Building a Better Mental Health System

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” – Buckminster Fuller

Hello, everyone. I’m Patrick Nagle, the founder of MentalHealth.com. Welcome to my first blog post, where I’ll be sharing a bit about my background, recent accomplishments, and vision for the future. 

Over the past two decades, I’ve had the privilege of building companies that have helped millions of people. I’m best known for creating RateMyProfessors.com and, more recently MentalHealth.com.

One lesson I’ve come to value is open communication. By sharing who we are, what we stand for, and how we operate, MentalHealth.com gains fresh perspectives, new opinions, and meaningful insights. Most importantly, transparency builds trust, the foundation of all relationships.

Several years ago, after recovering from benzodiazepine dependence, I made a personal commitment to contribute my time toward projects that support those facing mental healthand substance use challenges. To this day, that commitment guides my work.

In the years leading up to MentalHealth.com, my team and I built a rehab booking platform for addiction treatment. Notably, Rehab.com onboarded more than 5,000 providers, facilitated hundreds of thousands of connections through clicks and calls, and helped nearly a million people in their journey toward recovery.

However, our experience was ultimately overshadowed by the addiction treatment industry, which remains deeply flawed and in need of significant reform. Despite our good intentions and ambitious goals, we underestimated the challenges within this space.

The most important characteristic for the survival of a species is not strength or intelligence, but adaptability to change. One must become adept at adapting. This is the Buddhist teaching of “Anica”.

As we moved from a contentious environment to a constructive one, we undertook significant changes to our business, including a long-overdue reorganization of our management team. These efforts led to the successful sale of Rehab.com and the acquisition of MentalHealth.com.

As a team, we recognize the universal need for a better mental health system. With half of the world’s population expected to experience a mental health disorder, and knowing that all eight billion of us benefit from mental health care, our vision is to support 1 billion people.

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“Connection is the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued.” – Brené Brown

As we grow, our mission is clear: build the world’s most intelligent mental health technology. Through mental health resources, diagnostic services, and care management, we make mental health care more accessible, more connected, and more human.

Think about how we navigate the world today. We use platforms like Google, Facebook, and Amazon to access knowledge, build connections, and discover products and services. In nearly every area of life, from managing our finances to buying a home, we rely on technology to provide intelligence.

Yet mental health care still lags behind. The lack of modern technology, combined with fragmentation across the space, creates barriers to access, increases costs, and leaves people to navigate care on their own. The result is not just emotional strain, but an economic burden exceeding $1 trillion each year.

At MentalHealth.com, we are closing this gap by building a unified mental health system — one that helps people achieve greater self-understanding, authentic human connection, and healthier lives.

“Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember ~ the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you.” – Zig Ziglar

Founding a healthcare company is an extraordinary challenge. For this reason, I take immense pride not only in our accomplishments, but also in our exceptional team. In just two years, we secured funding, launched our platform, and grew to more than 3 million annual users.

This funding enabled us to launch new products, expand our mental health resources, and strategically acquire MentalHelp.net and Therapy.ai.

We also assembled distinguished advisory teams to help guide our growth and key initiatives. These include the Venture Advisory Team, featuring Brian Trisler, Co-Founder of A Place for Mom, and Fred Joyal and Gary Saint-Denis, Co-Founders of 1-800-DENTIST; the Clinical Affairs Team, led by Jesse Hanson, Ph.D., alongside Carlos Protzel, Psy.D., and Susanna Calvert, Ph.D.; and the Public Oversight Committee, with participation from Ryan Hampton.

In conclusion, I’ll share the daily question that guides me: What does the world need most right now? The answer is community. Community gives us purpose, and with purpose comes a more fulfilling and positive life. We all benefit from fewer artificial connections and more authentic community in our lives.

The best is yet to come!

– Patrick