AI and the Future of Behavioral Health, and How to Enhance Care Without Replacing Clinicians

I want to kick us off with a statistic while I was doing research for this podcast, and it was pretty staggering, and that's why I wanted to include it.

As of December 2025, 40% – again, I'll say that again – 40% of the U.S. population lives in a federally designated mental health professional shortage area, and we also know from that research that gap is projected to widen forever.

through 2038 so this is a decade ahead we know this is happening and we also know that these organizations that are trying to close this gap are experiencing tremendous stress from workforce shortages to again increasing consumer expectations for personalized care there's so much happening from your perspective Where is AI making the biggest difference today? And why is 2027, why is this moment now so important for this?

Yeah, this is the scary stat that you just gave.

And if you look at the trajectory there, right, even a larger gap projected to widen through that 2038 time period in that study.

I think the biggest difference AI can make today is, helping behavioral health organizations expand capacity without an already stretched workforce to simply do more.

We have an increasing demand, no doubt, in behavioral health, and with the stat you just shared, and my experience working with behavioral health organizations, a real workforce shortage.

And so clinicians who are carrying a significant amount of already administrative burden compliance, right? These are These are some scary stats to think through.

When we think about augmented intelligence or AI, I know people use that artificial intelligence term.

I like to say augmented intelligence, and I think that's a really important distinction.

It's important to note that AI doesn't solve the workforce shortage by itself, but it can help us use the technology.

It can ultimately have an impact on the workforce where it can be leveraged most effectively.

And so the most immediate opportunity is reducing the friction surrounding care.

That includes things like supporting documentation, bringing relevant information forward before and during an encounter.

And it ultimately can help clinicians, right? I think that's an important word, help clinicians identify gaps that require attention.

It can help organizations understand where patients may be falling short or falling out of care.

I think what makes this moment particularly important in AI is that we're moving from this theoretical conversation to a more practical one.

So organizations are no longer asking only what could AI eventually do? They're asking, where can it create measurable value today? And I think that's an important question to be asking.

And for me, the right measure is not how much an organization can deploy AI.

I think it's whether that technology gives clinicians more time to care.

It can improve access, how it can reduce avoidable burden, and then help an organization achieve better outcomes, which I think should be the target and the goal.

And so behavioral health organizations, and in behavioral health in particular, We are especially dependent on context, patient context.

And a person's needs cannot be understood from one diagnosis, one note, or one encounter.

And I think the opportunity is to use augmented intelligence or AI to connect information across the care journey, right, across an episode of care, and help the clinician see a more complete picture while keeping the clinician firmly in control.

And so for me, the value of AI is not that it replaces capacity.