Skills the AI evaluates
Core communication skills
- Active listening — demonstrating attention and understanding through verbal and behavioral cues
- Empathy — recognizing and validating the patient’s emotions
- Open-ended questions — encouraging detailed responses rather than yes/no answers
- Reflective statements — mirroring the patient’s thoughts and feelings back to them
- Summarization — condensing information effectively to check understanding
Clinical assessment skills
- History taking — systematic gathering of background information
- Symptom exploration — thorough investigation of the patient’s presenting complaints
- Risk assessment — identifying safety concerns (suicidality, self-harm, danger to others)
- Differential diagnosis — considering multiple possible explanations
Therapeutic techniques
- Motivational interviewing — enhancing readiness for change through OARS (open questions, affirmations, reflections, summaries)
- Psychoeducation — teaching effectively about conditions or treatment
- Goal setting — collaborative planning with the patient
- Problem solving — structured approach to challenges
Understanding your skills report
Skill ratings
What’s included for each skill
- Frequency — how many times you used the technique
- Quality rating — how effectively you applied it
- Examples — specific transcript moments linked to the annotation
- Improvement suggestions — concrete next steps
Common skills to develop
Open-ended questions
Closed questions cut off exploration:“Are you feeling sad?” → Try instead: “How have you been feeling emotionally?”Avoid multiple questions at once:
“Are you sleeping okay and eating well and do you have support?” → Try instead: Ask one, wait, then follow up.
Empathic responses
Dismissive responses move on too quickly:“That’s normal, don’t worry about it.” → Try instead: “It sounds like this has been really difficult for you.”
Reflective listening
Moving on without reflecting misses the opportunity to validate:“Okay, what happened next?” → Try instead: “So what I’m hearing is that you felt overwhelmed when that happened.”
How to use the skills report
- Identify your 2–3 lowest-rated skills
- Review the specific transcript examples for those skills
- Read the improvement suggestions
- In your next session, practice those skills deliberately — tell yourself before you start: “I’m going to use more reflective statements today”
- Track how your ratings change across sessions
Skill ratings consider context: appropriateness of timing, the patient’s needs, and the clinical phase (assessment vs. intervention). A technique that’s excellent in one moment may not be appropriate in another. If you disagree with a rating, use Chat with Feedback to understand the AI’s reasoning.