More Nigerians now turn to chatbots when they feel low and cannot reach a therapist. One Nigerian therapy platform says that is exactly why it will not oversell what AI can do. MyTherapist.ng uses AI to help people find a therapist. But co-founder Oluwaseun Raphael Afolayan says it will never present AI as a replacement for a qualified professional. The platform has also just moved off the screen and into physical rooms.
In an interview with Technext, published on 15 October 2026, Afolayan explained where the company stops. “The boundary we draw is around clinical responsibility,” he said. “We would never position an AI response as a substitute for a qualified professional’s assessment, or let AI independently make high-stakes clinical decisions.”
Here is how the platform does use AI. A feature called Tio lets a person describe their concern and budget, then suggests therapists and explains why they match. It can also help a client organise what they want to talk about in a session. Afolayan says the person should stay in control of their words and what they choose to share.
He also made a pointed remark about money. The company would never describe an AI conversation as equivalent to therapy with a human professional, he said, “despite what we’ve gotten as feedback from potential investors.” And a person being distressed, he added, does not make it acceptable to exaggerate what the technology can do. That is the founder’s account of investor feedback, and we could not check it. But it shows a real pull in this market between what sells and what is safe.
On 1 October 2026, MyTherapist.ng partnered with Café One, described as Nigeria’s largest network of co-working spaces, to offer in-person sessions. Clients find a therapist on the platform, choose an in-person slot, pick a place and time, and pay online. They get venue, room and check-in details beforehand. Every session happens in a private room, not in an open café or shared workspace. Until now, the company worked only through video, voice and chat.
The model is worth a look. Instead of building clinics, MyTherapist.ng plans a network of carefully chosen venue partners. It says this lets therapists offer in-person care without paying for their own space. The rollout starts small while the company tests demand. We could not confirm the Café One partnership, so these details come from the Technext report.
Afolayan’s wider point is that awareness is not access. “I think we sometimes mistake awareness for access,” he said. A person can know they need therapy and still struggle to find someone they trust, pay for it or find enough privacy to attend. For him, the key question is what happens after the first booking. “If someone books once but cannot afford to return, we should ask what prevented them from continuing.”
Price is part of that. Technext reports that student sessions start from ₦3,000, with therapists setting their own rates. A 2024 Techpoint profile said students with valid proof could pay as little as ₦1,500, with ₦3,000 as the standard rate. So the lowest price appears to have changed. The company is also building access through employers and HMOs, so people do not always carry the full cost. It admits that balancing low prices against fair pay for therapists is an ongoing tension.
The company’s path has not been smooth. According to the interview, its app was removed from Google Play in January 2023, shortly after paid bookings began. It took a month to be reinstated. Eight months later, money ran low and the company paused for two months, paying staff half salary. Some team members offered to go unpaid. Afolayan says the episode changed how he thinks about every hire and expense.
For founders, three lessons stand out. First, say clearly where your technology stops, especially in health, where overselling can hurt people. Second, a launch is not the finish line. Ask what keeps a customer coming back after the first purchase. Third, partnerships can replace heavy spending, as long as the quality of the experience holds.
A caution: the claims about limits and plans are the founder’s own. We have not seen how Tio works or how data is handled. Technext notes that experts have raised privacy concerns about AI in mental health, so any platform in this space should explain clearly how it protects what users share.
Sources: Technext interview with Oluwaseun Raphael Afolayan; Techpoint Africa on MyTherapist.ng and WellaHealth; Techpoint Africa feature on MyTherapist.ng; TechCabal on Nigerians using AI for therapy.
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