Planning a Mental Health and AI Panel: Speakers, Safety and Evidence
Plan a mental health and AI session that is safe, honest and useful: one clear goal, the right three voices on stage and safety rules that protect your audience.
By Harvey Castro, MD, MBA, emergency physician and founder of Signal & Stage.
Quick answer: A good mental health and AI session has one goal, three voices on stage (a licensed clinician, an expert in how the tools are built and used, and a consenting voice of lived experience) and written safety rules, including crisis resources on screen and a plan for hard questions from the audience.
Speakers in this guide: Amy Kelly, Karin Andrea Stephan, Lupita Almuhana and Taz Hart.
Picture this. Your panel on “AI and Mental Health” is running well until the Q&A. A woman in the third row takes the microphone and says her son has been talking to a chatbot every night instead of sleeping. Her voice breaks. The panelists look at the moderator. The moderator looks at the clock.
The villain here is the unprepared room: a sensitive topic planned like any other session.
So how do you plan a session that helps instead of harms?
At 3 a.m. in the emergency department, mental health is not a policy topic. It is a patient in crisis, a family in the hallway and too few beds. When people ask me whether an AI chatbot can help with mental health, I give the honest answer: sometimes, for some people, with guardrails, and never as a replacement for an accountable human. Your session should deliver that same honesty.
What should the session accomplish?
- Help clinicians decide whether and how to use AI tools in practice. Who is in the room: therapists, psychiatrists, primary care, nursing. Best format: panel or workshop.
- Help leaders protect workforce wellbeing as AI changes jobs. Who is in the room: executives, HR, managers. Best format: keynote or fireside chat.
- Help patients and the public understand what AI can and cannot do. Who is in the room: patients, families, community. Best format: fireside chat in plain language.
Pick one. A session that tries to do all three usually helps nobody.
Who belongs on a mental health and AI panel?
- A licensed clinician who can say what good care looks like and where AI fits or fails.
- An expert in how the tools are built, sold and adopted.
- A voice of lived experience, with full consent, who decides what to share.
Add a moderator who has done the reading and will stop overclaiming from anyone, including the panel.
On the roster:
- Amy Kelly, LMFT: mental health practice and clinical AI workflows.
- Karin Andrea Stephan: AI and mental health, human trust and adoption.
- Lupita Almuhana: workplace wellbeing and resilience, founder of Stressie.
- Taz Hart: leadership communication, disability and inclusion.
What safety rules does this session need?
- Crisis resources on screen at the start and end. In the US, that includes the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Add local resources for international events.
- No detailed descriptions of self-harm methods, in slides, stories or Q&A.
- Patient stories only with consent, and de-identified.
- No outcome claims without evidence. If a speaker says a tool “reduces depression,” ask for the study.
- A plan for Q&A. The moderator should know how to respond kindly and move on, and staff should know where to guide that person afterward.
- Speakers receive these rules in writing.
What questions make the panel useful?
- Where have you seen AI help a patient or clinician in mental health, and what made it work?
- Where have you seen it go wrong?
- What should a clinic ask a vendor before using an AI mental health tool?
- How should a manager talk with a team worried that AI will replace them?
- What should a person in distress know before using a chatbot?
Planner checklist
- The session has one goal.
- The panel includes a licensed clinician.
- Any lived-experience speaker has given full consent and controls their story.
- Crisis resources are on the first and last slide.
- Speakers have the safety rules in writing.
- The moderator has a plan for difficult Q&A moments.
- Every outcome claim has a source.
Frequently asked questions
Is AI ready to be used in mental health care? Some tools help with scheduling, documentation, screening and support between sessions. AI does not replace a licensed clinician in crisis care. A good panel makes that difference clear.
Does a mental health and AI panel need a psychiatrist? It needs a licensed clinician. That can be a psychiatrist, psychologist, therapist or counselor, depending on your audience.
How should a moderator handle a personal disclosure from the audience? Thank the person, avoid probing in public, point to the crisis resources and have a staff member follow up privately.
Does this topic work for a corporate wellbeing event? Yes. Focus on workforce wellbeing and how AI changes work, with a speaker who works in that setting.
Plan your session with care
Tell me who your audience is and what you want them to leave with. I will suggest a panel that is safe, honest and useful. Questions are welcome too.
Related reading: How to choose a healthcare AI speaker | Keynote, fireside chat, panel or workshop?
Harvey Castro, MD, MBA is a board-certified emergency physician, 5x TEDx speaker and author of over 45 books on AI and healthcare. He founded Signal & Stage to help event planners find the right healthcare, AI and leadership speakers.
www.HarveyCastroMD.com | /HarveyCastroMD | #DRGPT