For Clinicians
Mind Dive, A Podcast for Mental Health Professionals
Welcome to Mind Dive, Menninger's podcast for mental health professionals, with Robert Boland, MD, senior vice president and chief of staff, and Kerry Horrell, PhD. 
Podcast Focus
Each month, they dive into topics that fascinate them as clinical professionals and hopefully fascinate you, too. They examine dilemmas faced by professionals here at Menninger and colleagues across the nation while working with some of the most challenging cases. They explore the latest research and other trending topics on the minds of psychiatrists, psychologists and others who are interested in the treatment and study of the mind. Drs. Boland and Horrell make it a goal to cover information that gets little attention in formal training programs.
Most Recent Episodes
Episode 76: Can AI Play a Role in Care?
We map out the real utility: faster documentation, smarter screening prompts, triage support, and simple coping exercises that help patients self-regulate between sessions. Then we tackle the hard edges. We discuss anthropomorphism, why models “hallucinate” convincing but false citations, and how to verify sources in PubMed or other trusted databases. We get specific about HIPAA, GDPR, data security, and consent, especially for ambient AI that drafts notes during sessions. You’ll hear a brief anxiety grounding exercise, plus tone simulations of anxious, depressed, and manic speech for training, showing how AI can support education without pretending to feel.
Throughout, we keep the center of gravity where it belongs: human judgment, empathy, and ethical boundaries. We ask pointed questions about liability, medication advice, and patients who consider replacing therapy with a chatbot. The takeaway is pragmatic: start small, choose one low-risk workflow, de-identify sensitive data, and treat AI outputs as drafts to refine with your clinical expertise. The future looks like partnership—tools that handle the boring parts so we can focus on the more interesting and important human parts.
Thanks to our listeners for four great years! If this episode sparks ideas or provides an “Aha moment,” please share it with a colleague, subscribe to Mind Dive Season Five, and leave a review with one question you’d like us to tackle next.
Transcript
Meet the Hosts
Dr. Boland is an educator at heart with decades of experience teaching and mentoring psychiatry residents. In addition to his roles at Menninger, he is the executive vice chair of the Menninger Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine.
A psychologist specializing in Young Adults, Dr. Horrell also loves teaching. She completed a predoctoral internship and postgraduate fellowship at Menninger and Baylor College of Medicine.
Both are well read, love canines (and have to resist rescuing too many) and are curious about many subjects.
Join Us
We hope you’ll join us on our podcast journey. And if you have a topic in mind that you would like us to dive into, drop us a note.
Mind Dive is available on all of the places you find your favorite podcasts.
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