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

Hello, everyone! 👋 I’m Patrick Nagle, Co-Founder of MentalHealth.com. Welcome to my first blog post, where I’ll be sharing a bit about my background, recent accomplishments, and my vision for the future. Over the past two decades, I’ve had an amazing time building companies that have helped millions of people. I’m best known for founding RateMyProfessors.com, and more recently MentalHealth.com.

Lately, I have come to appreciate the value of 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.

Over the past five years my team and I developed a rehabilitation booking platform from the ground up. Notably, the platform onboarded 5,000 providers into a national network, 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 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 “Annica”.

As we transitioned from a contentious environment to a more positive one, we implemented significant changes to our business, including a much-needed and long-overdue reorganization of management. These changes led to the successful sale of our business and the acquisition of MentalHealth.com.

“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. Backed by trustworthy investors and grounded in a people-first culture, we are an experienced group of professionals committed to advancing our mission.

Several years ago, after recovering from benzodiazepine dependence, I made a personal commitment to contribute my time towards projects that support those facing mental health and substance use issues. This commitment remains unchanged, beginning with the creation of a rehabilitation booking platform and now expanding to a much larger and more impactful venture—MentalHealth.com.

MentalHealth.com has become my community and purpose.

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

Our experience in health tech has taught us valuable lessons, especially that connections through clicks and calls are far less meaningful than user engagement, customer experiences, and patient outcomes. As a result, we are shifting our focus from clicks and calls to navigation services, mental health assessments, and care coordination.

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

Imagine planning travel without TripAdvisor, Expedia, or Google Flights. As a society, we take for granted the value these intermediaries bring to our daily lives. Whether it’s grocery shopping, booking a trip, or buying a house, intermediaries add value. Yet, despite these benefits, healthcare intermediaries have historically been absent from our lives.

Basic economic principles show that intermediaries lower prices, improve service quality, and promote greater innovation. By applying these principles, healthcare intermediaries can create value by streamlining access to care, improving quality standards, and enabling comparison shopping—efficiencies that drive market accountability and empower consumers with greater choice.

“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 in the mental health space is a challenging journey. For this reason, I take immense pride not only in our accomplishments but also in our exceptional team. In December, we marked our first milestone by launching our draft website. By July, we reached an all-time high in website traffic, and in August, we secured venture capital financing. This funding enabled us to launch the MentalHealth.com Wellness Portal, acquire the online mental health platform and community MentalHelp.net, and develop the Mental Health Network.

As if these accomplishments were not enough, we also recruited and established prominent advisory teams to support key initiatives and uphold our people-first culture. These include 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. Additionally, we formed the Clinical Affairs 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’ll share the daily question that guides me: What is the most essential thing the world needs right now? The answer is community. Community gives us purpose, and with purpose comes a more positive and fulfilling life. We all benefit from fewer artificial relationships and more genuine community in our lives.

The best is yet to come! 👍

– Patrick

Editor’s Note: Are you or someone you know facing mental health challenges? Visit our mental health network to connect with therapists and find support for improved wellness. For emergencies, visit 988lifeline.org for immediate assistance.