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Sharon Kahumbu has a theory about why so many people in their twenties are turning to AI instead of therapy. It's not laziness. It's not ignorance. It's embarrassment, lack of access, and the very human desire for an answer that doesn't judge you.
"By the time you're getting a therapist and they're expensive, and you can't make sessions, your first thought is, why don't you just ask ChatGPT?" she says. "And because it gives you the answers you want, you stay there for a while."
Sharon understands the appeal. But she also knows that staying there comes at a cost. Because the questions people are taking to AI, the ones about identity, self-worth, burnout, and who they're becoming, are exactly the questions that deserve more than an algorithm. They deserve a human being in the room.
The Problem with Asking an Algorithm
ChatGPT, she explains, is designed to give you a safeguarded answer. One that compiles resources from platforms such as Mayo Clinic and Psychology Today, but cannot sit with you while you cry. It cannot check on you an hour later. It cannot tell the difference between you and everyone else asking the exact same question.
"Your therapist is going to give you an answer that's directly catered to you," Sharon says. "Something based on what they've learned about you, what they've come to understand about you."
And self-diagnosis, she adds, is one of the biggest disservices you can do to yourself. Seeking answers on your own isn't the problem. The problem is acting on an unconfirmed conclusion. "You can imagine being self-diagnosed with something you completely do not have, taking on a treatment for something you do not have, and eventually ruining things for yourself," she says. "Nobody takes away that internal feeling, but we are there to confirm it."
Personal Development Is Therapy Too
Sharon's path to therapy began early. Studying psychology in the IGCSE system at 16, she found a subject that never let her go. It led her through her degree, into practice, and now into a specialization she feels is deeply underserved: personal development. For Sharon, personal development is not just stress management or burnout recovery. It encompasses identity, authentic self-care, self-love, and the kind of existential questions that people feel too embarrassed to bring to a professional. The ones they type into a search bar at midnight instead.
"A lot of people don't know what an identity crisis is," she says. "And here's something most people don't know: identity crises happen from the day you're born to the day you die. You have them throughout. But it's not a bad thing. It's actually a good thing." She mostly works with people above 18, particularly those moving through their twenties, navigating the kind of transitions that feel too big to name and too personal to ignore.
This Life Is Mine
Sharon's vision for community-based mental health is already taking shape. She's building a project with a colleague called This Life Is Mine, a 90 day cohort experience for 15 women that covers mental health, personal development, body and wellness. The goal is simple but radical: nobody goes through it alone.
Participants have someone to speak to directly throughout, whether that's Sharon, a guest guide, or a fellow cohort member navigating the exact same terrain. She envisions alumni meeting new cohorts, relationships outlasting the 90 days, a community that keeps growing long after the program ends. The first cohort launched in February 2026. For Sharon, This Life Is Mine is bigger than a program. It's proof that mental health support can look like community, not just a clinical room.
What She Wants for Kenya
For Sharon, the future of mental health in Kenya comes down to one word: accessibility. And accessibility, she's quick to point out, is more complicated than it sounds. It's not just about price. It's about location, about insurance, about whether a therapist is even available when you are. "A lot of people who struggle to access therapy are people who work nine to fives," she says, "because your therapist is also on a nine to five." This is why she's structured her own working hours to include Saturdays, dedicated entirely to clients who simply cannot make a weekday appointment.
She also wants to see more physical clinics, services that reach beyond Nairobi and into more rural areas. And she wants the therapist community itself to feel less isolated. "Therapists can be quite lonely," she admits. "Especially when you're new. You can be very alone." For Sharon, building community isn't just something she does for her clients. It's something the profession desperately needs too.
The Serial Hobbyist
Away from the therapy room, Sharon is what she calls a serial hobbyist, and she says it without apology. She crochets, embroiders, reads voraciously, and has recently picked up gaming, specifically a genre called cozy games. Her current obsession is Stardew Valley, a farming simulation game that she reaches for after sessions to decompress.
"You should see my routine," she laughs. "I finish a session, I get tea, I play a game, I crochet. It's very tactile. I like doing things with my hands."
She's a self-described introvert who'd rather be at home or at a friend's place than anywhere with a crowd. Her comfort shows lean toward the forensic, Blue Bloods and Criminal Minds, the latter of which she has watched in its entirety twice. It tracks, somehow, with her interest in forensic psychology, a path she hasn't ruled out.
And then there's the detail that made one of her clients absolutely lose her mind with excitement: Sharon listens to K-pop. Has since 2016. Stray Kids and Twice, if you're asking.
"We spent a good ten minutes at the end of the session discussing K-pop," she recalls, still amused. "She was so happy."
Sharon offers therapy for individuals with a focus on personal development, identity and the kind of questions that don't fit neatly into a diagnosis. She works with anyone above 18, particularly those navigating their twenties, and her door is open whether you're in crisis or simply figuring out who you're becoming.
You can find her profile here to learn more and reach out.
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