# How should clinics evaluate AI tools for mental health care?

URL: https://tymirahealth.com/resources/faqs/how-should-clinics-evaluate-ai-tools-for-mental-health-workflows
For: Clinicians | Digital health and technology | Last reviewed 23 July 2026

**Answer:** Start with the specific task and its risk, then check human review, privacy, transparency, bias, audit trails and error handling. Lower-risk uses include drafting operational summaries, flagging incomplete documentation and aggregate reporting. AI should never diagnose, make treatment decisions or detect crises on its own, and a clinician must review anything that enters the record. Tell patients in plain language how AI is used, and pilot any tool under supervision before wider use.

### In more detail

Mental health records hold deeply personal disclosures, and AI errors can look convincing to busy staff. Accountability must stay with named people.

- Define the task, expected benefit, prohibited uses and failure conditions before procurement.
- Confirm where client data is stored and processed, and whether the vendor can access it, in line with Kenya's Data Protection Act 2019.
- Make outputs editable, rejectable and traceable, with a route to report harmful or inaccurate results.
- Treat marketing that claims an AI tool can diagnose or treat as a red flag.

> **Important:** This Knowledge Hub article is operational education. It does not diagnose, treat, replace professional care, or provide legal advice. Local clinical, privacy, and compliance review should guide live clinic use.

> **Important:** If there is immediate danger or a medical emergency, contact emergency services now. In Kenya, call 999, 112 or 911. Outside Kenya, use the emergency number for your location.

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**About Tymira Health:** Tymira Health is a healthcare technology company based in Nairobi, Kenya. It builds Tymira360, a practice management and EHR platform for mental health, physiotherapy and dental providers, clinics, hospitals, NGOs and insurers across Africa.

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