Read Time: 6 minutes
Tech Topics In This Article: Mental Health Tech, Atlanta startups
Burnout. Work stress. Increased patient loads.
Therapists and mental health professionals are feeling the weight of a system under immense strain from increased use.
“Therapists are under pressure from growing caseloads and intense administrative demands like note-taking, documentation, and tracking client progress. Meanwhile, the complexity of client presentations is increasing due to technology’s influence on mental health, yet psychotherapy remains rooted in analog—pen, paper, memory. Clinical outcomes remain uncertain and often slow,” says Atlanta-based entrepreneur Benjamin Tan (in featured photo). “Clients drop out prematurely, hoping for instant epiphanies, while clinicians are left without the support or data to accelerate insight or track progress with clarity.”
Tan and his co-founder Sam Fargo are on a mission to help therapists address these problems with a personalized “AI sidekick” known as Psyntel.
Tech For Therapists
“[Psyntel] automates progress notes (SOAP and DAP), provides ICD-10 coding suggestions, builds psychological profiles, and facilitates the conceptualization of patient cases over time,” Tan told Hypepotamus.
Importantly, Psyntel uses a HIPAA-compliant chat interface that allows therapists to include secure inputs and notes on patients. Psyntel doesn’t record or transcribe therapy sessions. Instead, the platform works with the written inputs provided by both therapists and clients, but gives mental health professionals full control over the data they choose to input.
“Our infrastructure is built on secure cloud environments provided by Google and OpenAI, both of whom have signed Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) with us. All sensitive data is encrypted, isolated from AI training processes, and handled in accordance with HIPAA standards. To further demonstrate our commitment to security, we’ve completed a comprehensive self-assessment against NIST 800-171 standards, achieving a perfect score,” the team added.
Therapists can use Psyntel to “brainstorm treatment ideas, draft follow-up questions, reflect on ethical dilemmas, or even generate role-play scenarios,” Tan added. “And with our intake questionnaire and custom form builder, clinicians can gather client reflections at any point in the treatment journey. We also allow clinicians to upload documents to instantly integrate patient information into our software. Psyntel turns these inputs into structured insights that save time and improve clarity.”
Assembling The Psyntel Dream Team
Co-founders Benjamin Tan and Sam Fargo first met on Twitter, where the two connected over finance-related content they were writing and sharing on the platform.
“Our mutual friend Andre Worrell, whom we each met separately through [Twitter] and later brought on as our business development lead, connected us through a group chat,” added Tan. “I reached out to Sam afterward, and we ended up collaborating on a piece about The Walt Disney Company. Later, Sam shared his capstone project for his master’s degree in computer science, which focused on extracting insights from and querying earnings transcripts—that provided the initial inspiration for what would become Psyntel.”
Today, Tan and Fargo are building Psyntel alongside a “cross-functional team” of clinicians, engineers, and marketers, including Andre Worrell (Head of Business Development), Hayden Brown (Marketing Lead), and Zach Holzman (Clinical Validation Lead and Advisor).
Launching Psyntel In The Mental Health Tech Space
The team soft launched to the market in February after graduating from the It Takes a Village pre-accelerator at Atlanta Tech Village. Tan said the program was an “invaluable experience” that helped Psyntel refine its pitch while connecting with seasoned mentors.
Following the launch, Tan added that they have learned a lot about the realities of marketing a bootstrapped, early-stage startup.
“One of our biggest surprises was how cautious many mental health professionals still are about AI. That means we’ve had to focus more on education and one-on-one demos to build trust,” Tan told Hypepotamus. “We’ve also learned how critical first impressions are. Any early technical hiccup, even a small one, can shake a clinician’s confidence. So we’ve doubled down on improving the onboarding experience and squashing bugs quickly. Each new user is an opportunity to learn—and improve.”
Following its launch, the Psyntel team is focused on connecting with “power users in the mental health space,” getting more visibility with the clinical community, and gathering feedback to more quickly reach product-market fit.
“We’re also exploring potential partnerships — especially with platforms like EHRs or practice management systems — where Psyntel’s AI features could be layered in to enhance their user offerings,” Tan added.
Bootstrapped to date, Tan said the team is ready to grow.
“As we gain traction and validate product-market fit, we’ll be exploring institutional investment to help us scale,” he added.
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Photos provided by Psyntel
