Wayhaven in the Spotlight: Beyond the Couch Podcast

Wayhaven Co-Founder and Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Ashleigh Golden recently joined Dr. Ernest Wayde on Beyond the Couch: AI in Psychology to talk about what it actually looks like to build AI-powered student wellness responsibly. The conversation covered Wayhaven’s upstream, proactive model of care: a 24/7 AI well-being and student success coach designed for the everyday challenges of college life, from roommate conflict and academic stress to loneliness and difficulty accessing campus resources. Rather than replacing clinical services, Wayhaven sits upstream of them, helping students build social and emotional skills, connect to campus-specific resources, and develop concrete action plans to follow through, all in the 5 to 10 minutes that most students realistically have.

Dr. Golden also spoke to the broader landscape, including the rapidly evolving governance space, the risks of general-purpose AI tools being used for mental health support without adequate safeguards, and why embedding clinicians throughout the product development cycle matters. Her takeaway for the field: banning AI in mental health isn’t the answer, because students are already using it. The real opportunity is better guardrails, more clinician involvement, and tools that are genuinely fit for purpose.

Wayhaven’s own peer-reviewed feasibility research, conducted on a large, diverse campus, found that students reported statistically significant reduced feelings of low mood, anxiety, and hopelessness, as well as gains in self-efficacy, a sense of agency, and overall well-being.

Beyond the Couch: AI in Psychology is sponsored by the American Board of Professional Psychology and the National Register of Health Service Psychologists. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or watch on YouTube. Learn more about the series at waydeai.com/beyondthecouch.