Aim: This session aims to engage psychologists in an interactive, research informed exploration of emotions and emotional skill development, using the app Neury® as a clinical example. The session will integrate current literature on emotional development, regulation, and measurement with applied clinical practice, demonstrating how digital tools such as Neury® can be ethically and effectively incorporated into psychological assessment, formulation, and intervention across treatment modalities.

Content: This interactive session will explore emotions and emotional skills through a combination of evidence informed presentation, audience engagement, and applied activities. The session will outline the theoretical and empirical foundations of Neury®, drawing on peer-reviewed research that informs its design, clinical application, and direct exploration. Brief trivia questions will be presented to reinforce key concepts and promote active engagement.

Participants will explore how emotional development and emotional learning are reflected across different psychological treatment modalities, and how Neury® may be integrated to complement these approaches. Polls and facilitated audience questions will be used throughout the session to capture participant perspectives and link clinical experience with current research findings.

Emotional measurement will be examined highlighting advances in both subjective and objective approaches. Participants will be shown how Neury® exercises can be used to influence emotions as experienced in the body, with corresponding changes observed in physiological data points such as heart rate, pulse, and blood pressure. These demonstrations will support discussion of how autonomic nervous system activity can be both assessed and modulated for emotional experiences. This includes the potential use of Neury® connecting to wearable-derived physiological data to identify patterns associated with heightened stress, for example, sustained elevations in heart rate during the workday, and to provide optional, timely prompts inviting users to engage in brief, supportive exercises within the app.

The goals of this session are to:
Present the research evidence underpinning Neury® and its clinical relevance for psychologists while supporting them to integrate the app in a research-informed and ethical manner

Provide an interactive, evidence based exploration of emotions, emotional development, and emotional skills relevant to psychological practice

Examine how emotional skills are conceptualised and prioritised across different psychological treatment modalities

Explore contemporary subjective and objective methods of emotional measurement, including physiological indicators, and their relevance to clinical work.

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) become deeply integrated into the digital ecosystem, psychologists face a shifting landscape of privacy risks that challenge traditional notions of data security. While practitioners have historically focused on defending against hackers or accidental privacy breaches, the current "AI arms race" introduces a hybrid threat: systematic surveillance by digital tool providers seeking vast datasets for model training.

The Australian Privacy Principles distinguish health data as a special category of sensitive information. However, the terms and conditions of common consumer and business tools are evolving in ways that may undermine these protections. For instance, Apple’s updated iCloud terms explicitly state the service is not suitable for "protected health information," and Microsoft’s "Recall" feature introduces the risk of automated, local screenshotting of clinical records. Furthermore, legal rulings requiring AI providers to store chat records indefinitely mean that clinical research or queries conducted via LLMs could soon be subject to court subpoena.

We advocate for a robust framework of clinical governance and digital competence. Drawing on the Psychology Board of Australia’s expectations, this paper argues that psychologists must move beyond passive acceptance of digital tools toward an active, annual audit of their "tech stack".

This presentation will help participants understand the tools they use everyday and the ways in which these tools pose threats to privacy, as well as strategies to address these threats.

Attendees will gain practical strategies to audit their digital environments and ensure their practice remains compliant with evolving privacy standards in the age of AI.