Psych Hub Names New CEO; Talkspace Appoints CMO

Psych Hub appoints new CEO

Psych Hub, a Nashville, Tennessee-based mental health education startup, has appointed Scott Healy as its new CEO. 

Healy previously helped build Care.com, an online marketplace for child care, senior care and other family care services. Most recently, he was the general manager of health care ventures at Ascend Learning, a tech-enabled services company that develops online learning tools.

Healy is taking over as CEO from Psych Hub co-founder Marjorie Morrison, who will remain with the company to lead clinical strategy and partnership development.

“Scott’s deep understanding of how to scale organizations will expand the reach and impact of PsychHub’s invaluable offerings for so many more people across the entire health care ecosystem,” Patrick J. Kennedy, former U.S. Congressman and co-founder of Psych Hub, said in a press release.

Psych Hub, founded in 2019, offers learning programs for individuals seeking mental health support, health care clinicians, nurses, pharmacists, health and wellness coaches and the organizations supporting them.

Following a $16 million funding round in 2022, the company expanded to include therapist-matching capabilities.

Nystrom & Associates names new chief operations officer

Outpatient behavioral health provider Nystrom & Associates named Douglas Foote its new chief operations officer.

Foote has over twenty years of health care leadership experience. He most recently served as chief operating officer for the Emily Program and Veritas, sister brands that provide eating disorder services for children, adolescents and adults. He previously worked as the chief operating officer at Community Health Services of America.

“I am incredibly excited and humbled to join Nystrom & Associates and begin working alongside the rest of the leadership team,” Foote said in a release. “I greatly admire the organization’s commitment to patients, and its mission of empowering people to be the best versions of themselves.”

Foote is stepping into the role vacated by Anh Kremer, who was promoted to chief strategy and development officer in July.

Nystrom & Associates provides psychiatry, therapy, nursing and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment across 59 locations in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri and North Dakota. Earlier this year its then-chief commercial officer, -CEO and chief clinical officer left the organization.

Talkspace appoints new chief medical officer

Virtual behavioral health provider Talkspace (Nasdaq: TALK) appointed Nikole Benders-Had as its new chief medical officer.

Benders-Hadi is a board-certified psychiatrist who most recently served as vice president and medical director of behavioral health at Included Health (formerly Doctor on Demand and Grand Rounds Health). She previously worked as chief of psychiatry at Rockland Psychiatric Center in New York.

She is tasked with partnering with providers to deliver high-quality digital mental health care.

“Providers are critically important to Talkspace’s mission,” Benders-Hadi said. “Understanding providers’ perspectives, goals, and challenges is what will successfully drive patient outcomes.”

Talkspace provides care across all 50 states and covers approximately 110 million lives as of June 2023. It is currently working to become profitable by the end of Q1 in 2024. It recently announced that it would expand its services to include teens. 

Digital mental health company Brightside Health fills head of AI and research role

Brightside Health, a telehealth platform that provides mental health care to people with mild-to-severe clinical depression, anxiety and other mood disorders, appointed Matt Mohebbi as its head of artificial intelligence and research.

Mohebbi served as vice president of engineering at GoodRx before assuming his new role at Brightside Health. He co-founded and served as chief technology officer of Iodine, a startup that GoodRx later acquired. He also co-created Google Flu Trends while working at Google as a software engineer.

He will work to expand and accelerate Brightside Health’s AI and data efforts to improve quality and efficiency on the company’s platform.

“With the recent advancements in generative AI, it is an especially exciting time to work at the intersection of health care and AI,” Mohebbi said in a release. “I look forward to expanding Brightside Health’s use of AI to offer more personalized care to every patient, including those at elevated risk of suicide.”

Brightside recently expanded to accept payment through Medicare and Medicaid, increasing its potential coverage to about 100 million lives.

Acadia names CEO of digital health care company as new board member

Behavioral health provider Acadia appointed Patrice Harris to its board of directors.

Harris is a board-certified psychiatrist who has worked as a physician, public health director and patient advocate. She previously served on the Board of Trustees of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and was an APA delegate to the American Medical Association (AMA).

She was the first African-American woman ever to be elected president of the AMA.

Harris will continue to work in private practice and as CEO of eMed Digital Healthcare, a digital health care company she co-founded in 2020.

“Patrice is among the most respected leaders in health care policy and practice, and she brings deep clinical expertise in areas core to Acadia’s business, including mental health and substance abuse,” Reeve Waud, Chairman of the Board of Acadia Healthcare, said. “We know that Patrice’s experience and work integrating public health, behavioral health and primary care services will be valuable to Acadia’s success and our continued growth as the leading behavioral health care services provider.”

As of September Acadia operates 253 health care facilities and serves more than 75,000 patients daily. It recently announced that it would expand its partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs.

Headspace elevates senior vice president of finance to CFO

Digital behavioral health provider Headspace announced that Nicolette Turner, formerly senior vice president of finance at the company, had been promoted to the role of chief financial officer.

She succeeds Sean Brecker, who now works as CFO at health tech company ŌURA.

Before working at Headspace, Turner was vice president of finance at Cardinal Health.

“Couldn’t be more thrilled to announce the promotion of Nicolette J. to CFO at Headspace,” Headspace CEO Russell Glass said in a LinkedIn post. “Nicolette is a world-class finance leader and a true champion of mental health.”

Headspace announced a $105 million debt financing round from Oxford Finance in July. It recently rebranded to unify its portfolio, including rebranding its Ginger app to Headspace Care.

COMPASS CFO leaves the C-suite, company begins to search for replacement

London-based COMPASS Pathways (Nasdaq: CMPS) announced that its chief financial officer, Mike Falvey, left the company.

Mary-Rose Hughes, currently COMPASS’ vice president of finances, assumed the role of interim CFO while the company searches for a permanent replacement.

“On behalf of the Board and the company, we thank Mike for his leadership and the many contributions he made during his tenure at COMPASS,” Kabir Nath, CEO of COMPASS Pathways, said in a release. “He played a vital role in our recently completed private placement, which both extended the company’s cash runway beyond expected key phase 3 top-line clinical data readouts and brought leading biotech investors into our shareholder base.”

Before her career at COMPASS, Hughes worked in public accounting with Ernst and Young and was head of financial reporting for Veolia UK & Ireland.

COMPASS secured $285 million over the summer to fund an expansion into psychedelics as a treatment for mental health conditions, led by investment firms TCGX and Aisling Capital.