The story behind nest…

nest is a digital mental health foundation founded by Valerie Peterson, whose personal journey with mental health challenges is combined with a multidisciplinary background in science, technology, business, and finance, which uniquely positions her to drive meaningful change in the digital mental health space.

With formal training in Biomedical and Biomolecular Sciences and Biochemistry, Valerie developed a strong foundation in evidence-based research, critical thinking, and understanding complex health systems. This scientific expertise enables her to thoughtfully evaluate therapeutic approaches and digital mental health innovations, ensuring that progress in the field is grounded in credibility rather than trends.

Through her education in Digital Business and Management Studies, Valerie gained insight into how digital solutions can be designed, scaled, and implemented responsibly to reach and support broader communities. Her background in Corporate Finance further supports the creation of sustainable mental health initiatives, recognizing that long-term impact requires both strong clinical foundations and viable structures.

Alongside her academic and professional journey, Valerie’s lived experience with mental health challenges deeply shaped her understanding of the digital mental health landscape. Like many people, her first step during difficult moments was turning to the internet for support. While countless resources and apps were available, navigating them often felt overwhelming and unclear, making it difficult to know which tools to trust.

A pivotal moment came through group therapy, where healing emerged through shared experiences, understanding, and connection. This revealed the transformative power of community. Showing that meaningful progress often happens when people support one another.

Through these experiences, Valerie recognized a crucial gap in digital mental health: while many tools focus on supporting users, the professionals building these solutions often lack dedicated spaces for connection, reflection, and shared learning. Founders, practitioners, researchers, and innovators in digital mental health work tirelessly to improve well-being, yet frequently navigate complex challenges in isolation.

From this insight, nest was created as a digital mental health foundation centered on connection, collaboration, and collective growth within the field. nest brings together professionals across the digital mental health ecosystem to exchange knowledge, support one another, and navigate the landscape with greater clarity and trust.

By combining scientific rigor, digital innovation, sustainable thinking, and the power of human connection, nest aims to strengthen both those working in digital mental health and the future of the field itself.