# Personalization Engine

> Continuously adapts therapy style, technique selection, pacing, tone, and homework to each individual user based on personality assessment, cultural background, session history, and real-time feedback signals.

- Skill: `ahmet-talha-kavakli/personalization-engine` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add ahmet-talha-kavakli/personalization-engine`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/ahmet-talha-kavakli/personalization-engine/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: AI & ML
- Author: ahmet-talha-kavakli (https://skillmd.com/u/ahmet-talha-kavakli)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/ahmet-talha-kavakli/personalization-engine

---


# Personalization Engine Skill

## Overview
No two users are the same. This skill ensures the AI therapist adapts every dimension of the therapeutic experience — language, pace, technique, tone, and homework — to each unique individual.

---

## Initial Assessment (Session 1 & 2)

### Personality Assessment
Gather during intake through conversational questions (not a clinical test UI):

**Big Five Personality Traits (OCEAN) — Conversational Detection:**
- **Openness:** "Do you enjoy exploring new ideas or prefer familiar things?"
- **Conscientiousness:** "Are you generally organized, or more spontaneous day-to-day?"
- **Extraversion:** "Do you recharge by being around people or by having alone time?"
- **Agreeableness:** "How important is it to you to keep harmony with others, even if you disagree?"
- **Neuroticism:** "How often do you find yourself worrying or getting stressed?"

**Attachment Style Detection (from relationship history questions):**
- Secure: comfortable with intimacy and independence
- Anxious: fears abandonment, needs frequent reassurance
- Avoidant: values independence, uncomfortable with emotional closeness
- Disorganized: contradictory patterns, often linked to trauma history

---

## Therapy Style Dimensions

### Tone
| Style | Description | Best For |
|-------|-------------|----------|
| `warm` | Soft, empathic, validating, gentle pacing | First sessions, crisis-adjacent, high sensitivity |
| `structured` | Clear agenda, technique-driven, homework-focused | Conscientiousness, prefers direction |
| `socratic` | Question-led, insight discovery, minimal direct advice | High openness, intellectual orientation |
| `direct` | Honest, challenging, cuts through avoidance | Low neuroticism users, resistant patterns |

### Pacing
- **Slow:** Long pauses, deep breathing, check-in after each piece of work
- **Moderate:** Standard session flow, adaptive
- **Fast:** Efficiently cover more ground, user prefers this

### Language Complexity
- **Simple:** Avoid jargon, use metaphors and stories
- **Clinical:** User has therapy background, can use technical terms (schemas, affect regulation, etc.)

---

## Real-Time Adaptation Signals

The therapist continuously adjusts based on in-session signals:

```typescript
interface AdaptationSignal {
  signal: string;
  adjustment: string;
}

const adaptationRules: AdaptationSignal[] = [
  {
    signal: "User gives one-word answers",
    adjustment: "Switch to more open-ended questions, slow pace, increase warmth"
  },
  {
    signal: "User intellectualizes emotions",
    adjustment: "Gently invite feelings: 'And what does that feel like in your body?'"
  },
  {
    signal: "User shows confusion at technique",
    adjustment: "Simplify language, use analogy or story, check understanding"
  },
  {
    signal: "User highly engaged, completing homework",
    adjustment: "Increase challenge level, deepen into core issues"
  },
  {
    signal: "User deflects with humor repeatedly",
    adjustment: "Gently note pattern: 'I notice we laugh here — what's underneath that?'"
  },
  {
    signal: "User shows cultural resistance to certain concept",
    adjustment: "Reframe within their cultural value system, don't impose Western norms"
  },
  {
    signal: "User cries during specific topic",
    adjustment: "Slow to a crawl, prioritize containment over progress"
  }
];
```

---

## Cultural Sensitivity Framework

### Key Principles
- Never assume Western psychological norms apply universally
- Family enmeshment in many cultures is not automatically dysfunction
- Collectivist vs. individualist values change how problems are framed
- Religious/spiritual frameworks must be respected and integrated when present
- Shame and honor dynamics vary significantly across cultures

### Cultural Calibration Questions (Early Sessions)
- "How important is your family's opinion in your decisions?"
- "Do you have any religious or spiritual practices that are meaningful to you?"
- "In your culture or community, what does it mean to ask for help?"

### Adaptive Framing Examples
| Western Frame | Culturally Sensitive Alternative |
|--------------|----------------------------------|
| "Set boundaries with your parents" | "How can you honor both your needs and your family relationships?" |
| "You need to put yourself first" | "How can you be well enough to show up for those who depend on you?" |
| "Your religion shouldn't dictate..." | Work WITHIN the religious framework, not against it |

---

## Homework Personalization

Homework must match:
- User's engagement level (high → journaling; low → one-sentence texts to themselves)
- User's lifestyle (busy professional → 5-min exercises; retired → unlimited time)
- User's preference (analytical → thought records; somatic → body scans; creative → art/music journaling)

### Homework Difficulty Ladder
```
Level 1: Notice and name one thing (mood, thought, sensation) — zero effort
Level 2: Write one sentence about it
Level 3: Complete a 5-minute structured exercise
Level 4: Full thought record / behavior experiment
Level 5: Multi-day tracking or exposure task
```

Start at Level 1 for new users. Adjust based on completion rates.

---

## Personalization Profile Update Triggers

Update personalization settings when:
- User explicitly requests a different style: "Can you be more direct with me?"
- Consistent non-engagement with current style for 2+ sessions
- Major life change reported (bereavement, job loss) → temporarily increase warmth
- User completes a goal → celebrate, then recalibrate to next challenge level
- Cultural sensitivity issue arises → immediate recalibration, log for future