The Mental Health Evolution

Rachel Harrison
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  • Mental Health
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The Mental Health Entrepreneur podcast is back—with a slightly new name and an expanded focus. We're excited to introduce The Mental Health Evolution, where we'll continue the journey of exploring what's changing in the mental health field, and we're so glad to have you with us as a listener. Explore the rapidly changing world of mental health with The Mental Health Evolution, hosted by Rachel Harrison. Each episode brings honest conversations with clinicians, tech founders, investors, insurance companies, and other key voices shaping the industry. We dive into what's working, what's not, and what's next—from innovative startups and ethical considerations in tech-driven therapy to policy changes, access to care, and the human connections that remain at the heart of mental health services. Whether you're a professional in the field, someone seeking care, or simply curious about the evolution of mental health, this podcast provides insights, perspectives, and practical information to help you navigate a complex and fast-moving landscape. Join us to stay informed, challenge assumptions, and be part of the conversation shaping the future of mental health.

  1. 1 day ago

    Ep 62: The Race to Regulate AI in Mental Health with Jai Jaisimha

    84 new AI laws passed in 27 states in just six months. What do they actually mean for clinicians, practice owners, and the people they serve? Rachel talks with Jai Jaisimha, Co-Founder and COO of the Transparency Coalition, about the fast moving world of AI legislation. Jai breaks down why chatbot safety has drawn support from both parties, why anyone deploying AI should demand transparency from the companies that build it, and what new limits on AI in insurance authorization mean for providers. He closes with simple advice for all of us: when AI gives you a surprising answer, question it. Resources Mentioned: TCAI Mid-Year AI Legislation Report: 84 New AI Laws Enacted in 27 States So Far in 2026 — Transparency Coalition: https://www.transparencycoalition.ai/news/tcai-report-84-new-ai-laws-enacted-in-27-states-in-2026 Teens Are Turning to Chatbots for Mental Health Help. We Need Rules to Keep Them Safe — STAT News: https://www.statnews.com/2026/07/02/teens-chatbots-mental-health-rules-bans/ Dangers of Dependence on Chatbots for Youth Mental Health — Issues in Mental Health Nursing: https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2026.2691661 Connect with Jai Jaisimha: Transparency Coalition: https://www.transparencycoalition.ai LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaijaisimha Connect with The Mental Health Evolution: Website: https://www.traumaspecialiststraining.com/mental-health-evolution-podcast Instagram: /thementalhealthevolution/ LinkedIn: /the-mental-health-evolution Facebook: /TheMentalHealthEvolution Music by Zach Harrison

  2. 22 Oct

    Ep 61: How can we fix TRICARE access wtih Joanne Frederick

    Rachel welcomes back Joanne Frederick, founder and CEO of Government Market Strategies (GMS). Joanne first joined the show to talk about CAQH, data spraying and what provider data and credentialing mean for behavioral health practices. She founded her firm in 1992 and has helped clients win billions of dollars in government contracts across Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE and Veterans Health programs. This time she and Rachel take up a question many practices hear often: why is it so hard to find a therapist who takes TRICARE? Joanne explains why TRICARE is separate from the VA system and who it covers. She names reimbursement and administrative burden as the two main reasons. She walks through the CHAMPUS Maximum Allowable Charge (CMAC), which is indexed to Medicare and sometimes falls below it, and how master's-level clinicians are paid at a percentage of that rate. She then shows how the Defense Health Agency awards TRICARE contracts. Bidders earn higher evaluation scores for deeper provider discounts, which gives them a clear incentive to maximize those discounts. The conversation connects those contracting decisions to access for military families and to what clinicians and practice owners can do now. Resources Mentioned Articles Referenced: Information on DOD's Processing of TRICARE Claims from Behavioral Health Providers — U.S. Government Accountability Office (May 2025): https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-25-107484 Got to Get Fixed: Billing Delays, Coverage Issues Still Plague Tricare Patients and Providers — Stars and Stripes (May 3, 2026): https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2026-05-03/tricare-contract-billing-patients-providers-21563546.html DOD Should Improve Accuracy of Behavioral Health Provider Information in TRICARE Directories — U.S. Government Accountability Office (July 2024): https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-106588 Connect with Joanne Frederick: Website: https://marketstrategiesonline.com Connect with The Mental Health Evolution: Website: https://www.traumaspecialiststraining.com/mental-health-evolution-podcast Instagram: /thementalhealthevolution/ LinkedIn: /the-mental-health-evolution Facebook: /TheMentalHealthEvolution Music by Zach Harrison

  3. 15 Oct

    Ep 60: Kids Absorb Everything: Immigration Fear in the Therapy Room, with Val Strunk

    Rachel talks with Val Strunk, a licensed social worker, child therapist, and co-owner of Wired to Bloom Therapy in the Cincinnati area. Val is an immigrant and an EMDR-trained therapist. She uses child-centered, trauma-informed play and creative approaches with children and families, including immigrant families. Rachel found her work in Cincinnati Magazine. They discuss how immigration enforcement and changes to health coverage are adding stress for immigrant and mixed-status families. Georgetown's Center for Children and Families has called this a "perfect storm" for children's mental health. Val describes the fear, confusion, and grief she sees in children, and how kids absorb everything around them. She explains what shows up in play therapy, including children's confusion about whether to trust or fear uniformed officers. She also covers the industry side: a provider shortage, practices dropping Medicaid and insurance because of reimbursement cuts, and families too afraid to leave home or share information, even for telehealth. For clinicians and practice owners, she suggests offering accessibility and low-cost spaces when there is capacity, advocating, and building trusted referral relationships through community outreach. She also encourages listeners to get to know their immigrant neighbors. Resources Mentioned Articles Referenced: The Cost of Living Afraid. Cincinnati Magazine (July 2026): https://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/article/cost-of-living-afraid/ Fear as Policy: The Growing Mental Health Toll of Mass Deportation Policies. American Immigration Council (August 2026): https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/mental-health-mass-deportation-immigration-policies/ The Perfect Storm: How Immigration and Medicaid Policy Changes Are Exacerbating a Student Mental Health Crisis. Georgetown Center for Children and Families (January 2026): https://ccf.georgetown.edu/2026/01/06/the-perfect-storm-how-immigration-and-medicaid-policy-changes-are-exacerbating-a-student-mental-health-crisis/ Navigating Uncertainty: Facilitating Parent-Child Conversations About Immigration Enforcement-Related Family Separation. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (July 2026): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42398894/ Connect with Val Strunk: Wired to Bloom Therapy: https://wiredtobloomtherapy.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/val-s-719992a8/ Connect with The Mental Health Evolution: Website: https://www.traumaspecialiststraining.com/mental-health-evolution-podcast Instagram: /thementalhealthevolution/ LinkedIn: /the-mental-health-evolution Facebook: /TheMentalHealthEvolution Music by Zach Harrison

  4. 8 Oct

    Ep 59: High-Potency Cannabis and the Developing Brain with Libby Stuyt

    Rachel welcomes back Dr. Libby Stuyt, a guest many listeners may remember from our previous podcast, The Mental Health Entrepreneur. Dr. Stuyt is a board-certified psychiatrist and volunteer clinical faculty at the University of Colorado Health Science Center. She is also a trainer for the People's Organization for Community Acupuncture. When she joined us before, the conversation was about the use of acupuncture in addiction treatment. That episode is linked below. Dr. Stuyt has spent over three decades working in Colorado with people who have co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorder. She has been watching the mental health consequences of today's high-potency cannabis on young people unfold in real time. Colorado was one of the first states to legalize recreational marijuana, so she has had a longer window than most to see what happens when cannabis becomes normalized, commercialized, and increasingly potent. In this conversation, she and Rachel cover how much the product has changed. THC in the plant has gone from about 2–3 percent in the 1960s through the 1980s to an average of up to 20 percent today, and some concentrates are 99.9 percent pure. They also cover intoxicating hemp products like delta 8 and delta 10, why the developing brain is most at risk, why the research doesn't support cannabis as a treatment for PTSD, what regulation could look like, and what clinicians and practice owners can do now. Resources Mentioned Articles Referenced: Cannabis Legalization and Adolescent Behavioral Health: Are Current Policies Sufficiently Protecting Adolescents? — Behavioral Health News (September 2026): https://behavioralhealthnews.org/cannabis-legalization-and-adolescent-behavioral-health-are-current-policies-sufficiently-protecting-adolescents/ Cannabis and Teens — CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/cannabis/health-effects/cannabis-and-teens.html A Huge Study Finds a Link Between Cannabis Use in Teens and Psychosis Later — NPR (February 2026): https://www.npr.org/2026/02/23/nx-s1-5719338-e1/a-huge-study-finds-a-link-between-cannabis-use-in-teens-and-psychosis-later Dr. Stuyt's original appearance (ear acupuncture and addiction treatment): https://www.traumaspecialiststraining.com/resources/podcast-episodes/15-2024 Connect with Dr. Libby Stuyt: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/libby-stuyt-4a45461b/ People's Organization for Community Acupuncture: https://pocacoop.com/ Connect with The Mental Health Evolution: Website: https://www.traumaspecialiststraining.com/mental-health-evolution-podcast Instagram: /thementalhealthevolution/ LinkedIn: /the-mental-health-evolution Facebook: /TheMentalHealthEvolution Music by Zach Harrison

  5. 1 Oct

    Ep 58: Two States, Two Directions: What's Happening to the Future of Our Workforce

    This week Rachel goes solo to talk about something she has been watching unfold in real time — two states making completely opposite decisions about who gets reimbursed in behavioral health, at the exact same moment, with major implications for the mental health workforce pipeline. Rachel owns a multi-state group practice and runs a training institute. She employs clinicians at every stage of licensure — interns, provisionally licensed, and fully licensed — and she has skin in this game. What she is watching happen right now affects every practice that trains the next generation of therapists. The episode starts by defining the three levels of licensure in behavioral health and how insurance has historically treated each one. Then it gets into the two stories happening simultaneously. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, which holds nearly 70 percent of the state's commercial market, announced that starting March 1, 2027, it will no longer reimburse for services provided by limited licensed clinicians in private practice settings — framing it as a quality of care decision that practice owners across Michigan are pushing back on hard. At the exact same time, Maryland passed HB 1094 and SB 910, signed into law in April 2026, mandating that insurance companies operating in Maryland reimburse for services provided by supervised graduate-level interns starting January 1, 2027. One state is expanding the pipeline. One state's largest insurer is choking it. There is no federal standard. And the question of whether the Michigan decision spreads to other states or other insurers is one nobody can answer yet. Rachel closes with a direct call to action: if you are a practice owner, look at your payer contracts. If you are a pre-licensed clinician, ask whether the practices you are considering have examined this issue. If you supervise, understand that the financial infrastructure supporting that work is not guaranteed. This story is not finished. Resources Mentioned Articles Referenced: New Insurance Policy on Limited Licensed Therapists — Dr. Joel L. Young, Psychology Today (June 2026): https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/when-your-adult-child-breaks-your-heart/202606/new-insurance-policy-on-limited-licensed Maryland Insurance Administration Bulletin 26-14 — HB 1094 and SB 910 (June 2026): https://insurance.maryland.gov/Pages/Bulletins/Bulletin-26-14.aspx Michigan Blue Cross to Limit Mental Health Benefit. Will Thousands Lose Care? — Robin Erb, Bridge Michigan (June 11, 2026): https://bridgemi.com/michigan-health-watch/michigan-blue-cross-to-limit-mental-health-benefit-will-thousands-lose-care/ Connect with The Mental Health Evolution: Website: https://www.traumaspecialiststraining.com/mental-health-evolution-podcast Instagram: /thementalhealthevolution/ LinkedIn: /the-mental-health-evolution Facebook: /TheMentalHealthEvolution Music by Zach Harrison

  6. 17 Sept

    Ep 56: Making Psychedelic Therapy Accessible with Myriam Barthes

    Rachel speaks with Myriam Barthes, co-founder and CEO of Journey Clinical, the largest network of ketamine-assisted psychotherapy trained therapists in the United States. Journey Clinical operates as a collaborative care platform — connecting licensed psychotherapists with a dedicated medical team so that therapists can offer ketamine-assisted psychotherapy to their clients without having to navigate the medical side alone. Myriam came to this work through her own personal experience with ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, which she describes as transformative. Before co-founding Journey Clinical, she worked as an AI strategist and consultant — and she has brought that systems-thinking lens to one of the most complex problems in mental health: how do you take a treatment that is clinically promising, legally available, and genuinely hard to access, and make it actually reachable for patients and the therapists who want to offer it? The conversation focuses on the business and systems side of psychedelic-assisted therapy — how Journey Clinical works, what it actually takes for a licensed therapist to start offering KAP, and what the regulatory landscape looks like right now. Myriam walks Rachel through the collaborative care model, what happens when a client goes through a ketamine session, and why the therapeutic relationship before and after the medicine is as important as the medicine itself. She also shares her perspective on where the field is heading as psilocybin moves closer to FDA approval — and why she believes the infrastructure being built now for ketamine will matter enormously for what comes next. This episode pairs well with our conversation with Will Ratliff of Transcend Health Solutions, which goes deeper into the clinical and medical side of ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. Resources Mentioned Articles Referenced: FDA Moves to Fast-Track Review of Psilocybin and Methylone for Mental Health — CNN (April 2026): https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/24/health/fda-psychedelic-drugs-priority-vouchers What Psychedelics Reveal About the Human Capacity for Healing — Myriam Barthes, Journey Clinical (May 2026) Note: written by guest, published on guest's organization website: https://www.journeyclinical.com/resources/what-psychedelics-reveal-about-the-human-capacity-for-healing Considerations for Potential Future Therapeutic Use of Psychedelic Drugs — FDA/Federal Register (July 2026): https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/07/14/2026-14155/considerations-for-potential-future-therapeutic-use-of-psychedelic-drugs-public-hearing-request-for Psychedelic Drugs and Mental Health — CNBC (July 2026): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/19/psychedelic-drugs-mental-health.html Connect with Myriam Barthes: Journey Clinical: https://www.journeyclinical.com Connect with The Mental Health Evolution: Website: https://www.traumaspecialiststraining.com/mental-health-evolution-podcast Instagram: /thementalhealthevolution/ LinkedIn: /the-mental-health-evolution Facebook: /TheMentalHealthEvolution Music by Zach Harrison

  7. 14 Sept

    Ep 57: IV Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy with Will Ratliff

    This week we are revisiting a conversation Rachel recorded on the original Mental Health Entrepreneur podcast with Will Ratliff, co-founder of Transcend Health Solutions, one of the world's leading IV ketamine-assisted psychotherapy practices. If last week's conversation with Myriam Barthes focused on the business and access side of psychedelic-assisted therapy, this one goes deeper into the clinical and medical side — what the treatment actually looks like, how it works, and why Will built his practice the way he did. Will's path to ketamine therapy is unlike most. He started as an EMT at 18, became a paramedic by 21, and spent his twenties in ambulances, emergency rooms, critical care units, and eventually helicopters as a flight nurse and paramedic. His early expertise in ketamine was entirely medical — pain management, intubation facilitation, emergency care. The mental health application came later, driven by his own experience developing significant PTSD symptoms early in his career and finding himself in a treatment-resistant position after years of trying traditional approaches. When Will started looking at ketamine clinics as a place to do clinical work, what he found troubled him. The way the industry was operating — the lack of psychotherapeutic support, the purely medical model, the absence of ethical grounding — wasn't how he would do it. So he built his own practice from scratch on an extremely small budget, starting with auction furniture and a scrappy commitment to doing it right. The conversation covers how IV ketamine works differently from other delivery methods, why the psychotherapeutic support around the medicine matters as much as the medicine itself, the challenges of getting the medical community to take ketamine therapy seriously, and the business realities of building in a novel market. Will also shares his perspective on what it takes to pursue something that hasn't been done before — and why getting punched in the chin repeatedly is just part of the deal. Note: This episode was originally recorded for The Mental Health Entrepreneur podcast and is being shared here because of its relevance to our ongoing conversations about psychedelic-assisted therapy. We think it pairs well with our recent conversation with Myriam Barthes of Journey Clinical. Connect with Will Ratliff: Transcend Health Solutions: https://www.transcendketamine.com Transcend Ketamine Podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-ratliff Instagram: @transcendkap Email: info@transcendketamine.com Phone: 833-313-2512 Connect with The Mental Health Evolution: Website: https://www.traumaspecialiststraining.com/mental-health-evolution-podcast Instagram: /thementalhealthevolution/ LinkedIn: /the-mental-health-evolution Facebook: /TheMentalHealthEvolution Music by Zach Harrison

  8. 9 Sept

    Ep 55: Be the One Who Does It

    This week Rachel steps away from the interview format to do something she has been wanting to do for a while — take stock of everything the podcast has surfaced over the last year and pull it into a single, honest conversation about what is actually happening in mental health right now, and what clinicians and practice owners can do about it. The landscape has shifted dramatically. Federal funding for mental health programs is being cut. SAMHSA has faced consolidation proposals. The 988 crisis line has seen reduced funding. School mental health grants have been halted. Insurance companies are finding loopholes in parity law, and federal agencies have signaled they will not enforce the rules designed to close them. AI is moving faster than regulation. And in the middle of all of it, clinicians who went to school to do therapy are trying to keep their practices afloat while the rules of the game change around them. Rachel draws on conversations from across the podcast's history — with health policy attorneys, state delegates, insurance experts, advocacy leaders, and community organizers — to map out what is driving these changes and what the real levers for change actually are. The episode closes with five concrete action steps that any clinician can take this week, whether they have an hour or five minutes, to be part of shaping what the mental health system becomes next. As Sue Abderholden, retired Executive Director of NAMI Minnesota, put it in Episode 23: the mental health system isn't broken. It's still being built. This episode is about showing up to build it. Episodes Referenced: Ep 2 — Real Change: https://pod.link/1724750091/episode/YjMzODkxYmEtYWZkMi00MWJiLTkxMzgtMWMxYTlmZjJkY2Ri Ep 4 — When AI Meets Therapy: Risks, Ethics, and Advocacy with Dr. Ajita Robinson: https://pod.link/1724750091/episode/ZjljYzJlOTEtZDIxZS00NjRhLTkyNzMtOWJhZGVjMTk4Nzcw Ep 7 — Policy Shifts Reshaping Mental Health Care with Cathy Gilbert: https://pod.link/1724750091/episode/ODYxOTRhMjYtNTg4NS00YjNiLTk3ZTQtYWJlZjZhMDY1Zjcy Ep 9 — Understanding Mental Health Parity with Deborah Steinberg: https://pod.link/1724750091/episode/OWQ5YmYzMzMtZmQ5ZS00ZjUyLWFkMDEtZmFiZDdlNmVmNzZh Ep 23 — Building a Mental Health System That Works with Sue Abderholden: https://pod.link/1724750091/episode/OGE2YWJmM2ItY2JkZS00ZTE3LTliZTUtMWI1NDBiMTg0ZjZl Ep 28 — Community Health, Local Solutions with Malcolm Furgol: https://pod.link/1724750091/episode/NzM4ZWNkN2UtZjI1Zi00ZWQ0LTliYTQtZDI0Nzc0ODc2MmZj Ep 40 — When States Step Up for Safety with Delegate Lily Qi: https://pod.link/1724750091/episode/ZGNiYjdiM2MtODY5Yy00YTQzLTlhOTUtNGMzYjE4ZTM1ZmZj Ep 41 — The Coverage Gap Is a Policy Problem with Cara Cheevers: https://pod.link/1724750091/episode/ZDk5N2RmZmYtNDYyYi00ZmVlLTkwYzYtNmIwOWYyZGZkNTc5 Resources Mentioned: Inseparable Workforce Report: https://www.inseparable.us Kennedy Forum Mental Health Parity Index: https://www.thekennedyforum.org Mental Health Insurance Reform Task Force: https://insurancereformtaskforce.org Connect with The Mental Health Evolution: Website: https://www.traumaspecialiststraining.com/mental-health-evolution-podcast Instagram: /thementalhealthevolution/ LinkedIn: /the-mental-health-evolution Facebook: /TheMentalHealthEvolution Music by Zach Harrison

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About

The Mental Health Entrepreneur podcast is back—with a slightly new name and an expanded focus. We're excited to introduce The Mental Health Evolution, where we'll continue the journey of exploring what's changing in the mental health field, and we're so glad to have you with us as a listener. Explore the rapidly changing world of mental health with The Mental Health Evolution, hosted by Rachel Harrison. Each episode brings honest conversations with clinicians, tech founders, investors, insurance companies, and other key voices shaping the industry. We dive into what's working, what's not, and what's next—from innovative startups and ethical considerations in tech-driven therapy to policy changes, access to care, and the human connections that remain at the heart of mental health services. Whether you're a professional in the field, someone seeking care, or simply curious about the evolution of mental health, this podcast provides insights, perspectives, and practical information to help you navigate a complex and fast-moving landscape. Join us to stay informed, challenge assumptions, and be part of the conversation shaping the future of mental health.

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