A flagship moment on this theme
"We know that tech companies have literally said they are selling people's data. They are selling what we call protected health information that most of us were trained to protect no matter what. So some of these ethical things are being thrown out in the name of business."
This is the sharpest moment in the episode. Rachel names something most clinicians feel but rarely see stated plainly, and she anchors it in clinical training rather than abstract ethics policy.
Where this is a central topic
3 episodes
The 988 Hotline: Three Years In
Awareness is significantly lower among Black, Hispanic, and Asian adults; Southern states show the lowest contact rates nationally; and the LGBTQ specialized line was cut in July 2025 despite LGBTQ youth representing nearly 20% of all texts.
Big Mental Health Stories & Trends to Watch in 2026
Rachel explicitly names tech companies selling protected health information as an ethical breach and argues regulatory bodies are not moving fast enough to establish meaningful guardrails.
Real Change
Headway's documented sale of mental health data and HIPAA violations by platforms like BetterHelp drove a sustained conversation about what community clinicians spend careers protecting and what tech companies routinely discard.
Where this comes up substantially
6 episodes
Mental Health Access, Telehealth Policy & the Future of Behavioral Health Care with Andrea Fox
Both speakers raise the concern that shared behavioral health data could lead to labeling, denial of services, or inappropriate medication decisions, particularly for young people still developing whose diagnoses may not warrant the treatment they receive.
Tiered Care, Technology, and the Future of Mental Health
Rachel contrasts consumer-level desensitization to data selling with the specific ethical weight of clinical confidentiality, treating it as a live tension the field cannot afford to let drift.
Navigating Tech in Private Practice with Uriah Guilford
Rachel makes a sustained argument about AI scribe data risks: unknown retention policies, the vulnerability of fine print to change over time, and the chilling effect on client disclosure when recordings exist.
Preparing for the AI Shift in Therapy with Dr. Jordan Harris
Rachel raises a substantive distinction between session recording and data mining, challenges whether clients can meaningfully consent to downstream data use, and argues privacy is foundational to therapeutic safety.
When AI Meets Therapy: Risks, Ethics, and Advocacy with Dr. Ajita Robinson
Dr. Robinson explains that Headway is classified as a tech company rather than a healthcare company, which allows it to sidestep HIPAA and potentially sell patient records or use them to train AI.
The Human Side of Elite Athletes | Julie Kliegman of the book, Mind Game
Rachel and Julie examine how perceived confidentiality risk with employer-funded clinicians suppresses help-seeking even when those clinicians genuinely maintain confidentiality.
Looking to go deeper in your own work?
These TSTI trainings build on conversations from the episodes above.