We exist because
this work matters.

nest is a registered foundation connecting the people building the future of mental health. We started as a grassroots community for people passionate about digital mental health and have grown into a structured ecosystem for serious builders.

We exist because meaningful innovation should not happen in isolation. Our curated community ensures that new solutions reach the people who need them, while founders and researchers gain the support, connections and insights needed to navigate this complex landscape.

Participation is free during our founding period, because access to this kind of community should not be a privilege.

Founder

VP

Valerie Peterson

Founder & Executive Director

Founder and Executive Director at nest, a global industry foundation advancing accessible, inclusive, and responsible digital mental health solutions. We connect founders, innovators, and experts across the digital mental health ecosystem while sharing industry research and insights daily.

Why nest

nest started with two things that arrived at different times but eventually pointed in the same direction.

The first was personal. Watching someone I love navigate a serious brain disorder showed me, more clearly than any study could, how wide the gap is between what people need and what the system is able to give them. It is a gap that does not have to be as large as it is.

The second was a master's thesis on digital health and AI implementation. The more I read, the more one thing became obvious: the tools are developing fast, but the people building them are largely working alone. Researchers, founders, and clinicians who should be in conversation with each other are not, because nothing has made that easy enough.

nest is the thing I wished had existed. We are glad you found us. 🪺

nestmentalhealthtech.com

Where the field
comes together.

A curated list of upcoming conferences, summits and gatherings at the intersection of mental health and innovation. Want your event featured? Get in touch. Or host an event with us.

What we are
watching closely.

A weekly digest of the developments, research and moves that matter in digital mental health. We track the field so you do not have to start from scratch.

We believe the mental health
crisis is also a systems crisis.

One billion people are living with a mental health condition right now. Thirteen mental health workers exist for every hundred thousand people on the planet. Governments have held mental health spending at 2% of health budgets for nearly a decade.

The system was never going to close this gap. And placing all our bets on it has cost us years.

What's actually making a change is happening outside the formal system. In workplaces, in communities, in the hands of founders and clinicians who stopped waiting for policy to catch up. Not because they're optimistic. Because they understand the problem well enough to know that waiting is its own kind of failure.

We started nest because we kept meeting these people and watching them work in isolation. Brilliant founders who couldn't find their peers. Researchers whose work never reached the builders who needed it. Clinicians who wanted to shape digital tools but had no seat at the table.

We believe that meaningful innovation should not happen in isolation. That the tools matter, but the science matters more, and neither travels far without the right ecosystem around them.

nest is not a cheerleader for digital health as a concept. We are not here to amplify every headline or celebrate every product launch. We are here to sit with the people who are honest about how hard this actually is — and who are building anyway.

"We exist to make sure the right people find each other, before the work that could change things gets lost in the noise."

Participation is free during our founding period because access to this kind of community should not be a privilege. We are deliberately keeping the community small, curated and high-quality as we grow.

If this is the space you operate in, we would love to have you.