You Never Change Things by Fighting the Existing Reality

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

Recently, I have come to appreciate the importance of open communications. Sharing more about who we are, what we stand for, how we operate, and our vision for the future empowers MentalHealth.com to gain new perspectives, new opinions, and better insights. Above all, transparency drives trust—the foundation of all relationships.

Hello, everyone! 👋 I am Patrick Nagle, Co-Founder of MentalHealth.com. Welcome to my first blog post, where I share my background, recent accomplishments, and outlook for a healthier future. Over the past two decades, I’ve had an amazing time creating companies that have supported millions of people. I’m most known for creating RateMyProfessors.com and, more recently, MentalHealth.com.

Over the past five years, in my previous role, I dedicated myself to creating an intermediary rehab platform, focused on connecting people seeking addiction treatment services with treatment providers. Impressively, our platform onboarded over 5,000 treatment providers into our national network, facilitated countless patient-provider connections in the form of clicks and calls, and assisted many in their journey towards recovery. However, in the end, our experience was overshadowed by the unfortunate reality of the addiction treatment industry, which remains deeply flawed and in need of substantial reform. Despite our well-intentioned efforts and ambitious goals, we underestimated the challenges within the addiction treatment 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 “Annica”.

Transitioning from a challenging situation to a positive one, my team and I implemented significant changes to our business, including a much-needed and long-overdue management reorganization. These changes ultimately resulted in a successful business exit and our acquisition of MentalHealth.com. The shift not only brought an influx of fresh capital but also empowered us to focus exclusively on developing resources to educate, support, and empower people in their pursuit of well-being.

“If you compromise and hire someone mediocre, you will always regret it.” – Sam Altman

The success of any organization is driven by the competence and integrity of its team. From honest investors to a culture that is people-first, we are an experienced group of top-notch business executives, accomplished tech entrepreneurs, and highly regarded healthcare professionals, all dedicated to guiding people towards self-understanding and connection.

Six years ago, upon my recovery from benzodiazepine dependence, I made a personal commitment to dedicate my time and resources to projects assisting those in need. My commitment has remained unchanged, beginning with the creation of an intermediary rehab platform and now embarking on a significantly larger and more impactful venture, MentalHealth.com.

MentalHealth.com has become my community and purpose

Together, we recognize the global importance and complexity of mental health. With half of the world’s population expected to experience a mental health disorder, and considering that all eight billion of us require ongoing mental health support and care, our commitment is to support people throughout their mental health journey.

Our past experiences have provided valuable insights, especially in that patient-provider connections in the form of clicks and calls are not nearly as important as engagement, experiences, and outcomes. That’s why our offerings at MentalHealth.com will steer away from clicks and calls, opting instead toward care coordination, navigational services, and bookings.

From booking in-person appointments to accessing online therapy, our services and resources are always designed with people-first.

Basic economic theory demonstrates that when health service providers have to compete for patients, it leads to lower prices, higher quality of care, greater variety of treatment, and more innovation. Simply put, competition is good. As for health service intermediaries, they generate competition and provide patients with many valuable benefits: they make it easier for patients to find what they need, they help set higher standards, and they enable comparison shopping—efficiency improvements that keep markets accountable and empower patients with choice. Yet, health service intermediaries are historically absent from our lives.

Imagine for a moment what it would be like planning travel without travel intermediaries such as TripAdvisor.com, Expedia.com or Google Flights. As a society, we have come to take for granted just how much value intermediaries add to our daily lives. Whether it be grocery shopping, booking a trip, or buying a house – intermediaries add value.

“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 company with your own funds in the complex world of mental health is a challenging journey. That’s one reason why I take immense pride in our accomplishments and, even more so, in our exceptional team. In July, we reached an all-time high in website traffic, marking a significant milestone. Following this achievement, we successfully secured venture capital with participation from Cicada Capital, LLC and Supermind Platforms, Inc. Furthermore, we recently celebrated the successful launch of our BETA website, which was followed by the release of the MentalHealth.com Wellness Portal and the acquisition of the online mental health platform and community, MentalHelp.net.

As if these accomplishments were not enough in our first eight months, we also recruited and established prominent advisory teams to collaborate with in driving initiatives and upholding our people-first culture: the Venture Advisory Team, featuring Brian Trisler, Co-Founder of A Place for Mom; Fred Joyal and Gary Saint-Denis, Co-Founders of 1-800-DENTIST; Abhilash Patel, Founder of Within Health; and Jeff Smith, Co-Founder and CEO of Supermind Platforms; as well as the Clinical Care Team, including Co-Founder and Clinical Director Dr. Jesse Hanson, PhD; and the Public Oversight Committee, with involvement from Ryan Hampton.

“May I develop compassion boundless as the sky. So that all may rest in the clear light of their own awareness.” – The Tibetan Book of the Dead

In conclusion, I will share the daily question that guides me: What is the most essential thing needed in the world right now? The answer is community. Community provides purpose, and purpose contributes to a more positive and fulfilling life. We all need fewer artificial relationships and more community within our lives.

The best is yet to come! 👍 😎 🚀