The field of mental health support and education is experiencing significant advancements with the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs). Researchers are exploring the potential of LLMs to provide scalable and accessible solutions for mental health support, including counseling training and patient simulation. The focus is on developing innovative tools that can improve human conversations, enhance emotional intelligence, and provide personalized feedback. Noteworthy papers in this area include:

• One that presents an LLM-based training system, which demonstrates improved skill development in novice counselors when combining simulated practice and structured feedback.
• Another that introduces an AI-powered standardized patient simulation, showing significant improvement in serious illness communication skills among healthcare students and professionals.
• A study that proposes an interactive framework for assessing and optimizing LLM-based counselors, featuring realistic arena interactions and tripartite feedback, resulting in up to 141% improvement in counseling performance.
• A research that validates the effectiveness of an LLM-based approach for identifying children's development across various free play settings in kindergarten, achieving high accuracy in identifying cognitive, motor, and social abilities.