Clinical Safety

AI-assisted care with a human safety net

Every health plan and employer evaluating a mental health AI tool asks the same first question: what happens when a member is in crisis? This page answers that question completely and without hedging — including what Neurodex does, what it escalates within 3 minutes to a licensed clinician, and what conditions it explicitly does not treat.

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Neurodex is not a substitute for emergency psychiatric care. If you are in crisis, call 988.
Abstract concept of human oversight and safety in a clinical context, warm and grounded
Crisis Detection & Escalation

Specific signals. Specific responses. Not a chatbot safety message.

Neurodex's crisis detection is not pattern-matching to a list of keywords. It is a structured clinical protocol built around validated instruments and specific behavioral signals. When a threshold is crossed, the response is a human clinician — not a scripted message with a crisis hotline number.

Signals monitored in every session

PHQ-9 Item 9 response (suicidal ideation) Direct crisis disclosure in session Session abandonment cluster pattern Rapid severity escalation across sessions Hopelessness language pattern detection
1
Crisis signal detected
PHQ-9 item 9, direct disclosure, or behavioral pattern threshold crossed in active session.
2
Session paused — safety resources shown
Member immediately sees 988 Lifeline, local crisis resources, and emergency services. Session preserved.
3
Licensed clinician paged — 3-min SLA
On-call licensed clinical staff receives alert with session context. Direct outreach within 3 minutes.
4
Incident documented — audit log updated
Full escalation record with timestamps. Available in aggregate dashboard. Disposition recorded.
HIPAA Controls

Designed with HIPAA controls. Not claiming certification that doesn't exist.

Neurodex is designed with HIPAA technical and administrative controls in mind. We sign a Business Associate Agreement as part of our standard contract. All session data is encrypted end-to-end. Access logging and audit trails are maintained for compliance review.

We do not claim "HIPAA certified" status — no such certification currently exists for AI-assisted mental health platforms. What we have: BAA-ready contracts, encryption at rest and in transit, strict data minimization (no PHI in aggregate reports), role-based access controls, and documented breach notification procedures.

BAA Available
Business Associate Agreement standard in all contracts. Day-one.
End-to-End Encryption
All session data encrypted in transit and at rest.
Audit Logging
Full access logs and escalation audit trail for compliance review.
Evidence Base

Grounded in 40 years of CBT research. No improvisation.

Neurodex's session content is built on the evidence base established by Aaron Beck's cognitive therapy framework and extended through decades of randomized controlled trials. The AI delivers structured, validated CBT protocols — it does not improvise therapy or generate novel clinical interventions.

Assessment instruments used: PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire — 9 items, scored 0–27 for depression severity), GAD-7 (Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale — 7 items, scored 0–21), and PHQ-4 (ultra-brief 4-item combined screener used for rapid triage). All are validated, widely published, and recognized by medical directors and clinical reviewers across health plans and EAPs.

"Neurodex is a structured CBT support tool. It is not a substitute for psychiatry, medication management, or emergency mental health services."

Clinical scope statement — displayed to every member at onboarding

"CBT reduces moderate depression symptoms in 61% of patients — research consensus across meta-analyses of over 115 randomized controlled trials."

Research consensus — CBT efficacy literature

"Behavioral activation alone produces comparable outcomes to full CBT protocols for mild-to-moderate depression in multiple comparative effectiveness studies."

Research consensus — behavioral activation literature

"Digital CBT interventions achieve effect sizes of 0.50–0.80 for depression and anxiety outcomes when structured and evidence-based."

Research consensus — digital mental health literature
Honest Limitations

Conditions outside Neurodex's scope

We state our limitations explicitly — at onboarding, in our sales process, and here. Neurodex is not the right tool for every mental health presentation. When a member's needs exceed our scope, we help them find appropriate care.

Outside Neurodex's treatment scope

Psychosis and schizophrenia spectrum disorders — require psychiatric evaluation, medication management, and specialized clinical treatment that Neurodex is not designed to provide.
Severe OCD requiring ERP therapy — Exposure and Response Prevention requires live clinical oversight and is outside CBT-based conversational protocols.
Eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia, ARFID) — require specialized eating disorder treatment teams. Neurodex does not deliver eating disorder protocols.
Active suicidal ideation requiring hospitalization — Neurodex escalates to human clinicians and directs to 988, but cannot provide inpatient psychiatric services or crisis hospitalization.
PTSD requiring trauma processing (EMDR, PE therapy) — trauma-focused therapies require live clinical expertise. Neurodex does not deliver trauma processing protocols.
Bipolar disorder with manic episodes — requires mood stabilization and psychiatric medication management alongside therapy. Neurodex is not appropriate as standalone care.

Referral pathways for out-of-scope members

When intake assessment or session signals indicate that a member's needs exceed our scope, Neurodex:

Informs the member that their needs may benefit from specialized clinical care
Provides a warm handoff to your organization's existing clinical referral pathway
Escalates immediately to a licensed clinician if crisis signals are present
Documents the out-of-scope trigger in the aggregate report (no PHI, counts only)
Crisis line — always visible
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is displayed in the Neurodex interface at all times, not only during escalation events.

Questions your clinical reviewer will ask. Answered here.

Schedule a clinical review call. We'll walk your medical director or clinical reviewer through the escalation protocol, HIPAA controls documentation, and scope boundaries.

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