Your patients trust you with their minds. Can you trust your tools with their data?

It’s a quiet evening after clinic, and you’re reviewing session notes. The AI tool you used today seems helpful—it drafted a clean summary of your patient’s depression relapse and medication response. But a thought nags you: How do I know this is HIPAA compliant?

This concern isn’t just theoretical. With generative AI rapidly infiltrating clinical practice, from decision support to documentation, the stakes for data privacy in psychotherapy have never been higher. Unlike most specialties, behavioral health handles deeply sensitive information—from trauma disclosures to suicidality—that demands airtight privacy safeguards.

Yet, as shown in recent legal cases and academic reviews, AI tools often operate in a gray zone of compliance—especially when developers are unaware of healthcare-specific regulations like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Understanding HIPAA in the Age of AI

HIPAA sets federal standards for protecting personal health information (PHI), including provisions around how data is stored, accessed, and transmitted. For therapists and mental health organizations using AI tools, the implications are clear: If the AI collects, creates, stores, or processes PHI, it must comply with HIPAA.

This includes three key rules:

1. The Privacy Rule: Limits how PHI is used and disclosed.
2. The Security Rule: Requires safeguards to protect ePHI (electronic PHI).
3. The Breach Notification Rule: Mandates timely reporting of any data breaches involving unsecured PHI.

These protections are foundational—but they were written in 1996. AI systems, especially those using cloud-based models or predictive analytics, raise new questions around re-identification, inference attacks, and the role of non-traditional vendors.

Where Psychotherapy and AI Often Clash

As the International Journal of Medical Toxicology & Legal Medicine points out, HIPAA compliance in AI must account for:

• • Data Storage: AI models must encrypt and secure data during training and use, including during interactions such as clinical notetaking.

• • Inference Risks: Even anonymized data can be re-identified using AI techniques—posing a legal and ethical hazard if not managed properly.
  • Transparency and Consent: Providers must ensure patients are informed about how their data is used—including AI involvement.

Despite these risks, AI’s promise in psychotherapy is significant. Therapists are drowning in notes, losing valuable clinical hours to documentation. Tools that can safely automate this process could reduce burnout, improve note quality, and create more time for direct care.

Therassist: AI Built for HIPAA Compliance in Therapy

Therassist is a HIPAA-compliant AI scribe and clinical copilot designed specifically for mental health professionals. It goes beyond simple transcription—delivering intelligent automation with privacy as a core design principle.

Here’s how Therassist addresses key compliance concerns:

1. Business Associate Agreements (BAAs)

Therassist signs BAAs with all covered entities and operates fully within the HIPAA framework, defining roles clearly and outlining breach responsibilities.

2. Encrypted Data Handling

All ePHI processed by Therassist is encrypted both at rest and in transit using industry-standard protocols. Access controls, audit logs, and secure cloud hosting ensure that no data is accessible without proper authorization.

3. No Data Reuse for Model Training

Unlike many general-purpose AI platforms, Therassist does not repurpose your patient data to improve generative AI models. All processing is done securely and within isolated environments.

4. Role-Specific Controls

Only authorized clinicians can access session notes and feedback dashboards. This prevents the “open-door” risk some generic AI integrations pose.

From Compliance to Confidence: Supporting Clinical Use 

HIPAA is the baseline. But Therassist also helps therapists navigate practical and ethical concerns:

• • Real-time Documentation Support: Automates note drafts, reducing manual data entry and after-hours charting.

• • Evidence-Based Coaching: Provides feedback on adherence to modalities like CBT or DBT, ensuring care quality aligns with organizational standards.
  • Audit-Ready Logs: Maintains detailed logs of all data interactions, supporting compliance audits and outcome reporting.

By combining HIPAA compliance with behavioral workflow expertise, Therassist allows practices to adopt AI confidently—without legal exposure or ethical compromise.

What Should Therapists Look for in an AI Tool?

Whether evaluating Therassist or another platform, here’s a checklist for ensuring HIPAA-compliant AI use:

• • Is there a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA)?
  • Is data encrypted at rest and in transit?

• • Can the vendor demonstrate audit trails and access controls?
  • Are users clearly informed about AI involvement in care delivery?
  • Is patient data excluded from third-party training datasets?

If the answer is no to any of the above, it’s a red flag. The burden of compliance falls on the provider—not just the vendor.

Closing Thoughts: Balancing Innovation with Responsibility

AI is here to stay in therapy. It promises a future of lighter admin loads, richer clinical insights, and more scalable care. But to get there, we must design, deploy, and regulate these tools responsibly.

Therassist offers a roadmap for what responsible, HIPAA-aligned AI can look like in behavioral health. It’s not just about checking boxes—it’s about protecting patient dignity, clinician trust, and the therapeutic relationship itself.

In mental health, privacy isn’t just a legal requirement—it’s a clinical one.