About Seph
Seph Fontane Pennock is a mental health entrepreneur who acquired Psychology.com in 2026 and runs it. He founded PositivePsychology.com and grew it into one of the world's largest evidence-based resources for practitioners and coaches before its acquisition, and he is a co-founder of Quenza, the therapy and coaching software used by clinicians in dozens of countries. For more than a decade he has worked at the intersection of psychology, technology, and the tools that help people get support.
At Psychology.com he leads the site's AI therapy coverage. He tracks the peer-reviewed research, the market, the safety debates, and the fast-moving state and federal regulation of AI mental health tools, and he compiles and maintains the site's AI therapy statistics. His focus is separating what the evidence actually shows from the marketing: where purpose-built, clinically supervised tools genuinely help, where general-purpose chatbots fall short, and where AI should never stand in for a human clinician.
Seph reviews the site's AI therapy guides for accuracy, balance, and clarity, drawing on both the published literature and first-hand experience building AI-assisted mental health products. He believes AI can meaningfully widen access to support, but only when it is honest about its limits and built around human care rather than in place of it.
Background
Seph's background spans building and scaling digital mental health platforms. He is the founder of Psychology.com and of PositivePsychology.com, co-founded the coaching and therapy software company Quenza, and has launched and operated a range of health and technology ventures. His work today centers on Psychology.com and the responsible application of artificial intelligence to mental health, from consumer AI therapy tools to the research and policy shaping the field.
Areas of expertise
Role at Psychology.com
Seph is the named author of Psychology.com's AI therapy coverage: the reviews, statistics, and guides tracking consumer AI mental health tools. Pages he has written carry a "By Seph" byline with the date; clinical review of that section is by Michael Callans.
Read our editorial policy for the full process.
Written by Seph Fontane Pennock on Psychology.com
88 pages across 1 section, written and compiled by Seph.
AI Therapy (88)
- Abby AI Review (2026): Features, Arabic Support, and Verdict
- AI and Art Therapy: What It Is and What AI Can and Cannot Do
- AI and DBT: Can AI Help With Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills?
- AI and EMDR Therapy: What It Is and What AI Can Safely Do
- AI and Grief: Can AI Tools Help You Cope With Loss?
- AI and Music Therapy: What It Can and Cannot Do (2026)
- AI and Trauma Therapy: What Helps and What to Avoid
- AI CBT: How Chatbots Deliver Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- AI Couples Therapy: Tools, Benefits, and Limits
- AI for Mental Health: Uses, Evidence, and Limits
- AI in ABA Therapy: How It Supports Practitioners and Families
- AI in Autism Therapy and Support: An Overview
- AI Journal Therapy: How AI-Assisted Journaling Helps
- AI Mental Health Apps: Types, What They Do, and How to Choose
- AI Psychotherapy: What It Means and How It Is Used in Practice
- AI Relationship Therapy: Help for Your Patterns, Dating, and Attachment
- AI Therapist for Inmates: Promise, Risks, and Responsible Use
- AI Therapist Prompts: Examples and How to Use Them
- AI Therapist Reviews: How to Read Them and What Users Report
- AI Therapist Statistics: Who Uses AI for Therapy (2026)
- AI Therapist VR: Virtual Humans, Headsets, and What Is Real
- AI Therapist vs a Human Therapist: Which Should You Choose?
- AI Therapists for Kids and Teens: A Parent Safety Guide
- AI Therapists for Schools: What's Safe for Students (2026)
- AI Therapists on WhatsApp and Instagram: What You Are Really Talking To
- AI Therapy Chatbots: How They Work and What to Know
- AI Therapy Companies and Startups to Know in 2026
- AI Therapy Ethical Guidelines: The Key Issues Explained
- AI Therapy for Anxiety: What Helps and What to Watch For
- AI Therapy for Police and First Responders: A Practical Guide
- AI Therapy News: Latest Developments in AI Mental Health
- AI Therapy Studies: What the Research Actually Shows
- AI Therapy: Pros and Cons
- AI Therapy: What It Is, Is It Safe, and When to See a Human
- AI Tools for ADHD: What Helps, What Doesn't, and How to Use Them
- AI Tools for Therapists: Notes, Treatment Plans, and Admin
- AI Twin Therapy: What It Is and What It Can and Cannot Do
- Applications of AI in Therapy and Counseling: A Structured Overview
- Ash AI Therapy Review (2026): Features, Cost, and Is It Worth It?
- Best AI Therapy Apps (2026): Tested and Compared
- Best Practices for AI Chatbots in Therapy: A Safe-Use and Design Guide
- Calmi Review (2026): The Viral Gen Z AI Mental Health App
- Can You Build Your Own AI Therapist?
- Character.AI as a Therapist: What It Is and Why to Be Careful
- Dawn AI Therapy Review (2026): Sword Health's Mental Health App
- Does AI Therapy Work? What the Evidence Says
- Earkick Review (2026): The Panda AI Mental-Health App
- ELIZA: The First AI Therapist and Why It Still Matters
- Ellie AI Therapist (2026): USC's Virtual Human, Explained
- Free AI Therapist and Free Online Therapy Options in 2026
- Gen Z and AI Therapists: Why Young People Turn to AI (2026)
- Grok AI Therapist Mode: What It Is and Why to Be Careful
- Harry, the AI Therapist: The Real Story Behind the Name
- How BetterHelp, Talkspace, Grow Therapy, and SonderMind Use AI
- How to Use AI as a Therapist: A Practical, Responsible Guide
- How to Use AI to Supplement Therapy (Before, Between, and After Sessions)
- Illinois Banned AI Therapy: What the Law Actually Means
- Is AI Therapy Private? Data, Confidentiality, and What to Check
- Is AI Therapy Safe?
- Kaiser Permanente and AI Mental-Health Tools: What to Know
- Most Affordable AI Therapy Tools: A 2026 Value Guide
- Nevada's AI Therapy Ban, Explained
- Noah AI Therapist Review: What It Is and Who It Suits
- Panda AI Therapist (2026): The Two Apps Behind the Search
- Pi AI Therapy (2026): Using Inflection's Empathetic AI for Support
- Robin Therapy AI (2026): Which Robin Is Real, and Is Robyn Worth It?
- Serena AI Therapist Review (2026): What We Can Verify
- Sonia AI Therapist Review (2026): What It Is and Who It Suits
- Tess (Cass) Review (2026): The Mental-Health Chatbot Behind Many Organizations
- The AI Therapist Will See You Now: Behind the Headline
- The Best AI to Use for Therapy and Emotional Support (2026)
- The Future of AI in Therapy
- The Limitations of AI Therapy Chatbots: An Honest Account
- Therabot: The Dartmouth AI Therapy Study, Explained
- Therapy Brands AI Products, Explained
- Using ChatGPT as a Therapist
- Using Claude AI for Therapy and Emotional Support
- Using Google Gemini for Therapy and Emotional Support
- Voice and Phone AI Therapists (2026): Talking to an AI Out Loud
- What Is AI Therapy? A Plain-English Definition
- What Reddit Really Thinks About AI Therapy
- Which States Ban AI Therapy? The Full 2026 Map
- Why Building (and Trusting) an AI Therapist Is So Hard
- Will AI Replace Therapists?
- Willow AI Review (2026): The Well-Being Companion App
- Woebot Review (2026): The Pioneering CBT Chatbot, and What Happened to It
- Wysa AI Therapy Review (2026): Features, Cost, and Verdict
- Youper Review (2026): The AI Emotional Health Assistant, Tested
Selected publications and press
- Seph Fontane Pennock: the serial entrepreneur who turned patient frustration into Regenerated (2026) The Jerusalem Post
- Seph Fontane Pennock built Regenerated.com for the patient he used to be (2026) Medical Daily
- Selling an edtech business: the PositivePsychology.com exit, on the eight-figure sale to Eden Capital (2023) FE International
- Interview on building online businesses (#044) BNR Nieuwsradio
- Co-host of the PositivePsychology.com Podcast with Hugo Alberts, PhD PositivePsychology.com
- De Lean Website (2016), a Dutch-language guide to taking a business idea to a profitable website in eleven steps Book