Dr Steve A Johnson is a psychotherapist, university lecturer, international supervisor and researcher, specialising in areas including addiction, trauma and neuropsychology. Across his work, one challenge remains the same: how to clearly share complex information with more people without placing even greater demands on his time.
Today, HeyGen is part of how Steve solves that problem.
He uses AI video to introduce lessons to university students, give clients techniques they can practise between sessions, translate material for professionals he supervises internationally, standardise research instructions, and create content for digital mental health experiences.
"HeyGen has become a great way for me to bring together and share that information," Steve said. "It helped me in a really precise way. It handles the jargon well and gets straight to the point."
Making complex ideas easier to grasp
At university level, Steve is currently teaching five courses, a significant workload that leaves little time for traditional video production.
He uses HeyGen to create a five- to 10-minute video at the beginning of each week that summarises what students are about to learn. When a particularly difficult concept comes up, he can add another video during the week to explain it before moving on.
"Students absolutely love it," Steve said.
Video has also proved useful outside the classroom. Steve creates videos demonstrating techniques his psychotherapy clients can use between sessions. Clients still receive written material, but many also prefer having a video they can watch.
The format lets Steve distil complex information into something more direct without having to deliver the same explanation repeatedly.
"My students don't care," Steve said of using AI video. "They just like that I can summarise things. It's the same with my clients. I can get straight to the point and help them make positive changes in their lives."
Replace hours of production work with a simpler workflow
Before HeyGen, producing that volume of video wasn't practical.
Steve experimented with several tools and workflows, including recording audio separately and using Zoom. Producing a single video could take hours, particularly when he needed to re-record parts of it.
Translation added another challenge. There wasn't a quick way to create high-quality versions in other languages without adding more tools to the process.
"I was using three, four, five different platforms to do what I do," Steve said. "With HeyGen, it’s all in one platform."
His workflow is much simpler now. Steve writes and edits a script, imports it into HeyGen and creates the video.
That efficiency has made video practical, even while teaching five university courses.
"Sometimes it would take me hours to make one, and then I'd have to redo it again and again," Steve said. "It drastically cuts down the time required."
Sharing expertise across languages and borders
Steve's work also extends beyond the United States. He supervises professionals internationally, including people in Russia, India, Pakistan and other countries.
With HeyGen, he can translate his videos so professionals can access information in their own languages while retaining technical terminology.
Steve was particularly interested in whether the translations could handle the specialised language required for his neuropsychology work. After asking Russian-speaking colleagues about the quality, he was impressed by their response.
"It sounds just like we talk, even when it comes to technical language," Steve recalled.
He also uses HeyGen in research to introduce instruments and assessments. Rather than relying on different people to explain a study to different groups, Steve can create a single video that ensures all participants receive the same instructions.
"It ensures consistency across those videos, so everyone in the research project hears the same information," he said.
Making his expertise available around the clock
Steve is also using HeyGen to share his expertise beyond appointments and classrooms.
He creates digital mental health experiences that use short videos to help people work through specific challenges, including reducing conflict between couples. HeyGen videos can sit directly within those experiences, giving people access to Steve's guidance when he isn't personally available.
"It’s helping people 24/7. I don’t have to be there," Steve said.
The content is also opening up unexpected opportunities. After watching videos from Steve's Psychology of Evil course, people approached him about turning his expertise into a book.
He has now received two book offers that he's considering.
Meanwhile, Steve is revisiting older content on his YouTube channel, taking scripts from videos created years ago and recreating them with HeyGen. He says the refreshed videos improve the quality of his library, breathe new life into older ideas and attract more views and channel members.
For Steve, the biggest impact is ultimately freedom. By spending less time producing and repeating information, he has more time to explore new areas of treatment and find new ways to help people.
"It gives me the freedom to explore areas I haven't had time to look into," Steve said. "It's allowed me to experiment and cast the net wider, so I can try to help people with other conditions."
