This community keeps surprising me. The connections being made, often quietly, and the conversations happening inside nest continue to be some of the most honest I have come across in this space. Thank you so much for being part of that.
We are also noticing how much wider our reach has become, month on month. It's one thing to talk about a global community, another thing to watch it happen.
If you are a founder building in this space, I would love to hear from you this week. What is working well for you, what isn't, and what you wish someone had told you earlier. Feel free to email me if you are interested in a chat!
- Valerie
Awareness was never going to be enough
Globally, an estimated one in seven adolescents lives with a diagnosable mental health condition, and in most low- and middle-income countries more than three in four never receive any care at all. Demand is outpacing capacity across very different systems, and the people most exposed to that gap are rarely distributed evenly.
Mental health inequalities across minority and underserved communities are already well documented, from the WHO's Mental Health Atlas to the OECD's recent work on the topic. What's less settled is why the gap holds even where awareness and policy have both improved.
Trust turns out to matter as much as access.
The experience of discrimination or being misunderstood shapes whether someone seeks care again, which means trust isn't a byproduct of good care; it's a precondition for it. And digital tools don't get a pass here: reach isn't the same as equity, and platforms that don't design for language, culture, and trust from the start risk reproducing the same gaps they're meant to close.
Beyond dopamine
The dopamine explanation for compulsive digital use has become the default explanation, but it actually flattens a way more complicated picture. For people building in this space, the distinction matters. It moves the useful interventions away from blunt tools like usage caps, toward quieter ones: friction, cue timing, what a default does when no one is watching.
New: a collab tab in your membership environment
There's a new space in the nest membership environment built for finding collaborators, not just connections.
The Collaborate board is where nest members post specific asks and offers: from finding a clinical co-investigator to sourcing a technical co-founder, from seeking regulatory feedback to recruiting a first advisor. Every member on this board has been individually reviewed. Every post is seen by the nest team before it goes live.
This is not a job board or a marketplace. It is a space for people doing serious work in the field to find the specific expertise, partnership, or perspective they are missing.
Nest is still being built, shaped by the community as it grows and by what we learn from members along the way. Feedback and suggestions on new features or tools are always welcome.
Sign up as a member
New members
Seventeen new members joined this month, spanning four continents: Abeokuta to Southampton, Nairobi to Jakarta, Amsterdam to Colorado Springs, Budapest to London.
Joy Aitomun, product designer with a background in anatomy, moving into mental health tech. Based in Abeokuta, Nigeria.
Paul Macharia, researcher and builder. Based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Karishma, product manager trained in cognitive science at IIT Kanpur, working at the intersection of healthcare systems and design. Based in Mumbai, India.
Justin Rossi, fractional product design leader who spent seventeen years scaling design functions, most recently at NeuroFlow through multiple acquisitions. Based in the North East, USA.
Chris Tacca, postdoctoral researcher spanning physical activity, brain health, and remote psychotherapy through VR and EEG. Based in Southampton, UK.
Anna Zsófia Csontos, psychologist with eight years in UX research, applying behavioural science to digital products. Based in Budapest, Hungary.
Mark Ashton Smith, translational cognitive neuroscientist developing evidence-based cognitive training protocols at IQ Mindware and the HRP Lab. Based in the UK.
Jose Bentes, behavioural psychologist merging interactive technology with behaviour analysis at Neuraptica. Based in Lisbon, Portugal.
Aisha Waldi, background in neuropsychology, looking to connect with other builders, founders, and advocates in the field. Based in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Robert W Cats, founder of getbettergames.com and an internationally experienced businessman turned toward building products with a genuine impact on people's lives. Based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Dianne Shumay, clinical psychologist and behavioural scientist with fifteen years at UCSF and six years leading strategy in digital health startups, including a pivotal FDA trial and AI-enabled remote therapeutic monitoring services. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, USA.
Timothy Finomo, software engineer building SteadyLoop, a privacy-first platform for mood, sleep, and medication tracking, shaped by his own lived experience of bipolar type 1. Based in Lagos, Nigeria (remote).
Taha, founder at Somae. Based in Paris, France.
Jose Garcia, of Talk Coded. Based in León, Spain.
Steve Marshall, founder of ResilienceIQ, a Babson College MBA and veteran working at the intersection of organisational change and student services. Based remotely, USA.
Ryan DeCook, clinician, writer, and entrepreneur running his own therapy practice alongside a clinical content business. Based in Colorado Springs, USA.
Priscilla Vivian, clinician, researcher, and advocate working across practice and founder roles. Based in London, UK.
Upcoming sessions
Monthly network session @nest: 16 July 2026, 16:00 CET, online. No pitching, no performing, honest conversation between people working in mental health innovation. Limited seats. Register →
AI Companions in Mental Health: 30 July 2026, 16:00 CET, online. Where AI chatbots and companion apps genuinely help, and where they fall short. For founders, clinicians and researchers building or evaluating AI-driven support. Register →
The Future of Workplace Mental Health Support: 20 August 2026, 16:00 CET, online. What employers are actually buying, what employees actually use, and where the gap between the two still sits. Co-hosted by Kim Dürst, founder of KLYNE. Register →
Host an event
Thinking of hosting an online event under the nest umbrella? If you have an idea and an audience, we would love to hear about it. Register your interest →
If any of this is useful to someone building something early and worthwhile, forward it on. That's what nest🪺 is for.
This issue discusses disparities in mental health access and outcomes across communities. If you are looking for support, resources are available globally at findahelpline.com