Top AI Scribes for Behavioral Health [2025]
- Nathan Peereboom
- Apr 14
- 8 min read
In the rapidly evolving field of behavioral health, clinicians—including psychiatrists, PMHNPs, psychologists, counselors, social workers, and therapists—are increasingly turning to AI-powered scribe tools to streamline documentation, reduce charting fatigue, and spend more time with patients. The best AI scribes can save clinicians hours each day while improving clinical accuracy and workflow efficiency.
JotPsych stands out as the leading AI scribe for behavioral health professionals. Unlike generic tools, it’s purpose-built for the documentation demands of psychiatry and therapy—offering unmatched customization, billing support, and clinically rich notes that match your style and workflow.
Whether you’re reviewing medications, writing progress notes, or managing a busy caseload, JotPsych delivers the speed, accuracy, and depth that others simply don’t.
What is an AI scribe? And why does it matter for behavioral health?
Documentation requirements have been steadily increasing in behavioral health due to rising demands from insurers for medical necessity justification, stricter compliance with privacy and audit regulations like HIPAA, and the shift toward integrated, outcomes-based care. Clinicians are now expected to produce highly detailed and timely records that support reimbursement, ensure continuity across providers, and demonstrate measurable progress for each client.
Today’s clinicians must document across multiple areas - including intake assessments, treatment plans, session progress notes, risk evaluations, coordination of care, and billing justification—making the process more time-consuming and burdensome than ever before.
AI scribes use artificial intelligence to automatically generate clinical notes from therapy sessions or medical conversations. By reducing the manual effort of typing notes, they help behavioral health professionals reclaim valuable time for client care.
Why AI scribes are transforming behavioral health documentation
As documentation requirements grow more complex, the cost—both in time and clinician bandwidth—is becoming unsustainable. AI scribes offer a modern, clinically aligned solution.
Clinical encounters require precise, multi-dimensional notes
Behavioral health sessions involve more than just conversation. They often include diagnostic assessments, medication adjustments, mental status evaluations, and safety planning. Capturing this depth accurately and consistently is essential for care quality, coordination, and risk management.
Manual documentation strains time and energy
Many clinicians spend hours outside of appointments finishing notes, responding to audit requirements, and supporting billing processes. This administrative load reduces capacity, increases burnout risk, and shifts attention away from patient care.
Compliance standards are rising across the board
Today’s documentation must meet the expectations of payers, regulators, and internal quality teams. It must be timely, complete, and defensible—all while maintaining clinical integrity.
AI scribes streamline documentation without cutting corners
AI scribes generate structured, high-quality notes from real-time sessions, reducing the need for manual typing. They support required elements like diagnoses, MSE, interventions, and plan-of-care updates—helping clinicians stay focused during appointments and reclaim time afterward.
Criteria for an AI Scribe
Not all AI scribes are created equal—especially when it comes to behavioral health. Before committing to a solution, clinicians should consider the following criteria to ensure the tool actually improves their workflow and supports clinical quality:
Behavioral Health Specialization
Is the tool built specifically for mental health - or retrofitted from a general medical model? Look for scribes that support therapy and psychiatric workflows, including structured formats like SOAP or DAP, mental status exams, diagnostic coding (ICD-10, DSM-5), and medication tracking. Generalist tools often miss the nuance.
Note Quality and Clinical Depth
Can the scribe reliably generate clinically useful notes from real sessions? The best tools capture mental status exams, medication changes, and client responses—reducing time spent editing or rewriting notes after hours.
EHR Compatibility
How easily can you move notes into your Electronic Health Record system? Whether by direct integration or simple copy-paste, the process should be seamless and efficient—especially in high-volume practices.
Flexibility of Templating
Does the tool offer structured templates for therapy sessions, psychiatric evaluations, and medication checks? Customizability and support for specialty workflows (e.g., TMS, Spravato) can make or break a scribe’s real-world usability.
Compliance and Security
Is the platform fully HIPAA-compliant—and ideally SOC 2 certified? Look for features like encryption, anonymization, and audit-ready logs. With sensitive mental health data, security isn’t optional.
Ease of Use
Can you get started without IT support? A good scribe should fit naturally into your workflow—allowing clinicians to upload their templates, document quickly, and stay focused on patient care.
Transparent Pricing
Does the pricing model match your practice’s needs? Tools that gate features behind expensive tiers or charge by the session can get costly fast. Look for options that offer full functionality at a predictable rate.
By weighing these factors, clinicians can choose a scribe that fits not only their documentation needs but also the broader context of their day-to-day care.
Top AI Scribes for Behavioral Health: A Quick Overview
The table below compares features today's top scribes for behavioral health:
Jotpsych
Freed
Upheal
Mentalyc
JotPsych
Designed specifically for psychiatry and behavioral health, JotPsych offers comprehensive features including detailed clinical note templates (covering MSE, medication tracking, diagnoses, and coding), easy integration with EHRs, and robust compliance (HIPAA). Onboarding is streamlined—simply upload your template and get started immediately—all for a flat rate of $150/month.
Freed AI
A general medical scribe that supports a SOAP format. While it offers a basic psychiatric template, its focus is more generic; hence, it falls short on tailored behavioral health features. However, it does support a copy-paste EHR workflow and is priced competitively at $99/month.
Upheal
Upheal is tailored for mental health and performs well for therapy note-taking. Its detailed note output is strong for therapy but may not capture the full depth required for comprehensive psychiatric medication management. Its EHR export is straightforward, though its setup for team environments can be more complex. Pricing varies from free up to $149/month based on usage.
Mentalyc
Focused primarily on therapy, Mentalyc excels at summarizing talk therapy sessions quickly, yet lacks the integrated support required for medication management and comprehensive psychiatric evaluations. It offers a straightforward export process for EHR entry and is one of the more affordable options, with pricing that scales from $19.99 to $119.99/month depending on the tier selected.
Among today’s AI scribes, JotPsych is the only platform purpose-built for the full scope of behavioral health—from therapy sessions to psychiatric evaluations and medication management. With customizable templates, ICD/CPT code support, and an interface optimized for clinical speed, JotPsych helps providers document better, faster, and with less burnout.
Unlike generalist tools, JotPsych doesn’t force psychiatrists to adapt their workflows—it’s built around them.
👉 Ready to reclaim your time and improve your notes?
Detailed Comparison: Top AI Scribes for Behavioral Health
🥇 JotPsych – Purpose-Built for Behavioral Health and Psychiatry
Behavioral Health Focus
Unlike generalist scribes, JotPsych is designed from the ground up for behavioral health. It supports both therapy and psychiatric workflows, including complex med management, psychiatric evaluations, and even TMS documentation. Clinicians don’t need to adapt to a new system—JotPsych adapts to them.
High-Quality Clinical Notes
JotPsych generates rich, structured notes that include mental status exams, diagnoses, medication changes, and even suggested ICD-10 and CPT codes. Clinicians can teach the AI to output specific sections or styles, ensuring the documentation reflects their clinical voice and standards.
EHR Compatibility
JotPsych is intentionally EHR-agnostic—notes can be copied and pasted cleanly into any EHR, and output is formatted for ease of transfer. No clunky integrations or formatting issues to troubleshoot.
Psychiatric-Specific Templates
One of JotPsych’s most powerful features is its custom template builder. Psychiatrists and therapists can upload or create personalized templates that match their exact documentation flow, whether it’s SOAP, DAP, med check templates, or a combination. It supports therapy-specific modalities and psychiatric interventions out of the box.
Compliance (HIPAA)
Security and compliance are table stakes, and JotPsych meets them all. It’s fully HIPAA-compliant, with encryption and audit-ready logs for clinical documentation.
Ease of Use
JotPsych is built for quick adoption—clinicians can upload their preferred template and start generating notes in minutes. No training or workflow disruption required.
Pricing
JotPsych offers a flat rate of $150/month with unlimited notes, making it predictable and scalable for both solo and group practices. A 10-day free trial is available.
Freed AI – A Solid Generalist with Limited Behavioral Health Depth
Behavioral Health Focus
Freed is built for a broad range of medical specialties and lacks the behavioral health depth of tools like JotPsych. It offers a basic SOAP template but doesn’t include fields specific to therapy or psychiatric evaluations unless manually dictated.
High-Quality Clinical Notes
Freed’s real-time transcription is accurate and fast, and it does a good job generating SOAP-style summaries. However, these summaries rely heavily on what the clinician says aloud—meaning things like MSE or diagnostic reasoning can be missed unless specifically voiced during sessions.
EHR Compatibility
Freed integrates with common EHRs like Athena, Practice Fusion (beta), and eClinicalWorks, and also supports copy-paste workflows. It’s flexible but may require some manual review to align with BH-specific documentation standards.
Psychiatric-Specific Templates
It offers a basic psychiatric SOAP note template, but lacks more detailed options for therapy documentation or medication follow-up. Customization is minimal.
Compliance (HIPAA)
Freed is HIPAA-compliant, and by default, recordings are not stored. Clinicians can opt to retain them temporarily with client consent.
Ease of Use
Freed shines in usability—setup is quick, and clinicians can be recording within minutes. Its adaptive learning improves outputs over time, though it lacks BH-specific customization.
Pricing
Freed starts at $99/month with a 7-day free trial. It’s a strong value for general use, though may require supplementation for BH-specific needs.
Upheal – Modern and Therapist-Friendly, But Less Psychiatry-Ready
Behavioral Health Focus
Upheal is designed for mental health professionals and supports a variety of therapy note styles. It’s a strong option for therapists, but doesn’t include psychiatric evaluation templates or deep support for med management workflows.
High-Quality Clinical Notes
Upheal produces detailed therapy notes in formats like DAP, SOAP, and EMDR. It includes some MSE and risk language, but lacks robust psychiatric coding or medication-specific content. It’s a great tool for therapists, but may leave prescribers wanting more.
EHR Compatibility
Upheal supports note export and copy-paste into any EHR, though it doesn’t offer structured integration with prescribing tools or billing workflows.
Psychiatric-Specific Templates
Therapy formats are covered well, but psychiatric templates (e.g. for medication checks, follow-up visits) aren’t a core focus and may require customization.
Compliance (HIPAA)
Upheal is fully HIPAA-compliant and deletes session recordings after processing. Data is encrypted and handled securely.
Ease of Use
The interface is clean and intuitive, but onboarding for teams may require more effort than solo users. For psychiatrists, the customization needs may be higher than expected.
Pricing
Upheal offers a free tier and usage-based pricing that goes up to $149/month. It’s affordable but not fully equipped for prescriber workflows.
Mentalyc – Lightweight for Therapy, But Not Built for Med Management
Behavioral Health Focus
Mentalyc is built primarily for solo therapists. It focuses on psychotherapy documentation and offers strong tools for progress notes and client summaries.
High-Quality Clinical Notes
Mentalyc does well at summarizing sessions into SOAP or DAP notes and supports customizable templates for therapy. However, it does not capture medication history, diagnoses, or coding—making it unsuitable for psychiatric care.
EHR Compatibility
Notes can be copied and pasted into any EHR or downloaded, but the process is manual. There’s no direct or structured integration for clinicians who need to prescribe or bill.
Psychiatric-Specific Templates
These are not available—there’s no med management module or psychiatric evaluation structure.
Compliance (HIPAA)
Mentalyc is HIPAA-compliant and takes extra precautions to anonymize data. Audio is not stored after processing.
Ease of Use
It’s one of the easiest tools to start using. Mentalyc runs fully in-browser and doesn’t require installation or training.
Pricing
Mentalyc starts at $19.99/month and scales up to $119.99/month depending on usage. It’s affordable, but its pricing tiers cap the number of notes, which may be limiting for busy practices.
🏁 Final Thoughts
If you’re a psychiatrist or behavioral health clinician juggling therapy, evaluations, and medication management, JotPsych offers the most complete, specialty-aligned solution. Other tools like Freed and Upheal serve important roles for generalists and therapists, but only JotPsych combines customizable templates, diagnostic support, and psychiatric workflows into one unified platform.
Solo providers:
Try JotPsych free for 10 days — no credit card required, no note limits.
Group practices:
Looking to streamline documentation across your clinical team? We offer group pricing, onboarding support, and custom templates for multi-provider workflows.