A national research survey needs your voice, and it takes less than 10 minutes.
If you’ve been following the conversations inside Thriving Practitioners over the past year, you’ll know that AI is no longer a future consideration for natural health practitioners.
It’s here, it’s influencing how patients search for help, and it’s already reshaping which practitioners get found, trusted, and recommended by the systems people increasingly turn to for health guidance.
But here’s the thing that keeps me up at night: if naturopaths don’t actively contribute to how AI is understood and used within our profession, those standards will be set for us by people who may not understand holistic clinical reasoning, the therapeutic relationship, or the nuance of person-centred care.
That’s why I’m excited to share this important research initiative with you.
About the Ethical AI for Naturopathy Survey
Sofia Silchenko, a presenter at the 2025 AI Summit for Natural Health Practitioners, is a clinical naturopath, educator, and researcher currently completing postgraduate study at Southern Cross University.
Sofia is running a short, anonymous national survey exploring how Australian naturopathic practitioners currently use, understand, and respond to artificial intelligence in clinical and practice settings.
This study has full ethics approval (HREC Approval: 2026/035) and aims to build an accurate, real-world snapshot of where our profession actually stands with AI right now.
The research covers four key areas:
Awareness and current use – Are practitioners using AI tools in practice, and if so, how?
Perceived benefits – Where are naturopaths finding AI helpful, whether for efficiency, learning support, admin, or documentation?
Concerns and risks – What worries practitioners most, from privacy and misinformation through to ethics and depersonalisation of care?
Barriers to adoption – What’s standing in the way, whether that’s confidence, training, cost, or a lack of clear professional guidance?
Why Your Perspective Matters
(Especially If You're Not Using AI)
I want to be really clear about this: this survey isn’t just for practitioners who are already using AI. If you’re cautiously curious, completely sceptical, or haven’t touched an AI tool in your life, your perspective is just as valuable.
In fact, it might be more valuable.
Research that only captures the views of early adopters will paint a skewed picture. For this study to genuinely inform future education, professional guidance, and policy for naturopathy, it needs to reflect the full spectrum of practitioner experience and opinion.
Whether you’re writing blog posts with ChatGPT or you think the whole thing is overhyped, your honest response helps build the evidence base our profession needs to navigate this well.
Why This Research Matters Right Now
We’re at a pivotal moment. AI is already influencing how patients find practitioners, how health information is surfaced and summarised, and increasingly, how clinical decisions are “supported” in conventional healthcare settings.
The natural health profession has a choice: we can be passive observers of this technology wave, or we can be informed contributors who help define what ethical, safe, practitioner-led AI integration actually looks like.
This survey is one concrete way to make sure naturopathic voices are part of that conversation, grounded in real practitioner experience rather than assumptions made by people outside our profession.
How to Participate
The survey is anonymous, takes under 10 minutes, and is open to naturopathic practitioners in Australia aged 18 or older who are currently practising or have practised within the past 12 months.
A Personal Note
One of the core principles behind everything we do at Thriving Practitioners is that our profession deserves to lead these conversations, not follow them. We’ve spent the past year helping practitioners understand AI visibility, build their digital presence, and use AI tools ethically and effectively. But our work is strengthened immeasurably when it’s backed by rigorous academic research.
Sofia’s study will help ensure that future training, professional development, and governance on AI in naturopathy are grounded in what’s actually happening in clinics and practices across Australia, not speculation.
That’s worth 10 minutes of your time.
Thank you for supporting research that protects practitioner sovereignty, patient-centred care, and the thoughtful evolution of our profession.
This research is conducted by Sofia Silchenko, SCU Masters in Naturopathy student, supervised by experienced researchers. HREC Approval: 2026/035.
