CATCH: A Novel Data Synthesis Framework for High Therapy Fidelity and Memory-Driven Planning Chain of Thought in AI Counseling

Mingyu Chen, Jingkai Lin, Zhaojie Chu, Xiaofen Xing, Yirong Chen, Xiangmin Xu


Abstract
Recently, advancements in AI counseling based on large language models have shown significant progress. However, existing studies employ a one-time generation approach to synthesize multi-turn dialogue samples, resulting in low therapy fidelity and failing to capture the decision-making rationale behind each response. In this work, we propose CATCH, a novel data synthesis framework designed to address these challenges. Specifically, to improve therapy fidelity, we introduce the Progressive Dialogue Synthesis strategy, which extracts goals, resources, and solutions from a client’s self-report, organizes them into structured outlines, and then incrementally generates stage-aligned counseling dialogues. To capture decision-making rationale behind each response, we propose the Memory-Driven Dynamic Planning thinking pattern that integrates memory enhancement, global planning, and strategy reasoning; a collaborative multi-agent optimizer then leverages MDP to attach explicit chain-of-thought to each dialogue turn. Extensive experiments and human evaluations demonstrate that CATCH significantly enhances fidelity and logical coherence in AI counseling.
Anthology ID:
2025.findings-emnlp.543
Volume:
Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: EMNLP 2025
Month:
November
Year:
2025
Address:
Suzhou, China
Editors:
Christos Christodoulopoulos, Tanmoy Chakraborty, Carolyn Rose, Violet Peng
Venue:
Findings
SIG:
Publisher:
Association for Computational Linguistics
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Pages:
10254–10286
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URL:
https://aclanthology.org/2025.findings-emnlp.543/
DOI:
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Cite (ACL):
Mingyu Chen, Jingkai Lin, Zhaojie Chu, Xiaofen Xing, Yirong Chen, and Xiangmin Xu. 2025. CATCH: A Novel Data Synthesis Framework for High Therapy Fidelity and Memory-Driven Planning Chain of Thought in AI Counseling. In Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: EMNLP 2025, pages 10254–10286, Suzhou, China. Association for Computational Linguistics.
Cite (Informal):
CATCH: A Novel Data Synthesis Framework for High Therapy Fidelity and Memory-Driven Planning Chain of Thought in AI Counseling (Chen et al., Findings 2025)
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