What AI Can Do For Mental Health

The U.S. has plenty of healthcare services for physical injuries, but when it comes to mental health there is no well coordinated care system in place. While there is no shortage of mental health services, the gap is in connecting people in need with these essential services. How can new technologies improve mental health services for everyone, as well as make the service easier to manage?

On this episode of the Healthcare Rethink podcast, host Brian Urban spoke with Michiel Rauws, CEO and Founder at Cass, a leading AI mental health assistant. Rauws hails from the Netherlands, where he was able to receive mental health care for years without any challenges. The therapy encouraged him to become a peer counselor, which lead to him helping family and friends. He later realized the potential of bringing mental healthcare to everyone with new and emerging AI technologies.

This episode covers:

1. How Cass can help change mental health in the U.S. for the better
2. The importance behind accessible mental healthcare
3. How AI will affect the current healthcare ecosystem

“One thing that struck me between Europe and the U.S. is availability of care, the access to care, and the cost of care,” said Rauws. “And in a small way, how I was increasing capacity by being a peer support counselor, I thought: ‘What if I could find a way to really massively add capacity, to really empower the current healthcare workers to help so many more people?’ And that’s where my thought of: ‘Well, I’ve sort of been repeating my counselor’s approach that helped me, and what if I could build this little AI assistant that could repeat the things that I say to people and then help others?’”

Michiel Rauws is the CEO and Founder of Cass, having begun the company in 2015. He has a large swath of experience with different technology companies holding a number of different titles, from being a project manager at IBM to being a Co-Founder of M&V Enterprises.