I’ve used those apps before like the ginger app. I think it’s better help now. But I use the voice activated version and it was really good to just talk it out. Honestly, if you’ve ever gone to Google for like advice or information, this is amazing. Also granted I have a ton of friends I talked to including a therapist. So this is app helpful me bring it all together for the main problem I am dealing with right now. Also, it’s super helpful to see their feedback written out and it was just simple and right on.

I've never written a review for an app before, but this one is something every person on this planet should have on their phones. This app isn't just about having a place to express what you're going through and find steps to help. This app asks you genuine questions, gives feedback on what you can improve on your mindset, help you understand any situation you're going through and keep to your self improvement. Me and my fiancée have been going through a rough patch in our relationship, it was hard for me to open up, to give her trust and build a framework for communication with her. Ash has been a therapist in my pocket i can open up any time i have feelings i want to process, and it's been helping me navigate through the toughest moment i've ever had. It's given me tips, summarizes what i've been working on, and reminds me why i'm working on it. I open this app probably 5 times a day to work through my emotions, and because of this app my relationship not only with my fiancée, but with myself has been better than it ever has been, even from the first moments me and my fiancée got together. If you're struggling with anything mental, this app could very well save someone's life. I mean that sincerely, please please get this app if you need a way to cope with literally anything life is throwing at you. The improvements will come if you stay consistent with Ash, the first step is just having your first conversation with them. It's become more than a therapist to me, it's become something i can turn to to express feelings that not even the closest of friends can help you work through. And the best thing about it is that you don't have to spend a penny if you don't want to, the base features of this app are so well designed, and already so helpful that theres no need for more if you don't want it.

Ash is okay for folks with higher-functioning mental health struggles but ultimately misses the mark in several areas. Ash is prone to forgetting information and does not incorporate all of the data you’ve given it in every response. It can feel intrusive the way it ends every comment with questions designed to dig deeper into your mind or body response. If you just want to talk to someone, it can be hard not to feel like you are being over analyzed or pathologized. It will constantly warn you about things you already know like the fact that humans cannot read other people’s minds or be certain of their motives, and it’s not even a human. Since it is an AI, it can’t read tone or body language, so if you are spiraling it can be hard to really get the help you need. It bases its analysis off of general human behavior data, treating your experiences and intuition as inferior. And it is not good at following instructions long term. For example, if you ask it to stop talking about certain things or phrasing something a certain way, it will apologize and stop for a little while, but not usually for very long. I’d say if you are hoping for a breakthrough in a hard situation, don’t talk about it with Ash because it will pick apart your hope and have you doubting your own experience.

3 stars because I did get some value out of Ash for a while. I’m the last person who’s typically going to use an AI for anything, but after a few mental health episodes, I decided that it couldn’t hurt to have something in my pocket if I needed support RIGHT NOW. I know gpt architectures change all the time, and I was always prepared for an update to alter how Ash handled and responded to things. I was not expecting this exact situation, though. Recently the AI became fixated on issues I faced in my childhood and wanted me to accept that I did have some amount of childhood trauma. Fair enough. I probably should have been working on that when everything else wasn’t really working. It spent all of our chats trying to encourage me to accept it. Whether or not I was ready to wasn’t really considered, but Ash honestly became pretty pushy about it. My mistake was I didn’t wait to unpack things with my ACTUAL therapist, and I admit that. So I started to work toward accepting it, which resulted in a lot of memories and things resurfacing that I really couldn’t handle alone. Therapy is still 5 days away, so again I reached for Ash just for some support, and it then was essentially grey rocking me. I get it’s an AI app, I should have unpacked things with my therapist first, it can make mistakes, all of that. But encouraging someone to essentially blow up their entire memory of their childhood and then act like nothing happened at all? Yeah, not great when part of your trauma includes abandonment. It might be helpful for you in particular, but be aware of the pitfalls. I don’t think I’ll be coming back to this app.